um hello!! im very new to comics, but of the characters Iāve seen so far, I really like Barbara and I was just wondering if you had any comic recommendations on where to start..? its very confusing trying to get into it all, but Iād like to be able to hold a conversation about someone I find interesting with my boyfriend so I can hear him info dump on me more cus heās deep into dc so :)
Hi!!! That is so sweet omg š Welcome to the weird wonderful world of comics!!! and also iām so sorry for what Iām abt to throw at you lmao
Since youāve sent this ask into an Oracle-centric blog, Iām gonna keep this rec list Oracle!Babs-centric (& also encourage my fellow mods to add on if they also have some recs!) I actually donāt have a whole lot of recs for Batgirl!Babs anyways, but Iāll be tagging my gen dc blog at the end in case youād like to talk abt those or any other characters!
Also before I get Into the recs, I wanna give you some words of encouragement: thereās no right or wrong way to read! Youāre also likely gonna have some well a lot of confusion at the beginning, esp bc there will be Eventsā¢ļø that have ramificationsā¢ļø and youāre not always given full context of whatās come before or whatās happening concurrently with what youāre reading. Iāve been doing this for awhile and if Iāve learned anything, itās that the more that you read & explore, the more fun youāll have & the more things will usually start to make sense! But itās all gotta start somewhere first! :D and youāve def chosen a great character to be your launching point!
Im gonna be hopping around a bit in my recs here but Iāll try to keep it mostly in chronological order. That said, first up:
Suicide Squad (1987) - she appeared semi-regularly starting in #23! This was also her debut as Oracle! I really enjoyed the overall run & would normally highly recommend it, but also want to warn that itās a pretty heavy read in terms of content itself (canon-typical violence ofc esp for a SuiSq comic, discussions of suicide ideation, period typical stereotyping/āsubversionā of said stereotypes, but thatās a deeper discussion for a different blog) For that reason, I donāt necessarily recommend it for a first-time reader, esp if youāre wanting to solely focus on Babs. Team books usually arenāt super great when youāre reading for an individual character, in my experience, esp in a case like this where the character isnāt always necessarily part of the team or appears sporadically enough to disrupt the flow of following a storyline.
Birds of Prey (1999) - This team book breaks that prev rule tho, bc Babs is the leader & is in Damn near every issue of this run š Thereās several smaller team-ups before the main ā99 run (BoP:Manhunt, BoP:Wolves, etc), which are also good as a prelude before the main run itself. This will be the longest thing that will give you a LOT to parse through & ymmv with a lot of it. (Dixon & Simone are the most prominent writers for it & without getting Into It they each have their Issuesā¢ļø & Crimesā¢ļø) It also crosses over with a few events/references others. Imo itās a good window into what comics are like overall, esp when you get into a longer run with multiple writers at the helm. But it has an added bonus of keeping a pretty small cast at its forefront (for about half the run, itās solely Babs n Dinah!) It also has a follow-up run in 2010 which is broken up by-
Oracle: The Cure - (technically a 3-issue mini-series but!!!) this oneās a culmination of Oracle & Calculatorās (itās not rivalry? That canāt be the right wordā¦ Uhhh, nemesis-sitch?) from BoP & leads right into bringing Babs back to Gotham in Stephās Batgirl run as well as the next BoP run I mentioned just a sec ago. Itās what I like to call connective (t)issues lol. Ymmv I think depending on if youāve read BoP ā99/TT ā03 beforehand, but I hadnāt read a lot of TT before reading it at the time, and I enjoyed it a lot!
A couple individual issues I wanna suggest:
Batman Chronicles #5 - Oracle: Year One!!!!! Cannot rec this one enough!!! In lieu of reading Killing Joke (which really only serves Bruce, Joker, Jim Gordonās characters) read this!!! LICHERALLY her origin in coming into her own as Oracle!!! This one is THE place to start, actually, before you read anything start here š
Batman: Gotham Knights #6 - okay, this one is admittedly a self-indulgent rec. Without spoiling the plot, itās CLASSIC soap-opera level shit. The TENSION at play & the layers of Bruce & Babs dynamic, the messiness of the batfam!!! š *chefs kiss* GK as a run in general too was a LOT of fun for me & Babs is a pretty prominent player in much of it, but this issue rlly takes the cake for me ngl
And to tie it all together for an extra couple of Important Event recs that youāll run into esp if you pick up BoP first:
Batman: No Manās Land - okay, this event was a Behemoth. Itās a LOT to read, but it is REALLY good imo as a launching point for where Bat-comics were at the start of the millennium. Babs takes the narrative role SO many times throughout & she rlly comes into her own by becoming a linchpin for the info system she builds for the batfam. Again, I donāt wanna discourage you when I say itās a Long read, bc itās well worth it imo, but also 100% okay to skip when youāre just starting out! Itās a big time sink!
