#anyway of course this is in reference to batgirl 2000

[casscainmainly]

Yeah comics can be bad but they can also be so good you think about them forever and they change the trajectory of your life.

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #42

Batgirl (2000) #21 - December 2001 Writer: Kelley Puckett……….Pencils: Damion Scott Inks: Robert Campanella…..Colors: Gregory Wright

My short break turned into a 6 month hiatus, but the first issue of the new Cass Batgirl run releasing tomorrow (at time of writing this) has finally given me the push to start this project up again. While this isn't the most consequential issue to come back to, it is a good one, and it has Stephanie in it, and references og Cass's initial dynamic with Shiva, which is topical since the new book will at least start with a focus on modern Cass's relationship with her mother.

Most of the usual team here this time, only we have a different Wright on the colors than usual. Which did give me a brief moment of panic that I'd been attributing colors to the wrong person, but no, most of the previous issues specifically credit Jason Wright, but this one specifically credits Gregory.

The issue opens with Cass preparing for a training routine, and I have to point out that the evolution of Damion Scott's art style that I brought up in a reply to a post that was going around recently (link) regarding inconsistency in Cass's appearance was already well underway by issue 21 of her ongoing.

The training sequence itself is pretty extreme as Cassandra demolishes dozens of dummies and a few (potentially load bearing?) stone columns in her cave...

Before nearly taking Spoiler's head off and making herself sick with the effort of stopping her own punch and/or the realization of what almost just happened. It's a cool-then-funny sequence which also reinforces how Cassandra is capable of absolutely destroying people, but that she very much doesn't want to actually hurt anyone, traits that will of course be key to events later in the issue because Kelley Puckett is just good like that.

Anyway, Steph is here because Babs sent her to get Cass and bring her to the Clock Tower, since Cass wasn't responding to calls while engrossed in her hours-long training regimen.

*I wish I didn't have to, Mirthful Mike.

But yeah, this issue is a sort of tie in to Joker: Last Laugh, a miniseries / crossover event from 2001 that frankly I didn't much care for. Unfortunately we'll have to look at an issue from the main miniseries run next time, but for the moment Bab's summary is all that needs to be relevant for the current issue.

The more interesting thing going on in the same panel is the little exchange between Babs and Cass about whether Cass has been studying her super villain files. With Cass answering 'no' in a kind of embarrassed way, which Barbara reads as Cass being embarrassed about not doing her homework, something Babs obviously things Cass ~should~ be doing but that she's kind of given up on Cass ever caring enough ~to~ do, with Cass just not caring about the part of the job that she's not good at / the part of the job that Barbara does. It's a whole thing., and a point of tension that at this point in the comic is slowly building and then later will be forgotten about and unmentioned for a huge run of issues and then even later than that will explode out of nowhere. Again with my recurring comment about this book being fantastic on the build up of character arcs and not as great on the follow through.

BUT ANYWAY, Babs is completely misreading this situation, because Cass isn't embarrassed because she think she's been caught not doing something she should, she's visibly embarrassed (love the art from Scott here, again with managing a very expressive Cass despite being in the full face covering mask) because she thinks she's been caught doing something she shouldn't.

One of the first rules Bruce gave her was 'no costumed criminals'. She's not supposed to be fighting supervillains or metahumans or any other weirdos with special abilities or gimmicks that might invalidate her body-reading ability, which we've already established is her primary and near only defensive skill. At least, that's the in universe justification for why this book mostly avoids big scenery chewing bad guys who would otherwise distract from the intended tone and core themes.

Now, Bruce would have intended that as "don't fight them, but absolutely study them so you know what you're dealing with if you have do", but Cass is very much the sort of kid who would have heard that as 'supervillains are entirely off limits, I don't want you to fight them, or look at them, or even think about them', like the whole subject is a taboo - one she'll absolutely break, but that she'll feel guilty about breaking and try to hide from authority figures, because that's how she deals with guilt in general, lying (poorly) about it, trying to hide it. Because she doesn't think she deserves to be Batgirl, so she's completely insecure about it and sure she's going to be fired the moment anyone sees through her.

And that's especially the case given the reason she's been so carefully studying the particular supervillains she has - super powered martial artists. The same reason she's been training so hard that she's destroying her cave, missing calls from Barbara, and nearly killing unexpected guests who wander into her sessions, but that's a subject the comic comes back to later.

