How Did Batman and Barbara Gordon Deal With Batman's Back Being Healed?

CBR

By Brian Cronin

Published May 28, 2019

In their latest spotlight on comic plots we wished we could forget, CSBG looks at Batman's interaction with Barbara Gordon after his back was healed.

In Remember to Forget, we spotlight comic book stories that I wish I could forget, but I can’t, so I instead share them with you all!

Today, based on a suggestion by my pal Gene M. and with an answer from another pal, Joshua Lapin-Bertone, we take a look at the utterly bizarre way that Batman handled the fact that his back was healed following Knightfall while Barbara Gordon remained unable to walk due to her injuries suffered during Batman: The Killing Joke.

Okay, obviously, we all know that the Joker shot Barbara Gordon during the one-shot, Batman: The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. The scenes are so graphic that I try to avoid showing them when possible. But anyhow, suffice it to say that Barbara Gordon ended up in a wheelchair after being shot in the torso by the Joker (presumably, the bullet damaged her spine badly enough for it to prevent her from walking).

Barbara being awesome, she then became a superhero through her computer knowledge. She became Oracle, a hacker superhero. She got involved with the Suicide Squad and became a member of the team, even becoming the leader of the team at one point. Batman and Oracle had a chance for a real heart to heart in Suicide Squad #59 (by John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Geof Isherwood and Robert Campanella)...

That was almost four years after Killing Joke, but it's something!

Okay, a couple of years after that, by which point Oracle had become a recurring supporting character in the Batman titles (but not yet FULLY integrated. She'd show up from time to time. It would be a little bit longer before she became a regular supporting cast member), Batman had his back broken by Bane in Batman #497 (by Doug Moench, Jim Aparo and Mike DiCarlo)...

As I explained in a recent post here, Batman had his back healed by, in effect, magic...

Okay, so Bruce Wayne then come back to Gotham City and takes over as Batman once more (he had left the Batman title in the hands of Jean-Paul Valley and Valley promptly went power mad).

RIGHT after that storyline ended, Zero Hour began and through a shift in the Multiverse, suddenly reality was altered and instead of Barbara being shot by the Joker during The Killing Joke, it was Commissioner Gordon! And he died! Barbara then went back to being Batgirl, so this version of Batgirl showed up in the "main" reality in Batman #511 (by Doug Moench, Mike Manley and Joe Rubinstein)...

Batman enlists Oracle's help figuring out the mess with her double and when she brings up his healed back...dude HANGS UP ON HER!

Damn, Batman, you're a total jerk!

And I know you might say, "Yeah, but Batman IS a jerk," and I guess that might be true, but this seems over the top, even for him.

After reality gets shifted again, Batgirl still remains in this reality, and she actually visits her other self and Batman has a chance to redeem himself but, well, nope...