Tim Hanley's Blog

My pal Jack Phoenix has a great new podcast, The Comics Librarian Podcast, where he interviews people about the issues surrounding comic books in libraries. Jack is a librarian who loves comics and has written extensively on the subject, including his excellent book Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library: Graphic Novels, Manga, and More. Thus far the podcast has tackled topics like community and identity, digital ownership, adult content in comics, and the pressing question of whether or not Garfield is still cool.

And now he has an episode all about Batgirl, with me! Batgirl is a perfect fit for The Comics Librarian Podcast because Barbara Gordon was originally a librarian, though sadly that aspect of the character has fallen by the wayside. In her first appearance in 1968 she was a “Plain Jane” librarian who got her kicks dressing up as Batgirl to fight crime and using her research skills to track down criminals. She remained a fixture at the library until 1972, when she became a member of Congress. On the live action Batman TV show, Yvonne Craig’s Barbara was a librarian as well, solving clues with her librarian wits and often beating Batman to the scene of the crime.

When Barbara became Oracle in the 1990s, she used her research skills to become the information hub of the DC Comics universe, continuing the spirit of her original profession even though she wasn’t working as a librarian anymore. Subsequent attempts to bring her back to the library have failed, unfortunately, even though it feels like such a logical move for DC. They make books! Libraries are full of books! Having an awesome librarian character would be so much fun. But alas, DC seems to have a vendetta against librarians.

Check out the video version of my episode below, and go back through the other episodes as well! It’s a great new podcast for anyone who loves libraries and comics, like I do. You can follow Jack and his great work online as well. Bluesky is probably your best bet, but he’s on all the platforms. Enjoy!

I’m very honoured to announce that Betty and Veronica: The Leading Ladies of Riverdale has won a 2025 Independent Publisher Book Award gold medal in the Audiobook: Non-Fiction Informational category. I’ve never won a gold medal before, so this is a real treat! But to be honest, I had little to do with this prestigious prize.

All the credit goes to Colby Elliott, who produced the audiobook, narrated it, and released it through his company, Last Word Audio. He did an amazing job with it, and it’s such an engaging listen. The writing’s not bad, I suppose, but he brings the words to life with compelling skill. When he first sent me a recording of the initial chapters, I began to listen to them and got immediately drawn into the narrative and history of it all, as if it was new material and not a book I’d actually written! I couldn’t put it down, and I knew all the dang words. He’s so good at what he does, and it’s a delightful listen. If you missed the audiobook’s release when it first came out a while back, I strongly encourage you to check it out! It’s a wonderful listen, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks so much to the Independent Publisher Book Awards for this fantastic honour! I’m so pleased one of my books has won an IPPY. And even more pleased for Colby, who deserves all of the acclaim for this achievement. I remain forever grateful that he was able to bring the book to life, in a gold medal caliber performance, no less!

During the initial run of Batman: The Animated Series in the 1990s, Barbara Gordon only appeared in five of the original 85 episodes, two to establish the character on her own and three more as Batgirl. All five episodes were written by Brynne Chandler, credited at the time as Brynne Stephens, and while researching Never A Sidekick I was lucky enough to get to chat with her about creating this incarnation of the character. I’m sharing the full interview here for your reading enjoyment, and also for posterity so other historians can have her insights on her work. Conversations like these are invaluable when researching superheroes, especially ones that concern non-primary characters, and I hope this will be of use to future historians.

Brynne Chandler is a veteran animation writer who worked on shows like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before she joined Batman: The Animated Series. She wrote or co-wrote seven episodes while there, most of them centered on Barbara, setting up the character in the two-parter “Heart of Steel,” transitioning her into the cowl in the “Shadow of the Bat” two-parter, and penning a surprising team up when Batgirl teamed up with Catwoman in “Batgirl Returns.” After her time on Batman: The Animated Series, Brynne moved on to shows like Gargoyles and Spider-Man Unlimited. She’s also worked on manga and computer games in recent years, and remains an active writer today.

I chatted with Brynne over email in January 2024, and here is our full interview. Huge thanks to her for letting me share it!

How did you get hired on Batman: The Animated Series?

I had been writing animation since 1982, specializing in so-called boys’ action-adventure, so I was a natural fit for the show. I had also worked with, or was friends with — okay, or was married to one of — the Story Editors at one time or another so they knew me and they knew my work.

What was your familiarity with the world of Batman, and Batgirl specifically, before you worked on the show? In particular, were you familiar with The Killing Joke and DC’s recent “retirement” of Batgirl?

I grew up reading comic books. My favorites (after EC Horror) are the Batman and Superman comics of the 1950s and 1960s, so I was certainly familiar with Batman’s world.