This habit / character flaw / broken coping mechanism of lying to hide guilt (misplaced or otherwise) is just so compelling to me. The way the lies taint every relationship, distancing the character from anyone they should be able to rely on, the way the they inevitably build up as the character feels guilty about the lies themselves and makes up more lies to hide that, like a matryoshka doll, or a tower of cards waiting to fall, the way that by the time other characters start pulling on the strings thinking they know what's going on there's a usually a cascade of revelations each more shocking than the last. Alphys in Undertale is a prime example of this.

The disaster when everything falls apart is usually the best part of this dynamic, and sadly Batgirl (2000) will choose to subvert that part (again, fantastic set up, but never quite following through), but we aren't there yet.

Anyway, it's just a couple short lines of dialog across as many panels sharing space with a blunt info-dump, but it's a really good character beat speaking to both Cass's flaws - the whole lying and hiding anything she feels guilty about - and Barbara's - assuming she already knows what's going on and not digging any further or following up (which only enables Cass's lying and hiding) because the reason she assumes makes her annoyed and angry (which Cass of course picks up on, reinforcing her feelings of guilt and insecurity).

It's a complicated and unhealthy dynamic between two people that otherwise genuinely love each other, and the tension and angst that comes from that is also fantastic.

The original Cass Cain Batgirl run was full of this drama that comes from making these variously maladjusted characters care about each other and exploring the fraught relationship dynamics that result. That more than anything else is what made Batgirl (2000) great and that post-flashpoint Cass has been lacking (the parts I've read anyway, still need to get around to that Outsiders run). Even my constant complaints about the flanderization of latter day David Cain basically boil down to this, because original Cass's relationship with Cain was overflowing with this sort of tension.

Anyway, that's a ton of talk about two panels, lets see if I can rush through the rest of the issue a bit more quickly...

...

So Babs gives a reason why Cass and Steph aren't wanted in this otherwise all-hands-on-deck emergency situation, a reason that's a little bit dumb, but way less dumb than the reason we'll get next time, and Cass says she's fine with it, which takes Babs by surprise. You can see the fight she was ready to have about it, you can see how confused she is when Cass just says OK, because again Scott is just so good at these facial expressions. Babs, or at least this version of her, is susceptible to making inaccurate assumptions about people, about Cass in particular, but she's a smart enough cookie to notice when Cass acts outside of those assumptions and start questioning whether something else is going on.

So Cass goes to train in Bab's star trek holodeck (I admit that thing was a bit too sci fi for a gotham book for my tastes), and refuses to let Steph sit in, which calls back the scene earlier to reinforce it in the readers memory before what happens later.

The power goes out, and Cass comes out sheepishly, this miserable look on her face (again! So good!), because she thinks she broke the holo room, and there's no way to hide & lie her way around that, but the problem isn't Cass...

It's this guy, Shadow Thief (jokerized), a villain I know nothing about and have never seen or read outside of this comic. He's got some weird tech that, I think, drains electricity from nearby devices to make himself (but not his weapons) intangible?

Scott draws him in an extra exaggerated, cartoony, and rubbery style, which works here to emphasize his weird powers and/or jokerization, but does kind of foreshadow how all of his comic art starts to look more like that over time - which again isn't bad (as you can see in the panel here it actually looks pretty cool), but I still prefer the earlier style.

Anyway, Shadow Thief also a notable supervillain martial artist, so Cass actually has been studying his files, and knows exactly how to deal with him -

Catching the throwing stars he throws at them with her fingers (look at her smile! She's loving this!)

Throwing out some cocky banter to play on his ego

Grabbing his very tangible sword to draw him to the roof so Babs and Steph aren't caught in their fight.

All great stuff.

And yeah, Barbara has absolutely picked up that somethings going on with Cass. Eventually it will be revealed that she just already knows about the fight with Shiva, and I don't think we ever see how she found out, but this is pretty clearly where she started to suspect something and it's not too much of a stretch to jump from that initial suspicion to just knowing everything, at least not with this character.

Even without his sword, Shadow Thief has special martial arts techniques that somehow let him sort of hit things despite his Shadow Field making him intangible....

And now Cass does, too.

One of the usual principles of early Batgirl (2000) - no supervillains - serves to keep the focus tight on the more emotional themes of the book. Cass is so far out of the league of any of the typical criminals she runs up against that fights are always over in a flash, keeping action scenes short and punchy and leaving more space in the book for other things. But it is nice, every once in a while, to make an exception for a more drawn out and elaborate fight scene like this, where Cass can really show her skills.

But the real drama of this issue happens when Babs finds a way to remotely deactivate Shadow Thief's intangibility field mid battle. That 'oh, shit' face is so good.

