I did not get the chance to read this ARC prior to the book's publication, but we did end up buying it for our library collection and it's lined up to be a winter 2020 book club book.

I can not speak to the authenticity of the depiction of a disabled person as that is not my experience, but it certainly seems the authors tried to be authentic. I love Barbara Gordon and hadn't actually seen her as Oracle in the main DC Comics, as I personally picked Batgirl up in the Burnside arc, but loved the idea of Babs using her tech skills. I can't bring myself to read the original story where she is paralyzed because of how horrible it sounds, but Oracle Code did a good job of changing the original and making the Oracle story accessible to a new generation of readers. I had already purchased this for my library and it was checked out before we had to close due to the COVID-19 Crisis, so there is definitely interest from my teens!

I really loved this book. I found it be be really intriguing. Marieke Nijkamp is such a wonderful writer!

I have been recommending this graphic novel far and wide to any Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, YA, or comics fans. I was thrown off at first that Barbara is injured early in the novel but not in the way I would have expected based on my (pretty significant) past Batgirl reading. I really liked the sort of Bizarro-Gotham here, with Arkham being not an asylum for the "criminally insane" but instead a rehabilitation facility where Barbara goes to recover from her injury. I loved the art, the characters, and the story here, and I would love to see more offerings like this for teen comics readers!

There is so much good about this volume that I don't even know where to start. The story is solid, Characters with disabilities are treated with dignity and afforded their own strengths and abilities. The art is fantastic. I know a faculty member at my university who would be interested in this since she is interested in how disability is represented in comics. I will also be adding this to my personal library, as well as recommending it for my academic library to purchase.

The Oracle Code is the latest graphic novel in DC Comic's Young Adult line. And honestly? It's pretty brilliant, if I may say so. Barbara Gordon's tale has been specifically altered, not only to fit the age group, but to fit the story being told.

Barbara has always been curious, a fact that has only become more obvious as she's gotten older. She's learned to be more independent as well, though perhaps that is the reason why she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But this is Barbara Gordon we're talking about. Not even a horrible accident will keep her curious nature shut down for long. Sooner or later, a case will come along that will demand to be solved. And that is where the Oracle steps in.

The Oracle Code is a fun and delightful read, providing a different take on Barbara Gordon's time as Oracle. While it is intended for a younger audience, there really is no reason why an adult couldn't or shouldn't appreciate this story as well.

Any fan that has read Batgirl or Batman comics in the past likely knows exactly what events led to Barbara becoming the Oracle. Those events did not happen here. Instead, the entire plot was changed to be more palatable to a younger audience. The fact that Barbara herself is younger as well as required the change. But honestly? They did a great job making the adjustments they did.

Here they've taken the core elements that make up Barbara and Oracle, and they've transitioned it to something new and different. It worked so much better than I would have guessed if I'm being completely honest.

Barbara felt so real in this story. Marieke Nijkamp did an excellent job of portraying a preteen going through such an experience. It really read like Babs. It also read like a girl going through trauma, including all of the bumps and trials that come with it.

Meanwhile, Manuel Preitano's artwork really carried the story even further. I loved the creative use of colors, as well as the general way in which Barbara and her friends were portrayed. Though I'll admit that I'm especially fond of some of the final scenes.

I know that this is likely to only be a one-shot, but man would I love it if this became a longer running series. Seeing a younger Barbara wheeling all over the place as Oracle sounds pretty cool, and thus I would love to see more of it. Can you blame me?

I absolutely loved Marieke’s This is Where It Ends and Before I Let Go, two complex and heart wrenching stories, so I couldn’t wait to see what she did with Barbara Gordon!