My social circle, once I moved to LA in the early 1980s, included Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, and the late, beloved Len Wein and Marty Pasko, so I was very familiar with all things comic book-related. It was part of our dinner party conversation, so I knew of The Killing Joke, certainly.

I am not a fan of maiming, killing, and/or retiring characters generally, and I am not fond of the idea that new creators have to put their personal stamp on established characters by utterly destroying them first.

How did you approach writing Barbara in “Heart of Steel”? Was setting her up to be Batgirl in the future a key consideration? What attributes did you want to emphasize?

I approached Barbara/Batgirl the same way I approach any character. I wanted to honor her history while trying to bring something fresh to it. Setting her up as Batgirl was definitely a key consideration. That was my entire job on that show.

The attributes I wanted to emphasize were her independence, her toughness, her athleticism, and especially her fearlessness, and I’ve never been shy about pointing out that the Batgirl I wrote was considerably watered down by the time the episodes aired.

She is a cop’s daughter in a beleaguered city, not a privileged princess who put on a costume for a lark, but I was fighting a losing battle to bring that side of her out as much as I wanted to.

I also sincerely hated any hint that Barbara/Batgirl had any kind of crush on Batman. I believe that she saw him for exactly who he was, and while she might admire his mission, his skills, and his tech, she would also know that he was not someone to moon over. She doesn’t know he’s Bruce, so she has no idea where his crazy comes from.

Did you know you’d be writing all of Barbara/Batgirl’s appearances when you began?

No. I thought I was there to write about all of the characters, and I assumed that other people would also be writing about Barbara/Batgirl.

How did you approach introducing Barbara as Batgirl in “Shadow of the Bat”? What was key for you in establishing her heroic identity?

As I said, I really wanted to showcase her toughness, her athleticism, and her street smarts. You don’t get to be Commissioner Gordon in a place like Gotham City without understanding and living in reality, and he would absolutely have raised his daughter to do the same.

So I really wanted to showcase Barbara as a woman who exists on her own, as an individual, not making her decisions based on what men think she should do, not just reacting to men, and not automatically turning to men for answers.

“Batgirl Returns” has a very interesting twist, with Batgirl teaming up with Catwoman, a villain. Was giving Batgirl non-traditional, more creative tactics a goal for you?

Always. I was fighting the general perception that she was supposed to be cute and lively and I tried as hard as I could to turn that on its head, or at least to make her more than just those things. I didn’t always succeed.

Did you have other Batgirl stories you wanted to tell on the show?

Not really. I had other characters I wanted to write about, specifically the Penguin, but I was told that there was no interest in more Batgirl stories and no interest in having me write for any other characters. Frustrating, for sure, but not a huge shock.

Batman: The Animated Series had a high number of female writers. Was this unique for the period? Do you think it added something to the show?

It was unique, yes. When I started writing animation there were only four women in the country doing so, so yes, having any women or even more than one woman, was unique.

And of course it adds something to the show, to any show. The male gaze can be hilariously myopic.

Along the same lines, do you think having a female writer establish the show’s primary female superhero was important/helpful?

Maybe. I think it would have been better if they had not worked so hard to rein in my vision of who Barbara/Batgirl is. She wasn’t the star of the show and I get that, but all of the other supporting characters were fully developed. Harley Quinn — deservedly so — became a legend.

You didn’t return for The New Adventures of Batman. Had you moved on to other projects, or was there another reason you didn’t come back?

I wasn’t invited. That happens. I might also have been on Disney’s Gargoyles by that time.

While multiple writers handled Batgirl after you left, Hilary J. Bader wrote several of her key episodes, seemingly taking over your role as Batgirl’s caretaker. Did you follow the show after you left, and if so what did you think of Batgirl’s portrayal? Were you familiar with Bader, and do you have any thoughts on her work?

I did not follow the show after I left, but that’s normal. I don’t think I saw any episodes of the shows I’d written for at the time that they aired. I’ve seen very few of them after the fact, but I think that’s fairly normal for TV writers, especially in animation, since the time between finishing the script and the episode airing can be pretty long. Once the script is final, I was on to other things.

I was not familiar with Hilary J. Bader’s work, and that makes me sad. There were so few women writing this kind of stuff, I would love to have gotten to know her.

Do you have any other thoughts about Batgirl or Batman: The Animated Series you’d like to share?

She was fun to write, even if I didn’t get to go as far with her as I wanted to. And that particular show, written as it was by people who were not just friends, but family, was an incredible adventure. Getting to play in the same universe together was a profound privilege.

