Oracle Year One: Born of Hope
In 1996, John Ostrander and Kim Yale wrote a story entitled "Oracle: Year One: Born of Hope" which appeared in The Batman Chronicles #5. The story consists of Barbara recounting the events of The Killing Joke from her perspective, and the immediate aftermath of those events, including her recovery from her injuries and her adoption of the Oracle mantle.
No Joke
In 2007, Geoff Johns wrote a companion story to The Killing Joke entitled "No Joke" that appeared in the series Booster Gold.[15]
In the story, Booster Gold is charged by Rip Hunter to go back in time and save Barbara from being shot by the Joker. Booster arrives at the carnival and is attacked by Joker's freaks. He manages to escape, but arrives too late to save Barbara. Catching the Joker in the middle of taking photos of his victim, Booster attacks in a rage. The Joker nevertheless gains the upper hand, snapping several photos of Booster in the process. Rip returns Booster to the future before the Joker can murder him, but Booster demands to be sent back again. He fails several times until learning that the Joker is destined to paralyze her, as this prompts her to become the Oracle. Rip did this to demonstrate that some points in time, like Barbara's paralysis, are fixed and cannot be altered, so that Booster would not continue insisting on rescuing his friend Ted Kord from death, another fixed point. The story also reveals that Batman kept the photos of Barbara and Booster, and had been waiting until Booster came of age before confronting him. Batman thanks Booster for trying to stop the Joker and offers him his friendship. Eventually, Dick Grayson, who becomes the new Batman for a short time, would also learn about this and offer his thanks to Booster.
"Ladies' Night"
In 2010, writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Cliff Chiang collaborated on a one-shot story called "Ladies' Night", which was published in the anthology series The Brave and the Bold. The story is set shortly before The Killing Joke and deals with Zatanna and Wonder Woman struggling to come to terms with the impending attack on Barbara after Zatanna has a precognitive dream about it. Like "No Joke", the story heavily implies that the heroines cannot alter Barbara's fate, despite their desire to do so, instead giving her a final night on the town before she loses the use of her legs. The story also implies that Wonder Woman served as the inspiration for Barbara Gordon's eventual codename of the Oracle.[16]
The New 52
When DC Comics relaunched its continuity in 2011, many of Batman's stories were erased from history or altered, but the events of The Killing Joke remained intact. In the new continuity, Barbara Gordon recovered from the paralysis after three years. Although she resumes her work as Batgirl one year after recovering her mobility, she continues to have posttraumatic stress disorder when exposed to gunfire that could result in receiving new spinal damage.[17]
In March 2015, DC Comics released 25 Joker-themed variant covers for its various monthly series in celebration of the character's 75th anniversary. Among them was a cover to Batgirl #41 by artist Rafael Albuquerque that took its inspiration from The Killing Joke. The cover depicts the Joker standing next to a tearful Batgirl, who has a red smile painted across her mouth. The Joker has one hand holding a revolver draped over Batgirl's shoulder and is pointing to her cheek with the other hand, as if gesturing to shoot her. The cover quickly drew criticism for highlighting a dark period in the character's history, especially when juxtaposed with the youthful, more optimistic direction of the series at the time. The hashtag #changethecover drew dozens of posts on Twitter and Tumblr asking DC not to release the variant. DC ultimately withdrew the cover from publication at the request of Albuquerque, who said that he did not want to hurt or upset anyone through his art.[18]
Three Jokers
The 2020 book Batman: Three Jokers features the Joker's pregnant wife, Jeannie, and includes more details about what happened to her.[19]
