9. In The Comics She Was Supposed To Make Robin Less Gay
Oh, and there was one other Batgirl besides that it's just that she got retconned a long, long time ago, and unlike the others has never made a return to the established continuity. The Batman comics changed a lot in the wake of Fredric Wertham's Seduction Of The Innocent, the infamous pop-psychology book that (incorrectly) read the Caped Crusader's relationship with Robin as somehow immoral. Still, the book was a best seller and the ensuing publicity caused DC to reconsider how one of its major characters did business. So, to make their character seem essentially less gay, they introduced Batwoman. By day, she was socialite Kathy Kane; by night, she was a vigilante whose costume had clearly not had as much thought put into it as her gentleman lover's. Except then the whole queer vibe got brought up again, with Robin jealous of all the time Batman was spending with his new girlfriend instead of gallivanting around town with his sidekick. Which is where Batgirl came in! As Batwoman was brought in as a plot device to show that Batman was totally straight, don't worry about that, the original Batgirl did the same for Dick Grayson. Bette Kane was Kathy's niece, and insisted on being her sidekick after figuring out her secret identity.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
