Batgirl year one?

Question

In Batgirl year one how old was Barbara Gordon when her career starts as The Batgirl

Answer 1

Having read the mini-series, she was on the verge of starting college, so although never officially stated, that would put Barbara Gordon's age between 18 and 19.

Answer 2

Character History
Origin
The librarian-by-day Barbara Gordon debuted in Detective Comics #359 (1967) as the daughter of Gotham City's Police Commissioner James Gordon. On her way to a masquerade ball dressed as a female version of Batman, Barbara intervenes in a kidnapping attempt on Bruce Wayne by the villainous Killer Moth, attracting the Dark Knight's attention and leading to a crime-fighting career.

In her original adventures during the Silver Age, Batgirl is depicted as a spirited, if inexperienced, crimefighter. After a handful of guest appearances in Batman stories, she was given her own back-up strip in Detective Comics. This allowed the character to be fleshed out considerably, with the shy, mousey, bookworm version of Barbara Gordon quickly giving way to a more modern, confident character (whom friends call "Babs"). Devoid of her plain-Jane glasses and hair bun, Barbara starts to date what would be a succession of boyfriends, the most popular being Vietnam veteran turned private investigator Jason Bard.

Barbara proved to be more popular than her predecessor (Bette Kane, the Bat-Girl) with the readers as well, as they made requests for her to appear in other titles. In addition to her appearances in both Detective Comics and Batman, Batgirl made a guest appearance in World's Finest Comics where she met Superman, Supergirl, Bat-Mite, and Mxyzptlk for the first time. She also fights alongside the Justice League of America against the villainous Queen Bee. She encounters Supergirl again in Adventure Comics #381 when both heroines separately investigate a female criminal gang.

Batgirl in the 1970s and 1980s
Her back-up stories ran sporadically in Detective Comics until the mid 1970s. During this time, Barbara reveals her secret identity to her father (who has already discovered it on his own), and both ran and won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives. She moves to Washington, D.C., and intends to give up her career as Batgirl forever.

Editor Julius Schwartz brought her back in Superman #268, where she has a blind date with Clark Kent, establishing their friendship, and allowing Batgirl to fight alongside Superman. Batgirl and Superman team up twice more in Superman #279 and DC Comics Presents #19. She also teams up with Supergirl in Superman Family #171, and the two become close friends, with Batgirl speaking at Supergirl's eulogy during the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.

In 1975 DC created the Batman Family comic book, which ran for 20 issues. Batgirl became one of the main features in the book, frequently teaming with Robin. Dick Grayson (Robin's alter ego) serves as Barbara's summer intern, building a friendship between the two. Soon they discover each other's alternate identities as well. During this time Barbara dates Senator Tom Cleary. Dick, who is dating fellow college student Lori Elton, has a crush on Barbara that is not returned. The Dynamite Duo teaming of Batgirl and Robin fight the criminal organization M.A.Z.E., supervillians Huntress, Sportsmaster, and the Outsider, and Duela Dent, who later plagues Gotham as the super-criminal Harlequin.

Barbara meets Batwoman in Batman Family #10 when the superheroine returns to her crime-fighting career. The two fight Killer Moth and Cavalier, and learn each other's secret identities. They form a close friendship and team again twice more in Batman Family and again alongside the Freedom Fighters.


Promotional art for Batman: Gotham Knights #43 (2003), featuring Barbara as Batgirl. Art by Brian Bolland.Barbara also meets Helena Wayne, the Huntress and daughter of the Batman and Catwoman in the parallel universe "Earth-Two," in Batman Family #17.

When Batman Family ended at issue #20, the concept of the comic merged with Detective Comics, beginning with issue #481 in 1979, and Batgirl continued her adventures. Even after the "Batman Family" concept left Detective Comics, Batgirl continued as the back-up feature through issue #519 (October 1982). She returns to Gotham City and takes a social worker job, fighting villains including Lady Snake and the Velvet Tiger. Supergirl visits Gotham and shared an adventure with her. She is shot and nearly killed by a criminal called the Commorant; while recovering, she has a serious crisis of faith and briefly retires. After a talk with Batman, however, she returns to face down and capture Commorant, and returns to crimefighting.

After her back-up series of stories ended, Barbara continues to be Batgirl, but increasingly feels useless in a world filled with super-powered heroes and villains. She expresses these doubts to Supergirl during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Finally, after capturing the Commorant again in Batgirl Special #1 (1988), Barbara retires her Batgirl persona (although later stories revealed she occasionally put the costume back on for special cases).

Crisis On Infinite Earths
Main article: Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Crisis on Infinite Earths changed DC Universe continuity in many ways.

In the new continuity, Barbara is now the daughter of Roger and Thelma Gordon, and Jim Gordon's niece. When her parents died when she was a pre-teen, Barbara moved from Chicago to Gotham City to live with her Uncle Jim and his wife (also named Barbara) and son James. Recently, however, in Batman: Gotham Knights #6, Barbara learns that Jim Gordon dated her mother Thelma before she married Roger, and that there is a strong chance that Jim Gordon is indeed her biological father, although he is not aware of that. Also, Batman and Robin both had a much more active role in training Barbara once she became Batgirl. Much of this training was covered in the 9-issue mini-series Batgirl: Year One, which updated her origin. The only mention of Barbara's time as a Congresswoman was in a guest appearance in Hawk and Dove #22-24 (1991) and it has not been mentioned since. [1]

Post-Crisis Supergirl does not arrive on Earth until Barbara has already established herself as Oracle. Many of her earlier adventures (including some shared with Batgirl) were retroactively participated in by Power Girl instead. In addition, Barbara and Dick Grayson had been lovers at some time in the past, and she had once been engaged to Jason Bard, who is no longer a Vietnam veteran but is still a private investigator (and former Gotham City policeman).

I will have more information after I get my Batman encyclopedia. I ordered it on Ebay.

Answer 3

I think she's 15 or 16 when she started... I dunno!