All Cass's joy gone in an instant. She was having so much fun. She was so happy to have a real opponent she could cut loose on instead of inanimate dummies or holograms. Someone good enough to keep up with her, and with a defensive ability effective enough that she could put her full skills to use without having to worry about actually hurting them. Yeah, Shadow Thief's a villain, but they were playing with each other, trading banter. Having fun. Despite Shadow Thief's murderous intent, this was almost more of a friendly sparring match than a real fight.

But once again she gets a stark reminder of what her skills were originally meant for, what she was originally meant for. Earlier in the issue Cass was throwing up at the thought that she even could have hurt Stephanie, and now she probably killed this guy. And there won't be any hiding this - forget what might happen if Bruce finds out about the guy she murdered as a child, he 100% is going to find out about this man that she murdered, on the roof of Barbara's safe house, while wearing his symbol. Her entire life is falling apart, here.

But Stephanie is here. And helps Cass save him. Helps her save herself.

And of course Cass wants to hide what happened from Barbara. And of course Stephanie, being a good friend, keeps her secret, even if it probably would have been better to talk to Barbara about what happened and what Cass is feeling about it. Then again, if Babs knew it might have gotten back around to Bruce, and that ~wouldn't~ have been a healing conversation.

And the issue ends with a Flashback to Cass agreeing to fight Shiva, a real fight, to the death, using all of their killing skills. An bargain struck many issues back, so this is the reminder to readers that the fight is coming up soon, only a few issues away now. The final page is this panel of Cass back in her cave, with Shiva's file open, a video recording of her fighting on loop, as Cass sits with her face in shadow. She isn't going to fight to kill Shiva. She can't. So Shiva is absolutely going to kill her.

So yeah, a strong issue to come back to, catching us up on the overal serial plot of the book at the time, but also strongly grounded in original Cass's core emotional themes and the intricate dynamics of some of her core relationships, including now to Stephanie, with this being a huge early moment of vulnerability from Cass and support from Steph pushing them from like work friends who pal around some times to real friends who rely on each other.

And despite making exceptions to include a super villain and extended fight scene and callback to an ongoing serial narrative arc, this issue still mostly adheres to the core early Batgirl (2000) playbook.

It tells a complete story in a single issue; tightly focused on Cass's core character themes, motivations, and frought, layered relationships; expressed mostly through the artwork with relatively minimal reliance on dialog and even less on narration, with an overall sombre or even tragic tone punctuated with moments of levity or heartfelt human connection.

I'm writing this before having a chance to read the first issue of Cass's new ongoing, but more than anything else, more than reverting her canon to the pre-flashpoint history (which I don't even want, post-flashpoint Cass is a new character and I'm sure she has fans who care about her as much as I cared about original Cass), even more than restoring the original version of David Cain, what I hope for most from the new book is a return to this kind of storytelling.

[sliipppy]

Because I am insane and sleep deprived, here is my attempt to make sense of the batfamily ages and what I believe they are currently at, with full explanations. Fair warning, although I have done like, legit research and have reasonings, some of these still fit into headcanons.

Bruce - 45

Dick - 28

Babs - 30

Jason - 23

Tim - 21

Steph - 22

Cass - 23

Damian - 14

Duke - 17

Bruce is the oldest, obviously. However, when he first adopts Dick he is still young himself. Hence why along with their father-son relationship, they sorta have a brotherly relationship. (Specfically in classic comics, Bruce would often refer to him as a brother. ) I like how it complicates their relationship and how it shows he wasn't really ready to nessicarily handle a child. I like to hc that he got adopted at 8, which would make Bruce 25 when he adopted him.

It was difficult to settle on this age because the age in which Dick became Robin has been changed so many times. Originally, he was 7. New Teen Titans says he was 8. Other comics say he was 10, 12, and even 15. I feel like most people say 8, and for the sake of my own agenda, I'm saying 8, and you can not stop me.

I think 28 is a good age for Dick. Babs similarly should be around his age as they grew up together (at least in newer canon since she used to be quite a bit older.), but she's always been portrayed as older even when around her age, and to kinda account for the weirdness surrounding her age I put her as 30. She becomes Batgirl at 18, and likely becomes Oracle when she's in her 20s, probably around 23.

