Creative and beautiful. I really loved the plot of this graphic novel and the concepts behind it. I think a few sections read a little choppy but overall this was a smooth and quick read.

Thank you DC Comics for the gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review!

I've read quite a few of the young adult releases from DC Comics and this one is definitely one of my favorites!

The plot was so different and definitely a mystery I too tried solving. I loved following Barbara Gordon's journey and especially towards healing. Loved that the author brought to us disability representation, and proved that people with disabilities don't need to be fixed to be seen as whole. To me this is one of the most important representations that definitely should be available in books and other media. This book is from an own voice author so I'm sure many will appreciate this book and see themselves represented in this.

We had ghost stories and mysteries to solve in this one as Barbara moves into Arkham Center of Independence after her injury. I believe this book taught a lot of important things aside from what I already mentioned above. The importance of our get feeling and how most of the time that feeling is definitely to be trusted. We got to see Barbara go through her healing process and as she discovered what was most important about herself. She also formed friendships as she adjusted to her new life.

The story was wonderful in every way! definitely felt a lot of different things reading this one. And the art work was simply the best thing ever! the artist is incredible. The art style was gorgeous and the I loved the use of colors and how the artist mostly showed in each panel who we should focus on.

Overall, I adored this graphic novel and i can't recommend this enough!

I really like that each one of the YA DC graphic novels has its own art style. It seems like they really tried to match the style with the character and focus on certain color palettes for them.

It made sense to have the Oracle be more of a mystery/Nancy Drew type story. It shows that they understand what the character is about since Babs was a hacker/Sleuth during her time as Oracle in the comics.

As an adult reader, I felt like at times the story was a bit rushed and that the mystery was solved a bit too easily but I can see how that would suit younger readers. The overall pacing was really good and they balanced the mystery with Babs learning to deal with her disability and make friends. It was nice to see that it had more depth than her just solving a mystery because it made the story more interesting.

Overall this was a great addition to the series and it is nice that they are focusing on more diverse characters instead of the usual DC group over and over again. I also like that they showed a disabled character and showed some of the difficulties and frustrations that she had. Hopefully, this can help teens that may be going through something similar.

I enjoyed this retelling of Barbara Gordon's Oracle origin story. This didn't have her being Batgirl before she was shot and paralyzed, instead she was a teen hacker. I wish there had been more to the story before she was shot, there wasn't really any reference to how she was before she was shot and paralyzed to compare to how she was in Arkham. The art was bright and a lot of the mystery was shown in puzzle pieces because Barbara saw how she was paralyzed and the mystery of Arkham as a puzzle she needed to solve. Overall I enjoyed this graphic novel.

Hello Again!


 I have recently been enjoying a lot of DC comics and this was the next one that I read! Before reading any of these comics (you can see other previous reviews here on my site or on my Goodreads page) I honestly knew little to nothing about the DC universe of its characters. My husband and I played the batman games together on the Playstation a few years ago and I have seen all of the newer films but that is about it (aside from watching Flash on the CW, which I am behind on but I used to binge that show in college). After reading this one I have already picked up two others that I will be talking about soon but I am loving learning all about these different DC characters, it has been super fun.


SPOILERS AHEAD


Barbara Gordon was left paralyzed after a gunshot wound and is now moving into the Arkham Center for Independence to help her relearn many day to day skills. Here Barbara will live with many other teens that are working on their own rehabilitation. However, once Barbara has arrived and settled she starts to feel like things are not right and that there is something more going on here. Barbara meets another teen staying at the Center who survived a fire with her brother however, her brother goes missing one night and then her! Barbara enlists the help of her other friends at the center to try to find out what happened to the other two teens and what is really going on here at the center.


This might have been my favorite one of these comics yet (now after reading some others it definitely has some competition). I loved the mystery attached to this one and seeing Barbara work to figure out what was really going on. I also thought the art in this comic was really well done and just enhance the story. I found myself scanning the images at times looking for something I might be missing. I am giving this comic five stars on Goodreads and I can not wait to talk about the next one that I read!





**Thank you so much to the publisher who gave me an E-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Oracle Code tells the story of Barbara Gordon as she tries to recover from a horrific injury. She is sent to a home where she can recover and become used to using a wheelchair, where she starts to notice suspicious circumstances. However, she is unsure if it is her overactive imagination or if there is something actually sinister going on. I appreciated that this is a more child-friendly origin story for Oracle, avoiding the problematic story that is mainstream in DC comics. I also appreciated how it portrayed girls with disabilities as still powerful and skilled. However, I still thought the story was overly simplistic.

