Batgirl of Burnside

Batman is a straight male power fantasy. His daylight veneer is one of a playboy billionaire. His nighttime identity is that of a sculpted superhero all clad in black. In either take, he is a masculine bulwark against the evil in Gotham — which is why his villains are so often feminine, queer…

Welcome to Cast Party, a new feature that imagines a world with even more live action adaptations of our favorite comic books than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you're ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist.

For this first i…

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved i…

On Monday I reported on the controversy surrounding the most recent issue of Batgirl, issue #37, and the hurt it caused readers with the presentation of a character who played into transphobic tropes. On Tuesday we ran a piece by activist J. Skyler that further placed the story in the broader cultur…

In my online discussions of transgender representation in media, I’ve mentioned that I expect a degree of transphobia is every medium I read, watch or listen to. That’s simply how pervasive the problem is -- and it may take the form of a joke, an off-the-cuff remark, or a non-essential…

We've been pretty stoked about the cover to Batgirl #37 ever since we saw it way back in September, but here's something that might surprise you about the glittering, rhinestone-studded costume for our favorite Gotham City heroine: It's not just for the cover. It actually appears in t…

I've always been a pretty big fan of DC Collectibles' line of Batman: Black and White statues. Like the comic series of the same name, they put the spotlight onto visionary artists' distinctive interpretations of the character, and the results have been pretty awesome. Over the years,…

Years after her rebooted New 52 series debuted, the Bat Signal illuminates the iconic hero Batgirl more brightly than ever before in a retooled title written by Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher, drawn by Babs Tarr (from layouts by Stewart) and colored by Maris Wicks. A stark, dramatic departure …

Barbara Gordon is for girls. This truth has been obscured over the years, most notably in the Batman: The Killing Joke, in which the classic Batgirl was shot, sexually abused and paralyzed by the Joker and taken out of costume for decades. But just as Superman stands for unimpeachable hope and Batma…

By this point, you've probably noticed that we here at ComicsAlliance are already huge fans of the new Batgirl of Burnside costume making its debut next month in Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr's Batgirl #35, but there are some out there who don't like it. For a few ea…