Babs Gordon has long been one of my fav heroes, no matter what iteration she’s in. In The Oracle Code, Barbara has entered The Arkham Center of Independence after an incident that leads her to become a wheelchair user. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Barbara’s story (depending on the version you know), Barbara transforms from Batgirl to Oracle following her

Babs Gordon has long been one of my fav heroes, no matter what iteration she’s in. In The Oracle Code, Barbara has entered The Arkham Center of Independence after an incident that leads her to become a wheelchair user. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Barbara’s story (depending on the version you know), Barbara transforms from Batgirl to Oracle following an attack that leaves her unable to walk. I love that she becomes this badass hero in other ways without question.

What The Oracle Code does is take a story that is often viewed as tragedy and give life to it through new characters. This is a story about agency as much as it’s a story about trauma. Babs is working through her stuff as she’s working through the mystery presented in the story.

As is the norm with DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults, the art is stunning. The color is cool toned and the shading adds depth. Foreground characters are strong, drawing your eye to them. The use of two-page spreads and overall placement of panels tells a bit part of the story, as well.

Another stunning and unique take on a classic story, told outside canon and set wholly on it’s own. The Oracle Code is not to be missed!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from DC Entertainment through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

The story follows Brabara Gordon after the gunshot that inevitably leads her to become Oracle. She enters the Arkham Center for Independence, where young people undergo physical and mental rehabilitation. Upon arriving at the center Barbara begins to suspect that there is something more sinister under the center’s friendly exterior.

I am a big fan of Barbara Gordon as the Oracle, so I was super excited to read this. My favorite part of this book was the illustration. I am a big fan of the overall style of the illustrations throughout.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the story. I thought that it was a little bland. I think that if the story had been longer and maybe if the reader had been more convinced that Barbara was investigating a nonexistent problem, there would have been of a sense of satisfaction when we found out that center was actually harboring secret evil intentions. If the author has led us to believe that Barbara was insane or was chasing ghosts, there would’ve been a more interesting conflict.

The plot just felt a little predictable and a little too simple. I did enjoy reading about Babs, pre-Oracle. But my favorite Barbara Gordon phase will always be Batgirl! This would a good read for a teen or even for middle grade, especially for fans of Oracle. It just didn’t do it for me.

This was such an amazing graphic novel. This book is about Barbara (Babs) Gordon, hacker and daughter of James Gordon. She is injured during one of her hacks by a gunshot and is now confined to a wheelchair. She goes to a center for rehabilitation called the Arkham Center for Independence where she learns to use her new wheelchair and goes to therapy (physical and mental). While she's there she befriends a few girls, one of them named Jena, who goes missing after a few weeks. With the help of her other friends, can they figure out the mystery of what happened to Jena?

I really, really enjoyed this graphic novel. The story was great and very well written. I'm not very familiar with Babs or her backstory so this was a really nice introduction to that world. I loved the art style as well. It was very colorful in a great way. Overall, I would highly recommend this graphic novel. It is a perfect place to start if you are unfamiliar with Barbara Gordon and her story.

Barbara Gordon was left paralyzed after a gunshot wound, and is recuperating in the Arkham Center for Independence. She is sure that odd noises and disappearing patients are pieces to a larger puzzle, and is determined to follow them rather than make friends with remaining patients. In spite of herself, they come to matter to her, and she won't sit back when they can no longer be found.

Babs was interested in hacking and computers and secrets. Following her injury, she was angry and dismissive; it's a common and natural reaction to traumatic events, and it doesn't help that everyone treats her as if she's fragile. Everyone assumes that she's simply overwrought because of difficulty adjusting to being paralyzed, and it certainly would be a reasonable assumption if this wasn't a comic book.The art is easy to fall into, and it's great to see characters of various ethnic groups throughout the background in the panels. There are various ways to get injured or develop weaknesses and need physical rehabilitation. There is also therapy at this center, and comic fans are certainly going to make double takes at the Arkham in the name of the center.

Babs is still paralyzed throughout the comic, as are a lot of the other children at the center, and the frustration she feels comes across clearly in the art as well as the text. There are ableist comments and behaviors on her part at first, as well as later on in the book. It is derided as the horrible comment that it is, devaluing the lives of the children that are seeking help to live the best lives they possibly can. Babs has to come to terms with her new future and how that would affect her prior interests, and she realizes the core of who she is: someone who cares about her friends, solves puzzles, and rights the wrongs of the worlds whenever she can. All life is precious, and must be respected. Of all the possible lessons to take away from a comic book, that's a beautiful one.

