Batgirl

A lovely red-haired crime-fighter who functions periodically, from January 1967 onward, as the crime-fighting colleague of Batman and Robin (Det No. 359: "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl"), Batgirl is in reality Barbara Gordon, once the head librarian of the Gotham City Public Library, more recently a congresswoman from Gotham City, She is the daughter of Police Commissioner James W. Gordon, and therefore presumably the sister of Tony Gordon, though this latter fact is never actually stated.

Barbara is highly trained in both judo and karate, holds a Ph.D. from Gotham State University, from which she graduated summa cum laude , and is gifted with a photographic memory.

For her role as Batgirl, Barbara wears a close-fitting black costume with a bat-eared blue cowl, a long blue cape, and a yellow stylized bat-insignia emblazoned across her breast. She also wears yellow finned gaunt­ lets with matching high-heeled boots and a yellow "weapons belt" with a yellow bat-shaped buckle. Attached to the weapons belt is a red "weapons bag" decorated with a stylized bat-insignia in black. From beneath her cowl, her long flame-red hair flows out behind her. Her principal means of transportation is a carefully "restyled," specially equipped motorcycle called the "bat-bike".

The texts refer to Batgirl as the Bat-Beauty, the Chic Crime-Fighter, the Dominoed Dare-Doll, and the Masked Maiden.

In January 1967 Killer Moth and his henchmen ­- the so-called "moth-mob" - launch a vicious protection racket in Gotham City, waylaying and beating up the city's millionaires and then demanding $100,000 each from their victims in return for calling the brutal beatings to a halt.

One evening, while librarian Barbara Gordon is on her way to the Policemen's Masquerade Ball in a colorful "Batgirl" costume that she has designed es­pecially for the occasion. she sees the moth-mob bring Bruce Wayne's car to a stop by enmeshing it in power­ful "glistening strands of gooey substance" fired from their special weapons, and then drag Wayne into the street.

The incident represents a moment of truth for Barbara Gordon, for up until this moment, in spite of her attractive figure and her undisputed educational and professional attainments, she has felt dissatisfied with her mundane life, unhappy that "the whole world thinks I'm just a plain Jane--a colorless female 'brain'!" Now, however, she leaps to Wayne's aid, calling out to him to run for safety while she bravely battles the ruthless criminals. "He's always regarded me as a mousey sort of person !" muses Barbara. "I wonder what he'd say if he knew who it was coming to rescue him!"

Wayne pretends to flee, but only long enough to enable him to change into his Batman costume and leap back into the fray. Some members or the moth­ mob are taken prisoner, but Killer Moth escapes by hurling Barbara Gordon into the "cocoon-like folds" of the gooey substance surrounding Wayne's car, thus forcing Batman to abandon the chase in order to extricate his ally from the sticky trap.

Batman is disturbed that Killer Moth has escaped, but Barbara Gordon is ecstatic about the exciting turn her life has just taken: "Her eyes sparkle! Her breath comes faster! Her heart thumps with alarming speed! Babs Gordon is having the time of her life--fully alive to this new excitement and danger--and loving it!…"

Barbara explains to Batman that she was on her way to the Policemen's Masquerade Ball when she saw the moth·mob attack Bruce Wayne's car. Now that her costume has been ruined in the fighting, she continues, she will have to abandon her plans for the evening, but she refuses to tell Batman her true identity, particularly since he obviously has no intention of reciprocating by revealing his own. "For all I know," she thinks to herself, "this marks the debut and farewell appearance of Batgirl! It was fun while it lasted…"

The next day, back at her post at the Gotham City Public Library, Barbara Gordon ponders the exciting events of the night before. "I almost wish I'd never made that Batgirl costume!" she muses. "Now my life seems empty and humdrum!"

Soon afterward, Bruce Wayne receives a threatening note from the moth-mob, informing him that unless he agrees to pay $100,000 in protection money, incidents like the one of the previous night will recur. By check­ing with other Gotham City millionaires, Wayne learns that nine other men are being similarly victimized. He instructs Alfred to deliver a note to the payoff site announcing his refusal to pay the extortion money and his intention to remain closeted in the Wayne mansion, surrounded by policemen. Actually, however, the note is part of Batman's elaborate plan to lure Killer Moth and his henchmen into a carefully laid trap. Indeed, as Batman had expected, Killer Moth is enraged at Wayne's note, carefully watches the Wayne mansion until he is certain that there are no policemen on the scene, and then sets out with his moth-mob to murder Bruce Wayne.

Meanwhile, a rare edition or the Bay Psalm Book ordered by Bruce Wayne has arrived at the Gotham City Public Library, and Barbara Gordon, uncomforta­ble about leaving the valuable edition in the library overnight, decides to carry it out to the Wayne mansion after work. As she draws near the mansion, she hears the crackle of gunfire and, through an open window, sees what appears to be the body of Bruce Wayne crumpling under a fusillade of bullets.

Following the incident on the night of the masquer­ade party, however, Barbara Gordon had found herself unwilling to abandon her Batgirl career entirely. She had kept in fighting shape through "intensive exercise" and a "special protein diet," and had created an elabo­rate new Batgirl costume - "just in case" the oppor­tunity ever arose for her to become Batgirl again ­which converts her normal-looking street clothes into the colorful Batgirl costume within a mailer of seconds.

Now, having witnessed what appears to have been the murder of Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon changes to Batgirl and springs into action against the ruthless moth-mob. Inside the mansion, however, Batman and Robin, who are in places of concealment, are dismayed at Batgirl's interference in their trap. At an opportune moment in the battle, when the criminals have knocked Batgirl toward the Dynamic Duo's hiding place, Bat­man and Robin quietly grab her so that Killer Moth and his men will have the opportunity to escape. They explain to her that it was only a Bruce Wayne dummy which she had seen "murdered" at the window, and that they had hoped to follow the villains back to their Moth Mansion hideaway so that they could capture the entire gang and recover all of the money extorted from Gotham City's millionaires.

"Ohhh!" cries the dismayed Batgirl. "I've spoiled everything!"

Robin consoles her, however, by explaining that all is not lost. He has mar.aged to bug the villains' "moth­ mobile" with a "magnetic tracking device" which will enable them to track the criminals to their hideout. Batgirl insists on going with them, but Batman refuses. "No, Batgirl!" he says firmly. "This is a case for Batman and Robin! I'm sorry--but you must understand that we can't worry ourselves about a girl…"

In spite of Batman's admonition, however, Batgirl follows closely behind them on her bat-bike. "Worry about a girl, eh?" she muses wryly. "Hah! If they think they can cut me off from where the action is, they're mistaken!"

At the Moth Mansion, Batman and Robin are taken prisoner and locked inside a "gravity-free chamber" where they are doomed to float helplessly until Killer Moth and his henchmen are ready to kill them.

Although Batman later indicates that he had already concocted a plan for escaping from the gravity-free chamber, it is nevertheless Batgirl who arrives on the scene, frees the Dynamic Duo from the trap, and then locates Killer Moth-who is hiding behind a secret panel in the Moth Mansion's "moth-master control room" - by smelling the traces of her own perfume that have lingered on the villain since his encounter with her earlier that evening at the Wayne mansion.

"Looks as if you have a new member of the team, Batman!" observes Police Commissioner Gordon, after Killer Moth and his henchmen have been safely imprisoned. "Or will she prove to be a crime-fighting rival?"

"I'll welcome her aid, Commissioner Gordon," replies Batman, "--when and where the occasion arises! From what I've seen, she doesn't have to take a back seat to anybody!".