First things first, my copies of Never A Sidekick have arrived and they look so nice. Rowman & Littlefield always does such a great job putting my books together, and this one is no exception. I’m delighted with how this one turned out, and I hope all of you who pre-ordered a copy have it now and that you’re enjoying it as well. I’ve seen some folks on social media post about reading it, and it’s wonderful to know that the book is out in the world now.

Also, I’ve been talking about it a bunch! First up, I was on Holy BatCast #463, chatting with Andy about all of the Batgirls and how each character evolved over the years. It was a super fun conversation, with someone who knows and loves Batman and the Bat-universe a lot. I had a great time talking with him.

Next, I was on Season 5, Episode 1 of The Comic Bin Podcast, digging into the book as well as my work and career with Theo. This was a great conversation as well, with some interesting and thoughtful questions from Theo that were cool to dig into. Plus there was a lightning round! I love a lightning round.

Check out both of those podcast episodes, as well as all of the other fantastic episodes of each show! And don’t forget to take a look at my ongoing deep dive into fun panels and images from the history of Batgirl on my social media accounts! After a brief holiday hiatus, we’re back with one last week looking at the modern incarnations of Batgirl in comics over the past 15 years. You can follow along on  Twitter, Bluesky, and Instagram!

Gang, have I got a deal for you. After some delays from the title change and whatnot, Never A Sidekick is all done and printed, and the books arrived in my publisher’s warehouse yesterday! Now, Rowman & Littlefield are big on online sales, and you can get the book through all the usual means, Amazon or Barnes & Noble and the like. But you can also order from them directly, and to celebrate the book’s release they are offering 30% off! This is a discount you’re not going to get elsewhere.

All you have to do is:

1) Go to their page for Never A Sidekick.

2) Click “Pre-order” because it’s technically not out until next week.

3) Put in the promo code RLFANDF30 at checkout.

4) And you get 30% off!

It’s a classy hardcover priced at $36 USD, but with this deal you can get it for a cool $25, plus applicable taxes and shipping and the like. It’s an excellent deal, and a nice way to avoid those huge evil corporations we always buy everything from. I mean, I love them because they carry my books. All hail Amazon. But also, evil.

So jump on this deal, and enjoy my in depth tour through the history of the many Batgirls, their ups and downs, and the forgotten fans who loved them!

Getting blurbs for the back cover of your book is always a daunting assignment. You have to email people out of the blue, many of whom you’ve never spoken to before, and ask them to read your book and say nice things about it. It’s a big ask! But I’ve been so lucky over the years to have amazing endorsers for my books, and Never A Sidekick is no exception.

First up, we have Babs Tarr, the artist of the iconic Batgirl of Burnside run from a few years back. Her artwork ushered in a new, modern, fun era for Batgirl that redefined the character after all the darkness of DC’s early New 52 years, and the success of her work was a key step in DC lightening the tone of the line more broadly. Here’s what she has to say about Never A Sidekick:

It’s a huge honour to have such an iconic artist speak so highly of my book, and I’m endlessly delighted that she enjoyed it.

The book’s other endorsement comes from Jill Pantozzi, a pop culture writer you may know from The Mary Sue or io9. Jill’s an amazing writer, particularly when it comes to Barbara Gordon and Oracle especially. A wheelchair user herself, Jill has written eloquently about what Oracle has meant to her, drawing from her own personal experience to showcase the impact of the character. As soon as I started this project, Jill was at the top of my list for dream endorsers, and her blurb is very kind:

Such high praise from someone whose writing I respect so much is humbling indeed.

I’m a lucky fellow to have these amazing endorsements, and my thanks go out to Babs and Jill for their time and kind words! I’ve been talking up the book lots, but now that Babs and Jill have said it’s good you have to buy it, really. They know what they’re talking about! Just one week left!

We’re nearing the release date for Never A Sidekick, my tour through the histories of all of the Batgirls, and so the promo continues to roll out! Here are a couple updates on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing so you can learn a little more about the book.

First, I got to chat with Rob at Comic Book Chronicles about my history as a writer, my favourite Batgirl, and all of the fun things I explore in the book. Give it a watch and check out his channel! He’s got some great interviews, including another one with me coming up in the near future where we take a deep dive on The Killing Joke.

I’ve also been sharing fun panels, images, and other miscellany across social media, giving everyone a peek inside what the book covers. This week we’ve been looking at Cassandra Cain (spoiler alert for the podcast: She’s my favourite) and her rise and fall in the early 2000s, but you can scroll back to look at all kinds of fun things, including the introduction of Barbara Gordon, her time in Congress, her becoming Oracle, and the Birds of Prey. But for right now, it’s all Cass all the time, with a new post each day! Follow along with the hashtag #NeverASidekick or go right to my Twitter, Bluesky, or Instagram page.

