Art Reflecting Art

A lot of response has come out of the Batgirl/Oracle news. Some negative, some positive. But I happened upon this piece from the webcomic Gutters and felt I needed to share it. Click to enlarge.

Now I know how my op/ed hit a lot of people. This really gutted me. Written by Ryan Sohmer, illustrated by Ron Chan, this comic is definitely one of the best things to come out of the news so far. You may remember Gutters, they brought us the more light-hearted Angry Birds of Prey recently too, which I also loved.

If you are interested in seeing more Oracle-inspired art, check out the Oracle Create-A-Thon going on now. Some very cool work has gone up there already and they invite you to submit your own.

5 Responses to “Art Reflecting Art”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I've heard the argument that, in context, it's unrealistic for Barbara Gordon to remain disabled. In the DC Universe, dead people are resurrected and hopelessly ill or injured people are cured all the time. That may be true as far as it goes; I just don't agree with the other miraculous cures and resurrections, either. In fact, DC now has only two plots: (1) kill or cripple characters, and (2) revive or cure them later.

  2. CJ says:

    DC needs to see/read what the fans are saying about this.
    I'm in a wheelchair due to Cerebal Palsy, have been all my life, and Barbara Gordon/Oracle is one of my heroes. My parents think I'm insane for getting so upset about the 'reboot' but most people don't get it. Real people can't reboot like a computer program or comic character and there will most likely be a lot of kids wondering why Oracle is gone and asking the very same questions of their parents who will have to break it to them that no, they can't.

    UI'm not looking forward to that conversation with the other kids on my bus….Thanks alot DC. Thanks alot.

  3. HG Neto says:

    That was really heartbreaking. And it only emphasises the whole Oracle question.
    I'm an English teacher, and I have a student who suffers from MND (Motor Neurone Disease). She's only 13. Since we started having classes, I've tried to show her examples of people who were in a similar situation ,in all media, so she could not only relate, but have a reason to study English as a foreign language. You probably wouldn't be surprised about how difficult it is to find it….

    But Oracle was there. And suddenly, she was not only into comics, but also learning english at an astonishing rate. Oracle was an example for her, of how she can be so much more, if she never gives up. What will I tell her now? I mean, really: this may sound like I'm just cashing in for attention, but I'm truly without words for her. The words "Reboot" will mean nothing, she will just know that one of the only characters she could relate to, is no more.

    What will I tell her?

  4. adrian says:

    i was kinda concerned with this strip, until i thought about it a bit more. i initially thought a little too much about art reflecting life and took this as real people having a conversation. then i remembered it's comics referencing comics. of course the kid can have a reboot in a comic. irritating that most of the people my housemate works with can't though. she's been an advocate for several non profits focusing on people with all types of disabilities. occasionally she'll have them over the house and i'll meet them. Unfortunately diversity has come to mean "looks different" more than then built/operably different.

  5. Jimitre says:

    Thanks for sharing the touching comic and the link.

    My best friend in the whole world…my brother from another mother as the cool kids say…is wheelchair-bound due to a combination of
    Dystonia and Cerebral Palsy. He gets really excited about heroes he can relate to (like the dude from Avatar) so this whole portion of the reboot bugs me…especially considering DC is claiming a lot of the changes are in order to focus on some of the diversity among heroes. Fail!