#Changethecover- Outrage Culture Strikes Again

It seems like you can't go a day without people getting offended over something and making it controversial; first it was the whole #gamergate thing (that is still happening), the shirtgate storm that happened after Matt Taylor wore a shirt that people thought was the reason that women weren't in STEM and now we have Batgirl's cover being changed. Apparently, this image was too dark and highlight a less than stellar period of her life; so dark in fact that there was a petition created to get the cover change, hence #Changethecover, and even the artist felt like they shouldn't run the variant.

"My Batgirl variant cover artwork was designed to pay homage to a comic that I really admire, and I know is a favorite of many readers. 'The Killing Joke' is part of Batgirl’s canon and artistically, I couldn't avoid portraying the traumatic relationship between Barbara Gordon and the Joker.

For me, it was just a creepy cover that brought up something from the character’s past that I was able to interpret artistically. But it has become clear, that for others, it touched a very important nerve. I respect these opinions and, despite whether the discussion is right or wrong, no opinion should be discredited.

My intention was never to hurt or upset anyone through my art. For that reason, I have recommended to DC that the variant cover be pulled. I'm incredibly pleased that DC Comics is listening to my concerns and will not be publishing the cover art in June as previously announced.

With all due respect,

Rafa" via Comic Book Resources

At first glance this might seem like the artist regretted their decision, but if you look again you'll see that they created the cover as an homage to "The Killing Joke" and viewed it as a cover dealing with the character's past. 

Moments before Joker paralyzes Barbara

Most of the criticism against it ( from the usual suspects like The Mary Sue) comes from the fact that the entire situation basically "fridged" her so that the male hero would have some sort of personal tragedy happen to them ( Barbara was shot in an effort to drive Gordon crazy) but that is such a negative way to look at it. They did mention the fact that it showed just how tough Barbara is but they mentioned that in passing as if it was a throwaway when it is very important; Barbara was completely exposed (literally) and beaten ( again literally) and instead of just fading away, she overcame her situation and became, arguably, an even bigger crimefighter than ever before; becoming Oracle allowed for her character to grow in amazing ways and she was the queen of all information gathering for the DCU heroes, which is no small feat. The new Batgirl is going for a younger audience obviously but to distance yourself away from one of the most pivotal points of the characters history is a shame, new readers need to know where she comes from so they can get a better since of just how far she has come. It is completely idiotic to say because this is an all ages book that a freaking VARIANT COVER cannot be "dark", hell isn't Batgirl a T rated comic anyways? Getting upset over this cover because it not like other female hero variants is dumb because most of the other female DC heroes don't have a storyline with the same level of significance with the character or fans.

I am so tired of people making mountains out of mole hill; this is just like the Spider-Woman Milo variant, everyone is getting bent out of shame at an artist interpretation of a character. It is getting to the point where even the artists have to cave into pressure ( if you think Rafa wanted to issue that statement then you are delusional)  and in essence censor their own work. What happened to freedom of artistic expression? It is not as if they have Batgirl strapped to a wheelchair nude or anything so what is the big deal? The new fans, like the Mary Sue pointed out, might not know about the Killing Joke so I doubt they would think the cover was trying to evoke that at all, more likely than not they would just think that the Joker is gonna do some awful crap like he always does. When does this end? When does the industry stop kowtowing to these overly sensitive critics and start sticking up for artistic choices that they made? I strongly believe they should have kept the cover and I am seriously concerned with the future of the industry if they continue to cave into this nonsensical pressure.