We’ve got a new cover to go with our new title! I mean, not brand new. We swapped out the title and chopped off the ears for some cautious legal reasons we don’t need to dive into here. But now we’ve got the whole package! New title, new cover, new book, all coming to you very soon.

The book also got a lovely review at Booklist! It’s a paywalled site so I can’t link to the full piece, but suffice it to say they found that Never A Sidekick was “an appealing, comprehensive, and enjoyable tour of Batgirl’s many iterations,” and wrote that “teen fans of femme superheroes, curious about the history of their favorite caped crusaders, will find much to enjoy in this accessible read.” So that’s very nice indeed.

You can pre-order the book now at your preferred retailer!

Big news on the Batgirl book front: We’re changing the title of the book! What was originally titled Batgirl and Beyond: The Dynamic History of the Heroines of Gotham City has now become Never A Sidekick: Exploring the Dynamic History of Batgirl. The why of it all is a long story involving legal concerns over trademarks and the like, but suffice it to say, we’ve got a new title for this deep dive on all of the Batgirls.

And a new release date too! If you were expecting to get the book on it’s original release date, a.k.a. yesterday, I’m sorry to disappoint you. With the change, the publisher has pushed the release back a month, to December 17. Still in time for the holidays, which is fun. Buy one for all your friends!

The cover has changed as well, obviously, with a whole new title now. I’m still waiting final approval on that, but things haven’t shifted drastically and it remains extremely cool and pretty. I’ll share it as soon as I can, so you can see the beautiful book that will shortly adorn your shelves.

Everything else remains the same. Never A Sidekick is an exploration of the histories of Betty Kane, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown in comics, film, TV, and more, diving into the characters’ evolution, what was going on behind the scenes in each era, and the unique fanbases that DC garnered and often squandered with every new incarnation of Batgirl. It’s a lot of fun and it’s coming soon, just with a new moniker!

My new book, Batgirl and Beyond: The Dynamic History of the Heroines of Gotham City, is coming out very soon, and that means it’s time for promo to ramp up and for me to talk about it constantly. The release date’s a little wiggly at the moment – the original plan was November, though it seems we may be slipping into December now. But the larger point remains: The book is coming! And you can pre-order it from a variety of fine retailers for your own reading fun or as a wonderful holiday gift for all of your friends. I’m sure every friend you have would enjoy it.

If you know my work, you know how the book will go! It delves into the history of all the Batgirls, from comics to television to film, and we’ll spend lots of time with Betty Kane, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown. Plus the Birds of Prey! And Batman and several Robins too. The book covers the history of how the characters were presented, what was going on behind the scenes, and how each character tied into larger trends within the superhero genre and pop culture as a whole. Each Batgirl has attracted a new, unique subset of marginalized fans, and tracing this history along with the industry’s penchant for ignoring such fans adds a particularly fascinating arc to the book. It all culminates in the shelved Batgirl film, the apotheosis of the industry failing to understand the character’s appeal as well as a decision that looks increasingly foolish as each subsequent DC film has bombed spectacularly (I’m looking at you, Joker: Folie a Deux).

I’ve started some early promo on social media, highlighting key moments from the history of the Batgirls with pictures and other images that I couldn’t show in the book. The book is descriptive, of course, but it’s nice to be able to see comic book panels, letter columns, and other images that showcase the evolution of each character. We started in the 1950s with Kathy and Betty Kane this week, and you can follow along with the threads on Twitter or Bluesky, or take a look at my long ignored but now active Instagram, where I’m posting the images as well. Give it a follow for all the fun to come in the weeks ahead!

It’s early days for reviews, but we did get a lovely one from Martin Maenza on his blog Martin’s View, where he wrote that “Hanley does a fantastic job with the history; comic fans and fans of the Gotham heroines who shared the Batgirl name will appreciate his work.” Thanks so much, Martin! He’s a big Batgirl fan, and I appreciate his kind words.

In other news, I was also interviewed for this fascinating Inverse article by Hoai-Tran Bui, “A History of Superhero Kink,” where I discuss things like bondage in early Wonder Woman comic books and the BDSM angle in the X-Men’s “Dark Phoenix” saga. It’s a really cool piece, and does a great job of spotlighting the superhero genre’s complex relationship with kink, queerness, and female power.

So yeah, busy week! Keep your eyes peeled for more Batgirl and Beyond fun moving forward as the release date nears. It’s such a fun book and I’m super proud of it, and I look forward to telling you more about it in the days to come!