This new origin story for Barbara Gordon as Oracle is so well done. The story isn't about the violence of her origin story but what happens to her after and the person she becomes. It was a little spooky, which was kinda unexpected, and I didn't see the ending coming. I really appreciate that it's an OwnVoices book as well, after hearing Marieke Nijkamp speak about it at a conference, and that really stuck out to me as I read it.

The Oracle Code is one of the best graphic novels I've read in a really long time. There are practically no superheros in this novel, but the story is fierce, fun, and full of intrigue.

After getting shot, Barbara "Babs" Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon, becomes paralyzed and needs to use a wheelchair. Babs' father sends her to a mysteriously creepy mansion of treatment center where she can heal and get stronger, both mentally and physically. The story that unfurls includes late night ghost stories, missing girls, fierce female friendships, and strong disability representation. The plot itself is a perfect blend of gothic ghost stories and noir mysteries, and I've never seen better in a graphic novel.

The novel is impeccably illustrated, and I loved that the ghost stories and other bits were illustrated to look different from the main story. The coloring of the novel was just beautiful-- full of rich purples and greens with smatterings of purposeful reds and black. It really is a gorgeous book.

While it's a DC graphic novel, don't think you have to be a fan of superheroes to enjoy this book. You don't even have to know anything, really, about the DC comic universe before going into this book.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5! Bottom line: It's a lovely, diverse YA graphic novel with a strong plot and compelling characters.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an eArc of the book for review. In addition to the below link, a review will be posted on my blog on release date, March 10, 2020.

Posted to Goodreads: Barbara Gordon is a brilliant hacker whose life is changed by one gunshot. Now, Barbara is a patient at Gotham Center for Independence where she will uncover a mystery of a sinister plot that is effecting her fellow patients.

I was happily surprised by this graphic novel. The story was a well-crafted origin story that left me wanting to read more about Barbara's journey to becoming The Oracle. Plus, the art felt like a classic superhero comic strip that felt perfect for an origin story.

This book was an iffy read for me, because although I've always loved Oracle, I've had a hard time with her origin story stretching back to The Killing Joke and the unnecessary fridging of Barbara Gordon. After getting that off my chest, this is an origin story for Oracle and Barbara Gordon that I can be invested in. Marieke Nijkamp did an amazing job creating a much better and less soul crushing backstory for Barbara. Thank You.

This was fantastic! I love the Oracle reboot. I don’t know what it does to Batgirl of Burnside (which was amazing, too), but I really like this!

It was fantastic to see a young “Oracle” - I realize this is a total retcon if it’s DC Canon, but sometimes there are good reasons for going there - and I think this one. I like the character of Barbara Gordon / Oracle, and while some diversity seems forced, this doesn’t. Especially since Oracle has been a superhero in a wheelchair - for what? Over 20 years now? To see her as a teen without having the horror of the Joker is a bit refreshing. I realize there are purists that will be put off by that, but you can’t please everyone. I think it’s worth it - and I’ll be looking for more of these.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and DC Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

This is a young adult version of the Barbara Gordon mythos of Batgirl fame. Although she is no longer paralyzed, in the comic books, there was a time that she was, and she solved crimes from her wheelchair, being a hacker.

In this version, she is a teenager, and is partially paralyzed, and has to solve the mystery of the rehabilitation hospital where she is recovering.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/the-oracle-code.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5605" />

A sort of Nancy Drew take on a teenage Barbara Gordon, there are interesting twists and turns, and Barbara tries to find out what is happening at a hospital where people have disappeared.

Nicely done.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

DC does it again! I'm having so much fun reading all of these DC YA graphic novels!

The Oracle Code was definitely a favorite and of all of them it feels the most concrete one.
The story does not feel rushed at all and its actually pretty detail oriented for a comic.

This graphic novel follows Barbara Gordon after getting shot and having to go through recovery from her physical
disabilities but also her emotional ones. She feels like shes lost her life and her friends and I feel like she was perfectly portrayed in this story. I will say that this one did have a creepier feel than the rest of the YA graphic novels and I absolutely loved it. The art style is another thing I loved! There are different styles in this one so be ready for a pleasant surprise.

I would absolutely recommend The Oracle Code! 5/5 stars from me!

