Comic Book Lessons in Analytics — Batgirl

Batgirl, Oracle… Never underestimate a girl on a mission

Barbara Gordon grew up raised by her father, a single parent who was also a policeman (later Commissioner) in Gotham City. Gotham, a city once described as “11 minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November”.

Her father was rarely home but loved her very much. He was also honest about his work, skimming over details at first but less so as she got older. Barbara was a brilliant student, acing tests to the point of being allowed to skip grades and enter higher-level classes while very young.

Jim, her father, wanted her to go to college and find success in a career that would get her into a safe, happy life and out of Gotham City forever.

Barbara had other ideas.

To be fair, I wouldn’t want my daughter to be a cop, either. Or live in Gotham City.

Barbara began to train. She kept up her studies, but her heart was in the night, jumping across rooftops and fighting crime. Batman tried to shut her down at first, but he eventually decided that it was better to train and monitor her than to spend half his time trying to stop her.

Over time, Barbara became part of the team. She fought with Batman and Robin against Gotham’s bizarre set of criminals. There were some missteps…

Hey Robin, I’m pretty sure her eyes are a little higher up

Barbara loved being Batgirl. As time passed, she also enrolled in college and excelled in mathematics and computer forensics, keeping her father happy while developing useful skills for her crime-fighting efforts.

Being Batgirl was always dangerous. But, ultimately, that wasn’t the problem.

The end of the beginning

I’m not going to dwell on the story told in The Killing Joke, because it depicts a series of horrible crimes but is also an excellent graphic novel to read.

Suffice to say, the day came when it all fell apart. Batgirl could be no more.

This is all you get. Read the book.

Barbara is attacked by the Joker. It has nothing to do with Batgirl.

Barbara is shot, attacked, left paralyzed, and humiliated because the Joker is trying to prove a point to Jim Gordon. And, of course, to Batman.

After the attack, Barbara spent months in rehabilitation. She was incredibly depressed.

All she had ever wanted was to fight criminals, and she felt that the Joker, the very worst, had taken it away from her forever.

Until one fateful day, when Bruce Wayne came to visit her in the hospital. First, he cared about Barbara. Second, he had intentionally never learned how to accept defeat, and he was not going to let Barbara learn it now.

“Are you really going to let that clown beat you this easily?”

Barbara threw a vase at him. After a long silence, Bruce left. As time passed, Barbara started to think about one of the strategies Batman had taught her: when your enemy takes away one of your weapons, you just use the next one.

Oracle

I told you that story to tell you this one. Once Barbara accepted that her days as Batgirl were over, she came up with another method of fighting crime.

Barbara set up her own version of a Batcave in a clock tower owned by Wayne industries and preserved as a historical structure. Instead of rocks and bats and souvenirs, however, she created a computing setup that any analyst (or gamer) would kill to own.

This is one corner. There’s more in every direction.

Barbara spent years in the clock tower, hacking into every system she could find and making contacts with ‘information brokers’ around the world. She received intelligence from miliary satellites, scientific communications, emergency transmissions, and Internet boards without discriminating.

In order to protect her clock tower data, Barbara invented new levels of encryption, constantly evolving firewalls, and other layers of security.

To protect both her data and herself, she became Oracle.

While Oracle originally worked with Batman and his allies exclusively, it didn’t take long for the rest of the Justice League to start calling on her whenever they needed help.

When J’on J’onzz once asked Batman if he had given Barbara access to the Watchtower, Batman laughed, “as if she needed my help to get in.” It should be noted that Batman had designed that security system with help from Mr. Terrific and Cyborg.

Oracle was monitoring and helping almost every hero in the DC universe. She also kept a close eye on the villains, as well as criminal networks online.

Everyone called on her for help, or, just as often, heard from her before they realized they needed her help in the first place.

Even the Green Lanterns shared information and called on her for help. They have access to a data source with information covering literally the entire universe, and they called on Oracle when they need better intelligence.

She also started and mentored a few heroes of her own, as well as a new team called the Birds of Prey, all from her seat in the clock tower (most of the time). She even mentored a new Batgirl, a reformed villain called the Spoiler.

By devoting herself to advanced Business Intelligence, Oracle became an invaluable resource to the heroic community all around the world.

Batgirl Returns

Around 2010, after the latest DC universe reboot (the “New 52”, which they are currently in the process of unraveling), it was revealed that Jim Gordon found a clinic offering an experimental treatment for spinal injury patients like Barbara. The treatment was successful, and Barbara happily reclaimed the mantle of Batgirl, though she works alone now more often than not.

I wouldn’t mess with her

While the hero community welcomed her back as Batgirl, she was surprised to find how much Oracle was missed by everyone, even herself. No one wanted her back in wheelchair, of course, but Oracle fulfilled a desperate need for information, communication, and assistance that no one else could fill.

Lately, a rather talented (if annoying) hacker has managed to work his way into Batgirl’s life. He deduced her identity as Oracle and, when she went back out on the rooftops, he began trying to fulfill the role she had played.

He screwed up pretty badly, although with mostly good intentions. But he’s no Barbara Gordon, and, though she’s letting him try, he’s no Oracle.

Maybe no one else can take her place. But just as multiple DC characters have been known to say there must be a Batman, perhaps there must be an Oracle.