DC Comics did not plan to have Barbara Gordon become Oracle after The Killing Joke’s release. Gordon was saved by the husband-wife writing duo of Suicide Squad in 1988. Kim Yale and John Ostrander worked together to reinvent Barbara and make her one of the most important DC Comics characters for the following years.
The Killing Joke is a landmark Batman story written by Alan Moore exploring the Batman-Joker relationship, and delivering one origin story for the Joker. In this story, the Joker shoots Barbara which results in paralyzation from the waist down. Even more controversially, he strips Gordon of her clothes and takes pictures of her to torment her father, a plot point still discussed to this day. Gordon was to be fridged — a term created by comic book writer Gail Simone to describe female characters whose stories are sacrificed for a male character. The term comes from Kyle Rayner’s Green Lantern, where his love interest Alexandra Dewit was compacted into a refrigerator.
After the release of The Killing Joke, Kim Yale and John Ostrander came up with the idea for Barbara to become Oracle, instead of her powerful character fading away. “Oracle” would be introduced in Suicide Squad #23, a hacker who would assist Task Force X. “Oracle” would be revealed to be Gordon in Suicide Squad #38 in 1990. Oracle would continue to assist Task Force X, and her partnership with Batman would not be developed until later on in 1992.
Oracle would set her roots in the Bat-Family during the 1990s and the transition story, written by Ostrander and Yale, is told in Oracle Year One, in The Batman Chronicles #5. Oracle Year One shows Gordon using her information skills from her career as a librarian to master the new computer-world, and training with DC martial artist, Richard Dragon. Birds of Prey became a monthly series after the popularity of its miniseries written by Chuck Dixon. Gail Simone, who had a popular run on the Birds of Prey would adopt the title in 2003. Oracle would become a key player in DC Comics’ line-up, making frequent appearances in monthly titles.
Without Kim Yale and John Ostrander, Oracle would have never been created. Barbara would have been forgotten and left behind. Gordon is one of the most interesting characters to be explored in Batman mythology and is critical to his operations. Barbara Gordon has returned to the Batgirl title since 2012, but her years as Oracle are not forgotten by the DC Community. Suicide Squad was an abnormal choice for the reemergence of Gordon but makes her character all the more riveting.