Marieke Nijkamp's The Oracle Code is an alternate graphic novel take on the shooting of Barbara Gordon and her transformation into Oracle. In this version of events, Barbara Gordon is still Commissioner Gordon's daughter, but she is a teenager and already a hacker (although what sort of hacking she actually does is left largely unexplored, aside from the obligatory security system hacking she'll do over the course of the story). It opens with her being shot and then sent o the Arkham Center for Independence, a rehabilitation center for teens that she immediately suspects is a front for some hidden awfulness. She is, at first, reluctant to make friends or form attachments because her pre-shooting friends have ghosted her, but eventually her need to solve puzzles leads her to reach out to others as she works to figure out the mystery of several patients' sudden disappearances, including that of a resident who would come by and tell her portentous stories at night. Naturally, the day is saved in the end and ACI's ablist plot to genetically eradicate disability by making people "whole" is thwarted.

There are many good things to point to in this graphic novel. There's a diverse cast including (obviously) non- able-bodied folks and people of a variety of races and at least one hijabi. These characters are not only represented in the background of group shots, but comprise about half of the named characters, though Babs (as she bafflingly prefers to be called) remains a red-haired white girl. The ACI friends are realistic about their lives and tell Barbara that life on wheels is what you make of it and that old friends don't always stay, remaining friendly and forgiving when she rebuffs their friendly overtures. When one of Barbara's old friends finally reappears, their encounter is awkward and she schools him on "this is me now," even though she feels a little hypocritical doing so, not having fully embraced the reality of her life on wheels, herself. Those are all good things. Lots of representation.

Some things that rubbed me the wrong way, however, were Commissioner Gordon continually saying that his daughter can be "fixed," despite the fact that he clearly loves and admires here with or without the wheelchair. It's an oddly inconsiderate word for him to settle on, though it makes more sense as the baddies' plot is eventually revealed. Unfortunately, it also made me wonder, as a reader, if the Commissioner's language choice had something to do with some knowledge of ACI's hidden agenda to "fix" or "cure' disabled folks. I hope not. I was also less than comfortable with the casting of rehabilitation specialists as bad guys. I know there weren't a lot of characters to choose from for the roles, but I wonder about the message it sends to people in rehabilitation, that their physical therapists aren't just evil for giving them physically excruciating tasks in the hope of improving their independence and mobility, but that they're genuinely evil and want to rid the world of folks who aren't "whole." Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this. Probably I am.

I have not spoken about the art because there's not a whole lot to say about it. The artist did a good job of being inclusive in portraying the characters and I could always tell the characters apart, but otherwise it was pretty unremarkable. The whole color palette felt pretty subdued except for Jena's stories. There were some background Easter eggs that were neat to see, like Robin dolls or someone reading a book titled "Dial C for CATS.." Overall, the art was fine.

Ultimately, The Oracle Code feels more like a purchase for a public or school library than a book I would want to buy for myself or for someone else.

This was such a GOOD young Oracle origin story! I really loved watching as a teenage Barbara Gordon found herself and discovered the strength within her to continue. I loved how she was already a hacker and how she used those skills to save so many other kids like her in the hospital. I love how she came to accept her new situation in the wheelchair, and I really liked this graphic novel showing all these young people in wheelchairs and showing how strong and capable they all were. This was just such an incredible story and i loved every moment.

First off: I loved this book. What a great addition to the DC Ink lineup!

The Oracle Code is the story of teenage Barbara Gordon who is struggling after an accident has left her paralyzed. Her mental health is as broken as her physical body. Her father, Commissioner James Gordon, sends her to The Arkham Center for Independence, a rehabilitation clinic for young people. Barbara is stuck in limbo. She resists all forms of therapy, pushes her father away, and is reluctant to make any new friends at the center. Frustrated and stuck, she misses her old life and the computer hacking she loves. It isn’t until a late-night visit from another patient that she starts to break out from her shell of depression.

Jena’s parents were killed in a house fire that left only herself and her brother alive, and now he is missing. It sounds like a mystery for Barbara, something to focus on, but the head psychiatrist says to let it go. He dismisses her and tells her to just focus on her own recovery. But Barbara is not a young woman who can be told to let an investigation go… she has a feeling that things in the wards are not on the up and up.

Not only is the plot of this graphic novel so well developed, but the way it is told is fantastic. Barbara uses the metaphor of a puzzle to describe many of the problems facing her in her life. Her life in the wheelchair since the accident, her friend Ben who won’t text her back, the ghosts who may roam the halls, and the odd history she has uncovered. These are all pieces that she tries to put together in a coherent picture of healing.

The artwork features phenomenal shadow work and a palette of colors that include purples and blues and bright reds. It’s a range of color that I’m not used to in comics, but works very effectively in this piece. I also like how the style changes at points to illustrate the difference between reality and the stories the characters tell each other.

This is a powerful work because it focuses on the after effects of the accident. It reveals the pain and frustration, and also the resilience.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Preview and Buy the Book HERE.

