HEY I don't know if you get this question often or not, but how does it feel passing the mantle of your highly-acclaimed Batgirl series onto a new writer, and do you have faith in the future of the series? No doubt your run of Batgirl was one of my favorit

Okay, there’s the diplomatic answer and the true answer.

The diplomatic answer is YAHOO, EVERYTHING’S WONDERFUL LOOK AT ALL THE RAINBOWS!

:)

The true answer is, Barbara Gordon means a lot to me, and has since I was a little girl on an isolated farm and she was the first kickass red-haired heroine I had ever seen. She changed my life. I love her dearly, and have been the person who has been writing her stories for several years. Which I have been honored to do.

And there are two ways to work in mainstream comics with these characters. You can be a total pro and remove yourself a bit, approach it as a job and that’s all, and a lot of the best superhero stories ever have been written that way and I am not knocking it.

But it doesn’t work for me. I have to care about the characters, I have to care about the book on every level. When something went wrong with a book I was generally far more pissed at how it reflected on the character than how it reflected on me. 

So, if you care, it’s hard to leave, it’s hard to see your SO get a new love… :) It can all be a little transition period. 

That doesn’t mean you wish them ill. I was fricking DELIGHTED when a good team came on to Firestorm to hopefully fix the book after we couldn’t make it run right. I was rooting for them every step and it was a HUGE relief that great people took over. I don’t recall EVER wishing anything but success for a book after I left it, even if there was some friction there. I always want my favorite characters to succeed huge.

In this case, yes, it sucks to leave, it especially sucks to leave for reasons that immediately got reversed right after I left! :)

But it was time for a change on Batgirl. I wanted to add lighter stories and more personal stuff, and that just was not allowed during my time. And while I am very proud of the stuff we did, and I think we had a message of hope even in the darkness, I am happy someone is coming in with a lighter take.

SO it is hard to leave. I fought hard to do things in the book that I felt were worth doing, and I got an endless wave of support from thousands and thousands of people who liked this Barbara, and that’s going to be what sticks with me.

HOWEVER, and this is the no bullshit truth, I think this team coming up is committed, gifted, and sincere. Some of the stuff I was concerned about, I was told at first that they didn’t want to keep the current cast (pretty common when a new team takes over) which would have meant taking  Alysia out and that was a huge concern, but they say she is staying in the book, even if she’s not a roomie anymore. 

The new costume has captured the imaginations of thousands of people who have never read the book, that can only be a good thing. I met Babs Tarr and she was lovely and excited for the upcoming adventure.

And the big thing is that DC is behind it, I think they really see the potential. 

The art looks excellent, the writers seem to be putting their hearts into it, there’s a wave of support from the pro and reader and retailer communities, and all of that spells good things for Barbara’s book.

I admit, I will miss her a lot, history tells me I will miss her for many years to come. But if the book is a massive hit, that will delight me beyond words. In particular, I like the look of the thing, and how it deviates from a house style. I wish the new team all the best in the world. They are the story, now, and that is really how it’s supposed to be. 

Hope that all makes sense.!