Oracle fans may have found themselves disappointed when DC decided to make Barbara Gordon Batgirl again (thus depriving readers of a valuable disabled icon), but the move wasn't completely bad; it did, of course, give us the Batgirl of Burnside, a series that showcased Barbara going back to university in the trendy Gotham suburb of the same name.
A new change in surroundings necessitated a change in look, and the task fell to Babs Tarr. Tarr became the first woman to draw Batgirl long-term, joining fellow creatives Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart to revamp the character four years into DC's controversial New 52 experiment. The resulting change was exemplified by Tarr's redesign, which imbued Batgirl with a hefty dose of purple while departing from the darker tones that had until then typified Gordon's experience in DC's new mythos.
The combo of purple and yellow is fairly synonymous with the character, but the best thing about Gordon's new look was that it was so stylish.
Instead of it being a traditional superhero costume, her jacket was almost like a biker's, giving the suit a more DIY, assembled-at-home kind of look.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
