It looks like poor Steph is going to be erased from the DCU come the reboot as there hasn't been the slightest hint that her character will be involved in any way. As far as I know she's not been mentioned at all since the reboot was announced but I wonder why? They could at least confirm or deny the character's existence.

This character has always been given the short end of the stick, even though she's popular and has got a vocal fanbase online.

They bring her back after killing her off, only to dump her completely in the reboot, which I find odd.

Anyone else find it strange and kind of sad how this character has never been given the glory she deserves?

There are rumours circulating the t'interweb that she will return as Spoiler. I think the big hope for this is the fact that the Bat franchise (along with Green Lantern) isn't getting the reboot that the likes of Superman is getting. So when Nightwing begins it carries on from Dick giving Bruce the main mantle of the Bat back, and Batgirl is looking to include Barbara's time as the wheel-chair bound Oracle as key to her return to being Batgirl. Kathy Kane continues as Batwoman too. So there is hope that Stephanie is still around too.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/ten-...-110629-1.html

Its also important to remember that this 52 comic release in September is still only the first round of comic releases. Batman Incorporated doesn't get rebooted till January and then it gets to start at number one all again.

I thought Batman Inc was a goner, when I found out about the black Batman getting his own comic and costume, Batwing.

Yeah. Steph's been Dc's whipping girl since she debuted, what with starting that whole War Games thing, being 'sacked' as Robin and then killed off (and I doubt they had much intention of bringing her back at that point).

Then she finally gets writer that doesn't treat her like crap, just for her to be zapped in this pointless reboot, and for what? I can understand the idea that the big guns should always be the most recognised versions of those heroes, Clark, Bruce, Diana... But once you get into the Hal Jordans and the Barry Allens, you're already in nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia territory cos 99% of Joe Public (and all those new readers DC are convinced are gonna jump onboard the new 52) wouldn't give a flying fup if it was Kyle or Wally in the green and red.

And as for the idea of Barbara Gordon being the most iconic Batgirl? She's been an ex-batgirl for a lot longer than she was ever in the cape, and I really don't think putting her back in the costume is gonna bring in significantly/any more readers than if Steph had been allowed to carry on.

Not to mention the whole issue of Dc going back on their long standing promise that Barbara wouldn't walk again until there was a 'real world' cure that would have restored the use of her legs. Or apparently, some magical reboot designed to fix what wasn't broken.

You should also consider the Oracle fans (like myself) who currently buy everything featuring Oracle and consider that some of us are likely to be alienated by this and stop buying Babs related comics.

I also cannot shake off the feeling that Barbara's time as Oracle was only added to the new continuity _after_ the Batgirl announcement and after the massive backlash against her regression to Batgirl had occured.

Consider that we had to wait a couple of weeks for the Killing Joke to be confirmed as canon (at least I didn't see this earlier and I was reading everything I could find about this) and we had to wait a couple of weeks or so longer for it to be specifically confirmed that Barbara's time as Oracle would be part of the new continuity.

If, as DC now claim, Barbara's time as Oracle was so important, then why wasn't this part of the Barbara Gordon as Batgirl announcement ?

Why, when we were seeing heart felt opinion pieces about Oracle, and when we were seeing things like the Oracle create-a-thon, didn't DC just confirm this at that time ?

I'm absolutely perplexed about the whole Barbara Gordon situation - on wikipedia, the writers say that Killing Joke still happened, and so did Oracle, but with rehabilitation she's going to be Batgirl soaring through the sky etc etc. again? I mean, what?

"Oh Barbara, we've just realised that you weren't paralysed all along, it was just a piece of shrapnel. If we take that out, then a bit of rehab and you'll be Batgirl again in no time."

Either that or Bruce comes up with some sort of bionics or exo-skeleton for her to use, or a robot avatar.

Either way, it's stupid!

Now we know The Killing Joke still happened, the current theory is that Barbara's costume has a exo-skeleton built into it.

One other idea which occurred to me is that they may introduce into continuity a device similar to the one Dina Meyer's Oracle used in the live action BoP series which gave her mobility for a limited period of time. That device did come with repeated warnings in the BoP episodes about additional damage caused by long term use however.

^having just read the latest/last Detective Comics (or was it Batman - the one where she's been ##### by her brother). Anyway, the conclusion does kinda put her in the ideal position to have her leggings rebooted - guess we'll just have to wait until Sep07 (US time) to find out.