Consequences

From "Our Valued Customers," regarding the new Batgirl #1:



Not to be dramatic...but I kind of agree.

Despite what you might think about the original intentions and manner in which Barbara Gordon was made a cripple, the subsequent 20 years of character development and storytelling that followed as a product were nearly unparalleled in their symbolic and dramatic importance in the world of comics. This is because it served as an example that:

A) Crimefighting in comics can have deadly, serious consequences and repercussions, and the hero does not get to settle down in the bat-cave, satisfied with their night's work at the end of each story.

B) The characters (and readers) cannot count on cosmic influences, magic, or lazy editorial decisions to render such consequences moot with a "reset button." In a genre where death is always seemingly temporary - and thus always a joke to readers - it's important to fight the trend and show that this is not always necessarily true. Because if the writers aren't going to take the consequences of their characters' actions seriously, then why should I?

and

C) When faced with devastating tragedy with no "reset button" in sight, characters can still work through their seemingly insurmountable setbacks and come out stronger for it - by accepting and owning their setbacks, and not cheaply wiping the slate clean. In other words, the "reset button" is not only dramatically distasteful, it's entirely unnecessary for the character in the first place.

Gordon was far more interesting, likeable, and three-dimensional as Oracle than she ever was - or arguably ever could be - as Batgirl. Gordon showed us that death and injury could be permanent, and that her strength was in her ability to work beyond her paralysis.

Now she's just another crimefighter in a cape - and the industry's strongest example of why the drama of comics should be taken seriously has gone out the window.