I just finished writing the latest draft of my dissertation prospectus. Tomorrow I’m going to put in all the citations I still need to add and send it off to my committee. I’m hoping what I’ll hear back is “When do we schedule your defense?” and I can finally get working on more than that. I need to get working on my dissertation itself, but there’s something else that I’ve had to put aside to get this part done: my Oracle chapter.
I mentioned it in my last post. I’m writing a chapter about Oracle’s impact on comics and the hole that she left when DC decided to “heal” her. I gave a presentation on this last year at a Batman conference at Bowling Green State University. I’ve been looking forward to writing this so much! Oracle is probably the best example of how to write a character with a disability in comic books ever, and they got rid of her.
Granted, the dissertation work has helped me to figure out exactly what about Oracle and Barbara I’m going to write about. I only have so much space in the book and I need to make every word count. I’m going to focus on Oracle and Barbara’s experience as a paraplegic. There’s no need to go in depth about Batgirl before The Killing Joke or after getting “healed.” Granted, the announcement of a new graphic novel that takes place during her early days will complicate things. Considering the chapter needs to be complete by August, I may just mention it and leave serious discussion about it for a later time. But, the fact that it is coming out is huge for Oracle, as well as my argument.
It’s so nice being able to clear this hurdle and start to work on dividing my attention across multiple projects. I just hope I can pay enough attention to both so they get done right.
Deviate from the Norm 