A MORRISON MONDAYS anniversary special!
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NOTE: The original Bat-Girl turns 65! For Peter Bosch’s groovy history and celebration of the character, click here. PLUS: Check out Peter’s inspired BATMANIA ’61: What if the 1960s BATMAN Show Began Five Years Earlier. — Dan
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By BILL MORRISON
Bat-Girl, we hardly knew ye!
As much as I love Barbara Gordon, I’ve always had a soft spot for Betty Kane and wish she could have stayed around in the Silver Age for more than three years.
So, in honor of the original Bat-Girl’s first appearance on the cover and in the pages of Batman #139 — which hit the racks 65 years ago, on February 23, 1961 — here is the result of my “what if” musings about a return for Betty to the pages of Batman comics during the 1960s Batmania!
Special thanks to Wallopin’ Walt Grogan for turning my drawing into a full-fledged fantasy cover!
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Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below!
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MORE
— SUPERMAN, BARTMAN and the Enduring Inspiration of CURT SWAN. Click here.
— If FRAZETTA Did FUTURAMA. Click here.
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Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has changed.
Bill is on Instagram (@atomicbattery) and Facebook (Bill Morrison/Atomic Battery Studios), and regularly takes commissions and sells published art through 4C Comics.
February 23, 2026
I was 4 months old
February 23, 2026
I was very disappointed that when Flamebird/Bette appeared in Birds of Prey that she am Oracle had no scenes together