Batgirl: Initiation Rites

The Untold Story of How How Batgirl Joined the Batman Corps

After a long trek deep into the Batcave, Batman began insisting that Batgirl remove her mask and reveal her secret identity to him.  The young crimefighter refused, saying she would only let him see her face if he agreed to do the same. Grumbling, he walked on to the Bat Infirmary. Then he required her to strip down for examination to make sure she was fit enough to join his team. She reluctantly agreed, though she felt uneasy alone with a powerful man in a secluded part of the cave. But if she couldn't trust the Caped Crusader, she reasoned, who could she trust. In the process of the exam he discovered that Batgirl was an exceptionally well endowed girl. He spent quite a while examining and testing them. He had to determine whether they would be a vulnerability in crimefighting, he told her.

But then, the midst of her exam, Batman suddenly reached up and swiftly unmasked Batgirl, learning that she was really Barbara Gordon!

"Batman, my mask -- No!" she cries. "How could you? And when I'm topless, too!" But there was nothing she could do. Her secret had been exposed.

Batgirl was accepted into the team of course, and learned to bury this painful memory of Batman's betrayal so they could work together. Although the yearly full body exams Batman started requiring tended to reopen that wound. Still they fought beside each other for years, relying on each other through many dangers.

But, as we all know, when he decided Barbara's usefulness to him had ended, he cruelly ruined her career by unmasking her in public!

(These pix came from a Yahoo Group called 'Greyson Gallery' that doesn't seem to exist anymore)