Batgirl #1

History

The series was born out of DC's September 2011 'New 52' line-wide relaunch, in which all 52 ongoing titles reset to #1 following the conclusion of the Flashpoint crossover event. DC editorial assigned Gail Simone — who had spent years defining Barbara Gordon's voice through her celebrated Birds of Prey run — to write the title, a pairing that was widely seen as the most logical creative choice for handling the controversial restoration of Barbara's mobility. Indonesian penciller Ardian Syaf, who had recently completed a two-year exclusive contract with DC, was brought on to design the New 52 look for Batgirl and served as the series' primary artist for its first year; Vicente Cifuentes inked, Ulises Arreola Palomera colored, and Adam Hughes provided the cover. Simone's tenure on the book would itself become a footnote in editorial history when she was abruptly fired in December 2012 by incoming editor Brian Cunningham, then reinstated days later after substantial fan backlash — an episode that underscored how protective readers had become of her stewardship of the character.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published September 7, 2011 (cover-dated November 2011) as part of DC's New 52 line-wide relaunch; the story is titled 'Shattered.'
• Written by Gail Simone; pencils by Ardian Syaf; inks by Vicente Cifuentes; colors by Ulises Arreola Palomera; cover by Adam Hughes.
• Marks the in-continuity return of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl after roughly 23 years (real-world time) during which she had been depicted as the paraplegic Oracle, a role she held from 1989 onward following the events of Batman: The Killing Joke.
• First appearance of The Mirror, the debut villain of the arc, a former soldier who targets survivors of 'miraculous' near-death events because his own family perished while he survived.
• First appearance of Alysia Yeoh — unnamed in this issue but later revealed to be a transgender woman of Singaporean descent — who becomes Barbara's roommate; she would go on to be recognized as the first major trans character written in a contemporary context in mainstream American comics.
• In the New 52 continuity, Barbara's paralysis is compressed to three years and her recovery is described as a near-miraculous event rather than an explicitly technological fix; the issue deliberately withholds detailed explanation, foregrounding her lingering PTSD and survivor's guilt instead.
• The mysterious figure Pandora — a character who appeared silently in every single New 52 #1 issue as a narrative thread tying the relaunch together — makes a background cameo, visible as a reflection in a hospital window.
• The first arc (issues #1–6, 'The Darkest Reflection') was collected in a trade paperback that became a New York Times Best Seller; the issue itself went to at least a third printing, reflecting substantial reader demand at launch.

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Variants (3)