which established Barbara Gordon recovering from her paralysis following a surgical procedure and starring as the title character of Batgirl once again. Barbara later returned to the Oracle role with Infinite Frontier in 2020, and currently operates as both Batgirl and Oracle, with Cassandra and Stephanie also serving as Batgirls. The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl has been adapted into various media relating to the Batman franchise, including television, film, animation, video games, and other merchandise. Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Comics, expressed that Barbara is the best-known version of the character. Publication history Detective Comics, Batman Family, and other appearances (1961–1988) Following the accusations of a homoerotic subtext in the depiction of the relationship between Batman and Robin as described in Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), a female character, Kathy Kane the Batwoman, appeared in 1956 as a love interest for Batman. In 1961, DC Comics introduced a second female character as a love interest for Robin. Betty Kane as "Bat-Girl" arrived as the niece of, and Robin-like sidekick to, Batwoman, first appearing in Batman #139 (April 1961). The creation of the Batman family, which included Batman and Batwoman depicted as parents, Robin and Bat-Girl depicted as their children, the extraterrestrial imp Bat-Mite and the "family pet" Ace the Bat-Hound, caused the Batman-related comic books to take "a wrong turn, switching from superheroes to situational comedy". DC Comics abandoned these characters in 1964 when newly appointed Batman-editor Julius Schwartz judged them too silly and therefore inappropriate. Schwartz had asserted that these characters should be removed, considering the Batman related comic books had steadily declined in sales, and restored the Batman mythology to its original conception of heroic vigilantism. Bat-Girl, along with other characters in the Batman Family, were retconned out of existence following the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, even though Bat-Girl did not exist in the Post-Crisis continuity, a modified version of the character, Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane, introduced as the superhero Flamebird, continues to appear in DC Comics publications. Schwartz stated that he had been asked to develop a new female character to attract a female viewership to the Batman television series of the 1960s. Executive producer William Dozier suggested that the new character would be the daughter of Gotham City's Police Commissioner James Gordon, and that she would adopt the identity of Batgirl. When Dozier and producer Howie Horowitz saw