Batman tells Cass multiple times in Batgirl 2000 that she and Jason were the same age, so that makes it easier to rule the two together. Addiontally, Cass, Steph, and Tim are all around the same age range, Cass being the oldest, so that makes things easier too. Cass starts operating as Batgirl at 18 which would make Tim around 16 when she takes the cowl. This works since Tim became Robin at around 13 and he had been Robin for a good amount of time before Cass became Batgirl. I think it's a litttle longer than I'd like. But whatever. I was considering ignoring canon and saying he becomes Robin at 14, because I think 2 years as Robin before Cass rather than 3 is more fitting but whatever. It does fit since Tim was introduced way earlier than Cass, however real time doesn't really affect these ages. Anyways, big sister Cass supremacy I think people forget she's one of the oldest. I think she might have been de-aged to be around Tim's age but FUCK that she was originally Jason's age and this is my headcanon and I like to thing N52 didn't fuck everything up in my happy Tumblr space.

We know Steph is 1 year older than Tim because she's a freshman in college during Batgirl 2009, and he's a high-school dropout in Red Robin 2009 as he searches for Bruce. Stephanie becomes Spoiler at 15, and Robin at 16. She comes back when she's around 17-18. This lands our 2000s trio with ages at 23(Cass), 22(Steph), and 21(Tim).

Jason is a mess. At least I thought he would be, but it actually turned out kinda perfect. We know Jason and Cass are the same age, so he's at 23 with her. He becomes Robin at 12, and dies at 15. He comes back as Red Hood at 18 and was dead for around 3 years. Jason Todd is 18 when he comes back to life because right before War Games, Bruce takes Cass to Jason's grave, on his 18th birthday!!! and of course the event that acts as a sort of aftermath to War Games is Under the Red Hood so Jason is 18 when he first becomes Red Hood. Cass is still a fairly new character when UTRH happens, so i think her being 18-19 when he comes back fits well. Tim being around 16 kinda fits nice too as hes around the same age as Jason when he died. I think Steph being so close in age also helps since so many parallels are drawn between the two.

Detective Comics #790

Duke is still a teenager, and he is regarded to be one of the youngest bats, but still quite a bit older than Damian. In We are Robin, Duke is 16, as shown in the who are the robins bonus art. He is still a newer character and hasn't been Signal for long. I assume that by the time Batman and the Signal rolls around, he's 17 and is still currently 17.

We are Robin #4

I'm pretty sure Damian was 14 in Robin (2021) but I could be wrong it's been a while since I've read it and I never finished it so idk if he ever aged since then. He became Robin at 10, so in those 4 years, he's obviously grown and matured a lot, but I mean, who doesn't those are formative years. I was gonna bump him up to 15. However, this doesn't work. He is supposed to be 10 while Tim is 17. (Babs says he's ten during Batgirl 2009, and we established Tim is 17 during this.) To keep it consistent with the others, I'm keeping Damian at 14.

Batgirl 2009 #17

Feel free to correct anything I said here if it's incorrect. I am not perfect nor all-knowing. Also I'm horrible with math and numbers so I probably fucked something up here so feel free to make fun of me for that. Or you can make fun of the issues I have below.

Issues :

Dick can't be Robin at 8 if I stick with these ages because that would mean at the time Tim is 1 which means he wouldn't even be able to remember the show which means he would never be Robin.

I would've liked Bruce to be a little younger when first taking Dick in, but also I think Bruce is at his best when he's a middle aged man and I didn't want him to be below 45 because I wanted him to be on his late 40's.

It's hard to characterized Duke after We Are Robin because he's supposed to he a teenager, however he was 16 in We Are Robin and it feels like he should have been Signal for a bit longer than that. This isn't as big of a deal, because I still think it's believable for him to have only been signal for about a year, and it's mainly just DC inconsistency, but it still bugs me.

Damian's entire age is sorta messy and there's definitely issues with it lol.

I think Cass' age is around the same as Tim's post 52 to fit with him since their the same generation. But i chose to ignore that, and you can't stop me I choose what canon I want.

ヽ(o´3`o)ﾉ

Anyways, if you've read all of this, I fear you might be a little crazy. However, thank you!!!!!! Feel free to like leave your own opinion/headcanons. I LOVE hearing them. Thank you! Bye!