This hits everything for me. Great realistic teen friends comic-check! Interesting mystery thriller- check! Super kick ass smart girls- check! Representation for characters with disabilities in way that shows them as multifaceted individuals who aren't defined by their disability- big check! This isn't a Batgirl story or a Batman story, but it's hard to imagine anyone feeling let down by this book, even if they made that mistake.

A thoughtful and engaging origin story for Barbara Gordon/Oracle.

** Trigger warning for medical abuse. Caution: this review contains vague spoilers. **

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0ZicTDQ0U&feature=youtu.be

Teenager Barbara Gordon – daughter of police commissioner James Gordon and hacker extraordinaire – is running toward the scene of a crime when she’s shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Six weeks into her recovery, Commissioner Gordon sends his daughter to the Arkham Center for Independence, where she’ll undergo physical and mental rehabilitation. Ghosted by her longtime friend Benjamin, Barbara is reluctant to get too close to anyone – everyone leaves you in the end, after all. Luckily, fellow classmates Yeong, Issy, and Jena refuse to let Barbara be, and an unexpected mystery further helps draw Barbara out of her shell.

The ACI is as creepy as it is opulent; at night, the halls echo with cryptic sounds and the shadows of residents who have long since disappeared. Jena, teller of ghost stories whispered in the wee hours of the night, begs Barbara for help finding her missing twin brother. Dr. Maxwell insists that Michael died in the fire that severely injured his sister, and that Jena’s mind is too fragile to accept the truth. Though she’s reluctant to get sucked into another mystery, Jenna’s sudden disappearance tips her hand. Friends are precious, and she’s not about to let another one slip through her fingers. Before you can say “Birds of Prey,” Barbara is brain-deep in a corporate conspiracy that involves child trafficking and human experimentation.

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I’m really digging this new DC YA series; if anything, it provides a handy entry point into the DC ‘verse for newbies like myself. (I love comics, but the decades-long history of so many DC and Marvel characters can prove overwhelming. Mostly I just stick to newer series, like SEX CRIMINALS, PRETTY DEADLY, B**** PLANET, and the like.) I was lucky enough to review SHADOW OF THE BATGIRL (in which an older Barbara Gordon plays a role as Cassandra Cain’s boss/mentor), and THE ORACLE CODE lives up the expectations set by its predecessor.

The storyline is engaging enough, but it’s really the characters who stand out here. YA author Marieke Nijkamp – who identifies as queer, non-binary, and disabled – writes Barbara, Yeong, Issy, and Jena with compassion and care. There’s a great exchange between the eeeevil scientists and the margnalized teens in which the teens challenge their doctors’ assessment of them as “broken” people in need of “fixing.” (Is there a white savior analog that can be applied to the ableds? If so, this is a prime example of IT.) Hopefully you’ll also catch how the doctors try to gaslight Barbara when she starts sniffing around, insisting that she believe them instead of her own two eyes and ginormous brain.

Barbara’s squad – as well as the residents and staff at ACI – is diverse as heck and thus reflective of reality, which I appreciate. And the brief few panels of wheelchair basketball are great.

And now I shall go back to counting the days until SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN (Gene Luen Yang) and WONDER WOMAN: TEMPEST TOSSED (Laurie Halse Anderson) hit the shelves!

This story has a different feel than some of the other DC graphic novels from the last year. In most of those, the darkness is external. Circumstances happen and the characters respond. While that's also true here, we see a lot of Barbara's grief and anger over her injury which gives this a different tone than some of the rest. It's honest and to be expected, and it's well conveyed in the art and story.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this, too. There was only one moment I wasn't expecting; the rest was unsurprising. But I still enjoyed Barbara's journey to the truth because along the way she starts to connect with others and process her grief.

