Marguerite Bennett is a new writer on the DC scene, but she’s been given the important task of writing the Batgirl tie in to the Bat-family prequel event Zero Year that is playing out in the issues of Batman. You might remember her as another of Scott Snyder’s proteges, like James Tynion IV. She’s already written the Batman Annual #2 that came out recently and will be working on a issue of Justice League during Villain’s Month starring DC’s ‘The Main Man’ bounty hunter, Lobo. In an interview conducted by The Mary Sue, readers will be able to catch a bit more of a glimpse of what will go into the earliest appearance of Barbara Gordon in the DCnU. She has heavily researched Gail Simone’s run on Batgirl in attempt to make a young Barbara Gordon; one that could plausibly evolve into the Batgirl we see in her current on-going.
I poured over Gail’s Batgirl issues (behaving equal parts “meticulous” and “madwoman”) until I felt I had a solid grasp on Barbara’s nature in the New 52. (Seriously, my comics and trades—yes, I’m one of those people who buy both—are studded all over with Post-It notes and scribbled observations.) Zero Year predates everything on Gail’s run, including the #0 issue, but I wanted to make sure that this story began the formation of the person that grew up to be Gail’s Batgirl, the character I adore above almost any other in the DCU. Beyond that, Zero Year has allowed a lot of freedom in the molten chaos of Gotham before the coming of Batman, and all I can say is that I hope you enjoy it.
When asked about if she had any input on Barbara’s first costume during the Zero Year, Bennett had a few things to say.
I’m really delighted with how Barbara’s first battlegear came out. (I feel like I should be a doting mother, snapping pictures of her in her first kickass costume.) Katie and I had discussed how Barbara might look during the course of the Zero Year, how her youth and circumstances might’ve influenced her physicality and appearance from her clothing to her haircut to her build. I incorporated those concepts into the narrative, including the scene in which Barbara acquires and dons her first costume out of…things I’m…probably not supposed to reveal yet. (Sorry. :/)
Katie sent the scene to Alex Garner …who drew us a series of tremendous renderings of Babs à la guerre. Together we selected the final design, which I hope you think is just as freaking cool as I do.
Following this up, she was asked how she feels Barbara is as a character, and her own personal take on her.
As Batman is about justice and obsession, as Batwoman is about service as soldiers serve, to me, Barbara Gordon is about recovery—recovery in the sense of healing from traumas both mental and physical, recovery in the sense of rescuing what was once lost, recovery in the sense of redeeming what had been considered worthless or unworthy. My love for her stems both from her compassion and her ferocity, her willingness to admit her uncertainty as well as her anchored convictions. Her duality—encompassing the loss and the rescue, the fighter and the healer—draws me as much as it delights me. I hope I can bring that to the page for you.
The interview goes by more about her own personal interests, but something of note is that her favorite DC Character other than Batman would be Batwoman in the Nu52. We will see how she brings a young Barbara Gordon to life this fall, when Batgirl #25 is released November 13th.
Source: The Mary Sue
