Victoria October is a fictional character in the Batman comic books, created by writers James Tynion IV and Marguerite Bennett and by penciller and inker Ben Oliver. A transgender bioweapons expert and physician, she first appeared as an ally to Batman in March 2017 in Detective Comics, published by DC Comics. The character has generated positive critical commentary and academic interest. Publication history Dr. Victoria October first appeared in Detective Comics #948, cover dated March 2017. Fictional character biography Dr. October is a trans woman. By her own assessment, she is the planet's foremost expert in "post-human bioweaponry", and has performed surgery on several bioengineered beings throughout her career. She and Batman knew each other for many years, even before October transitioned from male to female. Before transitioning, she suffered from severe depression and crippling self-doubt and had a "prickly" (her word) personality. She believed transitioning would solve her problems. Although her new gender did not solve these issues, Dr. October gained emotional and moral strength from the knowledge that she finally knew who she was as a person and could no longer blame her gender misalignment on them. Shortly after its completion, Batman provides her with access to the Belfry, his high-technology headquarters atop Old Wayne Tower in downtown Gotham City. A.R.G.U.S. and Monstertown In the 2016 Batman story arc "Night of the Monster Men", the villainous Professor Hugo Strange uses a serum to transform living and dead human beings into horrific monsters. Four of them merge into a composite monster at the end of the story, but it is defeated by Batman, Nightwing, Batwoman, Orphan, Spoiler, and Clayface (Basil Karlo). The government agency A.R.G.U.S. creates a quarantine zone encompassing the neighborhood where the creature died, nicknaming it "Monstertown". As a consultant for A.R.G.U.S., Dr. October is in charge of Monstertown, ensuring that no one harvests the bodies to obtain the serum and that animals (such as rats or seagulls) which eat the bodies and become monstrous are contained. Clayface patrols the sewers beneath Monstertown, retrieving for Dr. October monsters created by leaking serum. She then dissects and studies them. Curing Clayface Dr. October makes her second appearance in Detective Comics #959 during the "Gotham Knights/Batman Eternal" story arc. At the Belfry, she performs surgery on the bioengineered "dwarfling", Nomoz, after he is injured battling the villain Ascalon. At that time, she offers to work on a means of