Not much happens with regard to the "oracle" part of the Barbara Gordon story in this book. I was expecting a little more about that. I am curious to see how DC deals with the fact that they have a wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon in both this book and in the Shadow of a Batgirl book, but the stories don't seem to line up with one another.

Many thanks to DC Entertainment and Netgalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

“I always thought I’d be fearless. I’m not. I don’t think i’ll ever be. And thats okay…If I were fearless, I wouldn’t care enough. It’s fear that keeps us sharp, that keeps us going. That keeps us figuring out the unknown.”

“The Oracle Code” follows a young Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham PD’s Commissioner, piecing herself back together after a traumatic and life-changing incident takes place. Complimenting the internal struggle that comes with having to come to terms with processing what happened, there’s a very real mystery and threat at the rehabilitation center that Barbara and her friends are staying in, resulting in disappearances and just general spookiness.

Choosing to follow her gut, Barbara finds solace from her love of hacking computers (and doors), as well as the support from her friends around her, as they join and grow into the people they’re meant to be.

The characterizations, the dialogue, and just the truth at the center of these individuals really felt honest as I was reading this. What’s really wonderful about this is that at the heart of this story, it really emphasizes on the coming-of-age aspect, as well as how one person can utilize their skills, and learn to full embrace their uniqueness. The kids all sound like teenagers, and the anxiety is pretty earnest, and I genuinely felt empathetic for many of the emotions that Barbara was experiencing.

What really stood out was the color palette (Barbara’s hair, the greens and blues, the night shots, ahhhh) and just the representation all across the board. This is my second of these YA DC books, and truly, I just love how much they look, and how natural they are, showing a slice of a very real world for these characters, in a way that feels like going back to the basics, and utilizing these smaller-scale stories, with the visual look seen in the more mainstream comics.

I am not super familiar with Oracle and her DC comic history but I really enjoyed reading this story. Barbra “Babs” Gordon is a really compelling character and I found this little mystery interesting. The writing and the art were both fantastic.

I received an advanced copy of Oracle Code from NetGalley so that I could share my review with you!

Barbara “Babs” Gordon is a brilliant hacker and a problem solver, but when her need to solve every mystery gets her injured, her life as she knew it falls apart. Now requiring a wheelchair for mobility, Barbara isn’t sure what her life will look like. Her best friend is ignoring all her messages, and she’s had to move to a rehabilitation facility to help her adjust to using a wheelchair. With everything in her life changing so rapidly, the one thing Barbara can rely on is her instincts when it comes to solving mysteries and puzzles. Everything is not as it seems at the facility, however, and Barbara begins to sense a darker conspiracy lurking under the doctors “good intentions.” When patients begin to disappear from the facility, Barbara realizes that she may be the only one who could crack the code and save them all!

You can get your copy of Oracle Code now from DC Comics!

Marieke Nijkamp captured Barbara Gordon’s transition into Oracle in the most realistic origin story I’ve seen for the character so far! Barbara’s struggle to adapt to her new mobility conditions is front and center in this book, which is something I greatly appreciated as it is normally left out. To me, Barbara felt like a very real person, struggling with some very real issues. I also was a fan of the superhero plot-line that brought this book into the world of traditional comics, and which melded perfectly with Barbara’s personal struggles. Manuel Preitano’s use of color in the story was amazing, and highlighted certain moments in an extremely artistic way! If you can’t tell, I absolutely adore Barbara Gordon, and this book!

My Recommendation-
I think that Oracle Code is an absolute must read for everyone from superhero fanatics to those who have never touched a comic in their lives. The story is inspiring, and provides a needed contemporary look at one of only a handful of differently-abled superheroes. This book is perfect for anyone ranging from Middle-Grade to Adult reading preferences!

