#wheelchair batgirl rates 5/10

[wheelchairbatgirl]

I think this is Birds, somewhere early 1998? Here's where my knowledge of what comes from which issues gets really spotty. I wasn't actually planning on sharing any of this as I screenshat, but here we are.

So the reason I started tracking this is that I'm very aware that comics are collaborative media and each is made by a team of people. Each artist brings their own style to the element of the finished product that they control. it's reasonable for the same character to look different depending on the artist. However, superhero comics are able to keep specific elements of a character, specifically their costumes, consistent across a lot of different pencilers, inkers, colorists, writers, cover artists, and the rest.

And the reason that I bring that up is that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE appeared to have said, "Hey, this is what Barbara's wheelchair looks like! Let's all draw the same thing!" And maybe one or two people have said, "hey, let's LOOK AT A REAL WHEELCHAIR when we draw this one."

So here we go. Mid-back height, weirdly a lot of camber for a chair just being used in her house, and a front frame that's very big on the angles and very small on the curves. No side guards, just get the dirt on your legs, it'll be fine. I'm not 500% convinced that those two wheels are on the same axle plane, but it at least looks like Not A Hospital Chair.

FIVE OUT OF TEN.

5/10, three points for it looking like an actual wheelchair, two pints for looking like something that I might want to take a ride in. Slap some side guards on that thing and I could probably take it on a trip to the park.

[wheelchairbatgirl]

Wheelchair score: 5/10. Looks like a wheelchair that I’ve seen before, but not like one I would like to own.

That center of gravity would murder my rotator cuffs in nothing flat.

This is Rebirth Batgirl 1 or 2, which is some crazy whiplash if you go from like 2012 “saying wheelchair deeply scars my soul,” Babs to casually mentioning it as an icebreaker.

[wheelchairbatgirl]

The extra wide chair is back. Tiny casters, very angular. I’m also not 100% sure how this transfer is working, but that’s not my business. Good luck with those footplates.

5/10, you tried but like. Look, if you’ve got flip up foot plates and you’re transferring in from the front, at least get the foot plates out of the way, please.

[wheelchairbatgirl]

Wheelchair rating: 5/10. I don’t think it has enough components to properly exist in reality, but it looks like it’ll go fast. Decent axle placement and wheels don’t actually need spokes for structure reasons. It’s just style. Personally I like a lower back than Frankie has here but I don’t have muscular dystrophy so idk.

This was going to get a 6 but we deduct one point from every wheelchair that has no push rims.

This is Batgirl shortly before the Rebirth reboot but I don’t remember what issue.

[wheelchairbatgirl]

I need to reread Oracle: Battle for the Cowl again. It’s only 3 issues and there’s several wheelchair shots to look at.

High-back, firmly upright, way back axle tube, swing away front frame with like 70 degree angle, and don’t forget the push handles.

Five points for looking like an actual wheelchair, just not one that I’d like to independently navigate an international airport in. 5/10

EDIT: Wait, I have more.

This is from Oracle: The Cure, a 3-issue set as part of the Battle for the Cowl sequence/event (some comic nerd please tell me the correct term for that). Credits Kevin Vanhook | Julian Lopez | Fernando Pasarian | BIT

I wasn't going to include the nude shot, but it distinctly shows that her front frame is swing-away. Nifty setup wiht bolting a computer case to the back of the wheelchair. If we're accepting that it's possible, it might be a good excuse for having her wheels attach flush with her back canes. I guess. If you stuck something as heavy as a computer on the back of my chair, I'd be fighting to keep my casters on the ground. This iteration of Babs' chair distinctly has Absolutely No Camber Whatsoever. Straight wheels, straight as I pretended to be in high school levels of straight. No arm rests in this version, just some side guards. Apparently pretty rigid side guards if you're up to using them for transfers like that. Also points! We have a wheel lock visible! Looks like it's high-mount push-to-lock. You'll notice a trend here that she has no wheel locks about 99% of the time. Nothing slows our girl down even when she'd probably benefit from it! Another thing that drives me nuts is that apparently she just generally keeps the back of her chair up at like the bottom of her neck. Guess she doesn't even need to reach behind her and pick something up. To each their own.

Anyway, she DOES have visible push rims in these issues, so I can't deduct a point for that.

5 points for it definitely being a real-looking wheelchair that I've seen real humans use. Zero points for it being a wheelchair that I'd pick for a full-time wheelchair user with paralysis who lives alone, independently navigates an international airport and the kind of city where someone'd try to mug her, and who sometimes just beats people up with sticks becuse she can.

5/10, still, but I've put more research into it this time