I decided to kick of the women in comics spotlight with a writer and editor who had a major effect on my comics world – Kim Yale.
Kim Yale (November 1953-March 1997) was an editor and writer of comics. She worked on her own and in conjunction with her husband John Ostrander. Elfquest, Star Wars, Deadshot, Suicide Squad, Oracle:Year One – there are countless books that Kim left her mark on.
Whilst one of my favourites is Manhunter, it’s her work with Barbara Gordon that many will remember her for. Not happy with her treatment in The Killing Joke, Kim and her husband John found a way to bring Barbara back into comics. They brought her back and made her amazing.
As Ostrander said later “There were no plans for her in the continuity at that time. We decided that if that happened, we weren’t just going to make her better magically — we wanted to explore what happened when someone like her was crippled and how she would respond.”
But it was their thought that someone like Batgirl wouldn’t just vanish that gave us one of the DCU’s greatest heroes. Oracle. She appeared as a name only in their Suicide Squad, and then later in Manhunter. Finally, they wrote Oracle: Year One.
Kim was a hugely important writer and editor. It is with the utmost respect and affection that we chose her to start this series.