I’m loving getting to know new and more authors and artists of graphic novels. I think this art in THE ORACLE CODE was probably my favorite part. I love a good puzzle like nobodies business. So when I read the synopsis for this one I was immediately intrigued. Barbara aka Babs is in Arkham Center for Independence to recover from a gunshot wound that left her paralyzed. I enjoyed the story but overall things felt underdeveloped and rushed. I would have liked to see more on her hacking skills as well.

The Oracle Code is the story of Barbara Gordon as a teen, who undergoes rehabilitation at Arkham after an accident leaves her paralyzed. On the night in question, Barbara had been trying to save someone and gets shot, and in the aftermath she feels her life has been broken to pieces; she isn't sure how to put it back together or what to do going forward. At Arkham, she is angry at her state, but also more angry about how her friend has been distant from her since the accident. She makes new friends at the center, but still feels the loss of her friend. When one of her new friends, a quiet girl who tells her scary stories says that her brother has disappeared from Arkham, she is assured that it the girl's way to cope with the loss of her brother in the fire that destroyed her family. Barbara tries to help her, especially because things don't seem to add up when it comes to Arkham, but it isn't until the girl herself goes away, that she starts to get suspicious, and starts to investigate whether the kids who had to leave actually left or are missing. The plot is also interspersed with the horror stories that the girl says, and they are distinct in artwork from the main plot, which features a monochromatic background scheme with characters in focus using vivid colors; I am not entirely enthused with it, but it is nice. The tackling of eugenic and ableist ideologies in this story about disabled teens felt powerful; it also sort of complements Barbara's own arc about accepting her life, and not just being resigned to it, and figuring out that she can still do what she does best - put the pieces of the puzzle together.

I had a tough time putting this graphic novel down. We see Barbara trying to get used to her new way of life, and it is definitely an uphill battle at first. Yet when someone she meets there goes missing, she feels like something is off about the whole thing. Just because her way of life has changed, this doesn’t mean she is ready to give up on solving mysteries and fighting crime. If you are a fan of Barbara Gordon then this is a graphic novel you will want to read.

This YA graphic novel explores a young girl’s determination, self-revelation, and healing after a tragic shooting has left her paralyzed. While on her journey through recovery at the Arkham Rehabilitation Center, Barbara Gordon finds new friendship and the meaning of self awareness. While she adapts to her new normal she feels like something is just not right with this facility and it’s up to Babs to put the pieces together and code the truth within the walls of her temporary home.
What started out like a simple hacking adventure with her best friend, ended tragically after Babs is shot and left without the use of her legs. Forced into a rehabilitation center to focus on recovering mentally and physically from this event has left her with even more questions than when she first arrived.

“Because with a bit of perspective,
everything is a puzzle.”


DC ink has been creating beautiful YA adaptions of some of our favorite heroes. I’ve had the pleasure of reading a fair amount of them, but let me say this, The Oracle Code has got to be the one with the biggest and deepest meaning plot.
This GA brings diversity, awareness, and mental health to a story for young readers to adapt to. Babs questions multiple times throughout this novel that she is having a hard time determining what is real and what is a result of her trauma. Everything is done beautifully through the use of puzzle pieces which was something that Babs connected with in the first page of the book and carries until the end.
If you are a die hard adult comic reader and wanting to read this please know that this is an adaptation off the original Oracle character. It has been transitioned for the younger audience, so I hope you keep that in mind. As stated before this is a young adult graphic novel. If you are a die hard Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, or even Oracle fan then you will love this as well. The Oracle Code is a unique and fresh take on the character.

You won’t want to miss out on this one. It is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. Has hints on humor to lighten the mood while also keeping you on your toes. It gives off a smudge of Nancy Drew vibes but don’t let that deter you from this because it is so much more than that.

I hope to continue to get to do this for you all! DC INK is changing the way teens and younger readers view books and reading in general. Make sure you check them out and read all the wonderful and empowering books they are adding for readers.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, WarnerBros, DC Ink, and Sara Hannah for allowing me the pleasure to review this book and add all these wonderful images for you.

Best,
Brittany <3