Thank you to NetGalley, DC Comics, and the author/ illustrator for an advanced copy for review.

I am not familiar with the storyline/universe so some parts were not very clear as to what is overall going on, but I did enjoy the story contained in just this graphic novel.
Barbara is new to her wheelchair and sent to the center for rehabilitation. She is unhappy and closed off until a young patient starts visiting her in the night and sharing stories. Then that girl goes missing and Barbara starts to open up to others in order to solve the mystery of what is really happening at the center.

So, Barbara Gordon is a hacker in this TPB, and then she gets shot. She goes to the ACI, a rehabilitation center.... or is it. She meets three other girls there, Issy, Yeong, and Jena, who all have quite the stories. (Especially Jena).

And then Jena goes missing and even though she's wanted to leave her hacking in the past, Barbara does it again for her friend, as well as some, 'in person hacking' too (otherwise known as breaking and entering, heh).

There weren't as many well known DC characters in this TPB, but, the story was interesting, and is what kept me interested. And it was Oracle, not Batgirl, that was one of the coolest things about this book. I like Barbara as Batgirl, but, I love Barbara as Oracle, always have, always will. I mean, there are like, four million Batgirls now right? But, Oracle was unique and amazing, and I wish that we still had her in the main DC universe as well as in these other stories.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of DC Entertainment

Dear Readers, 

I am a big comic fan, but I don't know every character as much as I liked. Reading this book however not only made me interested in Barbara Gordon, it was able to help me learn more about her and crave more stories about her. 

Marieke Nijkamp's The Oracle Code is a graphic novel about Barbara Gordon, a teen hacker who ends up paralyzed in a wheelchair after being shot when she tries to go out and fight crime one night with her friend Ben. Now at the Arkham Center to help her get treatment, Barbara soon begins to find out that the halls of this center may be filled with secrets, mysteries, and codes she will need to solve to save not only her new friend who has mysteriously vanished, but other residents as well. 

The first thing I enjoyed about this book was the characters of Barbara. I really liked how she was written and how they portrayed her character development. The showcasing of her slowly warming up to people, making friends, solving mysteries, etc. was just done to perfection. 

Another thing I liked about the book was the use of stories that were told to Barbara by her friend. They were not only different stories, but they were even in different art styles. Which made them more symbolic and interesting in my opinion. 

Finally, I really like the message of the book. I don't wanna give too much away, but it is one that we don't see a lot in books with disabled characters or about disabilities. It is something I'd like to see more and it even made the villains of the story's motivation for doing what they do even more interesting. Villains with motives you can somewhat understand, but you don't agree with at all are always going to be better than the evil for evil sake villains (with a few exceptions of course). However, I think the message of this story and the villain reveal are both two things that make this book fantastic.

The only part of the story I did not seem to like is the fact that there were a few times when I wanted more details about a person or scene and it just was not there. For instance, there is a part where two characters need to go down the stairs in wheelchairs. The scene looks like it is going to showcase both of them getting down or at least show us Barbara coming down the stairs or starting to, but it just skips to the next scene. I feel like the scene set up that Barbara was a little nervous but determined to go down the steps, but we just completely skip over it it seems. Maybe there was a reason the author had for doing so. However, it was just something that stuck out to me when I was reading and left me wanting more. 

Speaking of wanting more, I also wanted to learn more about Bab's history and more about the friends she makes in the center. However, that doesn't really happen either. The book Is still great without these things, but it would have made the story a little better to fill in some blanks or at least give us a little more detail. 

Overall, this book is filled with interesting characters & has a cool art style/storytelling structure, an interesting villain plot, and a great ending.  I really want more from this world and I hope that Nijkamp writes a sequel. If not, I may want to look into the comics more. Either way I definitely did not regret reading this story and you won't either. 

This review will be out on my blog: Books 4 Jessica on March 16, 2020.

Thanks to Netgalley for an E-ARC!

This was an excellent read and an excellent YA comic! The plot is engaging and keeps you guessing, the characters have depth and growth, and the art style is excellent. For me the art was the best part of the book, its very immersive and engaging. The art style really gave insight into the characters and the setting. The full page illustrations were particularly good.

The plot is well paced, with enough twists to keep the mystery going, but not so that it feels over the top. I thought this was a nice change to the Oracle origin story, taking a different approach than previous ones. The tone is much less dark and focused more on overcoming the trauma and Barbara accepting what has happened to her. I prefer this take to that of The Killing Joke.

I really like the supporting characters and the emphasis on friendship and the acceptance of people as they are without change.

Overall, an excellent title and I would highly recommend it to middle and high school readers.