The Nail :: Batgirl

In the world of The Nail, Batgirl is one of Batman's partners, along with a very young Robin. Her personality seems to be in the exact middle of Batman and Robin's; why, while at times she reflects a very serious and to-the-point attitude, she is also bubbly and easygoing.

Batgirl is introduced in the story after the Joker takes over Arkham Assylum and involves it in a gigantic forcefield that cannot be penetrated by the police. Batgirl and Robin are the first to arrive, and realize that the the forcefield is designed to recognize their biological signatures and allows them to pass through. The duo then then contacts Batman who is with the Justice League.

Batman orders Robin and Batgirl to stay behind while he goes inside the forcefield and into the assylum to investigate, but soon the cape crusader finds himself in trouble because the Joker is in possesion of powerful technology given to him by the Eradicator. The evil villain has trapped the Dark Knight in a forcefield and got him suspended in mid-air, but his luck momentarily changes when the Boy Wonder and the Dominoed Daredoll appear and attack the Joker. Unfortunately for the two young heroes, things turn ugly pretty quickly.

The Prince Clown of Crime traps them also in a force field, and to torture Batman he crushes their bodies inside the field. Batman begs the Joker to let them go, but the maniac refuses to listen and while slowly kills Batgirl and Robin, he makes jokes and forces Batman to see. By the time he is finished, both Batgirl and Robin are dead.

Even though the deaths are not illustrated, enough images are shown to make it an extremely strong and shocking scene; this is the Joker at his sickest, as far as I can tell; not only has he succeeded in killing two of his enemies, but also did it in such a monstruous manner that he drove Batman insane. During the rest of the story, the Dark Knight is terrorized by the memories of his murdered partners, and it is Catwoman who helps him walk the road back to sanity.

Although hers was a small role in the story, Batgirl made a long lasting impression throughout the series as an important element in Batman's fall and subsequent recovery, and also in the evolution of Catwoman who would eventually become The Batwoman.

...so it was a kingdom was lost, all for the want of a nail.