Batman: Officer Down - okay put away the meme forJUST A SEC, our old friend Jim Gordonās been shot & itās up to Batma- oh wait bruce sulks by Jimās bedside while Babs rallies the troops and GETS SHIT DONE to find who shot her dad? INTERESTING š§ In all seriousness tho, & compared to NML, this is a much easier bite-sized event that can give you a taste of what Event/crossoverComicsā¢ļø are generally like š
Bruce Wayne: Murderer?/Fugitive - okay so, take that same energy of the batfam having to Put In The Work to help Bruce out & flip it around bc now Bruce is the Main Suspect. The drama, the Intrigueā¢ļø. Pretty much everyone in the fam gets a moment to shine & this is def peak of how Babs fits into the fam during this era. This one runs a bit on the longer side & babs is again, more of a support role here, but god damn I loved it a lot!
I feel like Iām obligated to at least Mention Batman: War Games, mostly to note that it finally shakes the foundation of Oracle being the batfamās main support (her CLOCKTOWER gets nerfed in this event š) If you read all of BoP and skip over this event & then are confused abt why Babs is suddenly being ejected from Gotham, just remember that her clocktower gets blown up, Steph dies, Bruce n Babs have a falling out & thatās basically why Babs starts flying around the country & settles in Metropolis for a bit instead of going back to Gotham. I reread this event at least once a year bc it gave me brainworms, I can not in good conscience recommend it to anyone bc no one understands her (War Games) like i do š Godspeed if you decide to read it o7
Other recs/mentions:
Batgirl (2000) - okay if you end up reading NML, youāll be introduced to Cass in it, & this run picks up with her. Babs is in it a LOT at the beginning as supporting cast to Cass (up to War Games ofc, but I wonāt say much more abt that lol) Iām ngl, when I was trying to get more into comics, this run was what HOOKED me
Batgirl (2009) - so in a similar vein, Babs also features as a support for Steph too in her batgirl run. Itāsā¦ different from Cassā run, but I also rlly love this one too. And also am forever bitter that the Batgirls run didnāt realize their potential BUT WEāRE NOT GETTING INTO THAT HERE.
Gonna mention Batman: Gotham Knights one more time bc again, while Babs isnāt a main focus, I think itās rlly good at tying the batfam together during that era & giving a reader glimpses into other characters/dynamics. I think I got more out of it after I had read a few other runs from this time period (namely Robin, Azrael & some prominent stuff with Huntress), but can also see it as a potential launching point for new readers too š if you wanna get more into the batfam/Batman but are intimidated by the Big Runs, this can potentially be a good bridge!
Gonna rapid fire mention that Babs as Oracle has a lot of appearances in Robin (93), Nightwing (96), JLA (96), Azrael (95) and obvsly Batman/Detective Comics from the 90s into 00s. Iāve read a few of these runs, and ymmv depending on how attached you may get to certain characters. But thatās what comics is all about! Getting attached and exploring other characters n teams n stuff!
A Gen note that I wanna end on: I wasnāt exaggerating when I said earlier abt how the more you read the more youāll have fun. I canāt even begin to count the number of times that Iāve read something from a 90s/00s comic & was essentially jumpscared by a sudden Oracle cameo that I wasnāt expecting! She pops up in so many things throughout the universe at the time!!! She was THE info broker for all the supers!!! It makes me so insane that DC threw that all away to magi-cure her and demote her back to batgirl when she had grown so much š
anyways I hope you have fun!!! And again if youāre ever looking for other recs my more Gen dc blog is @dyketectivecomics! If my fellow mods or anyone else have some recs to add or to dispute haha, Iāll be tagging this so others can see/rb/reply to add their recs too š
Okay! \o/ thatās all I got for now! Happy reading anon!!!!
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