Batman Fanfic of the Week
Batman The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, and John Hiigins
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Batman The Killing Joke!
Welcome to Caped Crusades first Batman Fanfic of the week! Since our mission here at Caped Crusades is to give you access to all things Batman, and we have started a fanart of the week post I thought it only fitting to bring you great fanfiction too when I find it. And boy did I find it. The first story I bring to you dear readers is a really great piece called Chiropteramania. It means roughly ‘the madness of the bat’ and the story is a first person look at Barbara Gordon’s struggles after the events of The Killing Joke. If you’ve never read The Killing Joke, the story reveals a possible origin story for the Joker, and ultimately ends with Barbara Gordon paralyzed and in a wheelchair after the Joker shows up at her apartment and shoots her in the spine.
The author, skylite @ Archive of Our Own, summarizes Chiropteramania like this:
"In THE KILLING JOKE, the Joker shot Barbara Gordon, crippling her and ending her life as Batgirl. Refusing to stay down, she turned her genius intellect to computers and began aiding the heroes of Gotham — and the world — as Oracle.But some nights, she remembers what it was like to be Batgirl. And she misses it something fierce."
Chiropteramania can be found here. It’s such a moving story that I just had to share it with you all here at Caped Crusades. The story’s author skylite has such a way with words, she really brings Barbara and her plight to life. She clearly knows this character inside and out, she writes with Oracle’s voice, as if she were the character and just telling us what she personally is going through. But it’s more than just how well she writes the character, is about how eloquently she tells this story. The way she describes this ‘madness’ that Barbara is experiencing is amazing, and to think that she is just a fan, and not one of DC’s writers, it blows my mind how well she writes Barbara Gordon. Miss skylite is very talented and if she ever becomes a published author I will be first in line to buy her work.
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