10 Awful DC Superheroes Who Were Successfully Reinvented
2. Batwoman
Why She Was Awful
Both the Pre-Crisis, and the current Batwoman is Katherine Kane, a wealthy heiress who fights crime. This is entirely where the similarities end.
The original was created in 1956 as a response to Frederic Wertham, who had accused Batman of Robin of being a homosexual parable.
Even though the original introduction of Batwoman in Detective Comics 233 featured her as a serious rival to Batman in crime-fighting, she quickly established herself as a complete joke of a vigilante. A particular favourite is weaponry in her utility belt discussed as feminine hygiene and costmetic products, presumably to strike fear into the hearts of confused criminals. "Oh, she's just going for her lipstick, for she is, clearly, of the female gender, nothing to fea.. AAAGH!" Less than a decade later, however, Batgirl was introduced as a new female counterpart to Batman, and proved far more popular (which makes sense for one thing, she didn't try to detain criminals using a hair net).
How She Was Fixed
Batwoman was reintroduced into DC continuity in 2006 as Kate Kane, a wealthy woman who also happens to have a background in the military. This Batwoman is every bit Batman's counterpart, protecting the city in his absence while he was dead. The character no longer served the sole purpose of being a love interest for Batman, as during the reveal of the character it was announced she is a lesbian.
Batwoman successfully survived the transition into the New 52, and remains the only lesbian woman to have her own ongoing book in mainstream comics. She's certainly one of the more compelling characters in the Bat-family, a leader in the truest sense, and a fantastic symbol of LGBT* representation in the DC Universe.
Her relationship with Maggie Sawyer is among the most genuine-feeling relationships anywhere in comics; Batwoman proposing to her while in full crime-fighting gear, in the heat of the battle, will always be one of my most memorable moments in the New 52. This isn't to suggest in the slightest that Batwoman is a character book - the action in it is great. She teams up with Wonder Woman to kill monsters, and saves Gotham city, as well as a bunch of kidnapped children, fights Killer Croc a whole bunch... it's really terrific stuff.