[squireofgeekdom]

contemplating this further and i think this would also work - and potentially be better as - a 6 episode miniseries, to give it more space to breathe

this is distinct from what i'd do for cass in a more conventional multi season, 13 or, if we're truly returning to form, 26 episodes a season, which would be much different in both structure and tone. think episodic dramady/almost slice of life sort of vibes?

like, in a period where cass is operating in a city outside of but close to gotham, like in batgirl (2000) when she's running around in bludhaven, in that era where she's figuring out who she is as a civilian outside of being a superhero (while still being a superhero)

like, think something along the lines of season 1 of supergirl in terms of the combination of humor/drama/action, except rather than figuring out a superhero identity it's the reverse. (might even just call it cass wayne for that vibe) and like, I've only seen bits of a couple of unbreakable kimmy schmidt episodes but like, also that same grew up in horrible circumstances that left you totally unprepared for being in the world as a person, handled with a lighter tone. and since it's cass like, when she's out of step with social expectation or whatever 9 times out of 10 she's just like wow. sucks to suck. obviously i am doing this better than you. which I think is a delightful avenue to do comedy poking fun at stupid/absurd social norms - as well as like. give full rein to cass's canonical sharp sense of humor. (and other things from batgirl (2000) like her picking up things from tv, occasional obliviousness-to-the-point-of-comedy, etc) (my brain also keeps going to btvs as another point of reference in structure and tone)

also things like a running thread of cass struggling with and learning speaking and reading, and then getting very into reading ala batgirls. etc.

the batfam would show up as recurring characters but like, she'd have her own supporting cast. maybe alysia yeoh has coincidentally moved to the same city before cass does and barbara asks her to look out for her, so there's someone who knows cass in both civilian and superhero identity. but then of course, there's identity shenanigans with people cass befriends as a civilian (like her friend at the cafe in batgirl 2000) vs people befriends as a superhero (like the family with the vietnamese restaurant in batgirl 2024), and cass's frequently indifferent attention to maintaining a secret identity (potential for delightful comedy of people knowing who she is and pretending she is maintaining a secret identity anyway, potential for drama of people protecting her secret identity)

and of course there's still superhero action and being able to do more dramatic plotlines with shiva or cain or various batfam related conflict, and also potentially doing stuff with folks outside of the batfam, like with xanthe zhou in spirit world. and i'm of course picturing steph as the endgame love interest but with a multi-season show there would be some time for cass to explore different relationships

and of course your series finale ends with the flash forward to her taking on The Bat mantle

i am thinking... about a cass movie

it is just called 'the bat' and it is told nonlinearly over three different periods in cass's life

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Feel free to ignore this if you're not feeling up to it or something, but I was wondering if you know any panels where the batkids are shown mourning each other's deaths? I feel like most of what I see is the effect it has on Bruce. Anyway thank you, and three cheers for the stuff you're doing. The nerd inside me loves a good comprehensive masterpost.

everyone knows the perfect way to kick off pride month is by compiling panels of the batkids mourning each other's deaths, of course

ALRIGHT SO HERE'S WHAT I'VE GOT:

(i'm doing this thing chronologically so i'm starting with jason's death, then steph's, then damian's, etc.)

Mourning Jason:

Believe it or not, Dick took Jason's death really hard once he found out. I know the DC writers want you to think that Dick and Jason hated each other when they met, but Dick truly cared about Jason and grieved his death just as much as Bruce did.

New Teen Titans #5

Jason and Barbara were each other's Robin and Batgirl, so Barbara took the news of his death pretty hard as well. She and her dad showed up at Jason's funeral and everything.

Gotham Knights #44

Mourning Stephanie:

We all know how Tim's mental health took a plunge after he lost Steph (and everyone else he cared about, whoops), so he grieved her pretty much every day until it was revealed that she was alive roughly a year later. Steph's death pushed Tim to become a darker version of himself, and he even devoted himself to finding a way to bring her back during the "Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul" storyline. Because self-care is resurrecting your dead loved ones while mid-breakdown <3

Robin #156

Nightwing (1996) #139

Steph was Cass' first friend, as well as the first person she lost who actually meant something to her. She spent a long period of time grieving Stephanie after War Games, so she and Tim leaned on each other while they were both operating in Bludhaven, since they were both going through the same pain.

Batgirl (2000) #58

Mourning Damian:

Damian is probably right up there with Jason in terms of being one of the most impactful Robin deaths. His loss touched pretty much everyone—especially Dick, up until Dick faked his death and everyone had yet another loss to mourn.

Batman Incorporated #9

Nightwing (2011) #18

Jason wasn't really shown mourning Damian's death himself, so much as he was there to support everyone else in their grief. He knew what kind of an impact losing a son would have on Bruce and the others, so Jason did what he could to be there for them and help them through it.

Justice League (2011) #19

For all that Tim and Damian claimed to hate each other, Tim did care a lot about Damian and took his death extremely hard to the point where he hallucinated Damian's ghost and gave us that well-known hug scene between the two.

Teen Titans (2011) #18

Mourning Dick:

There sadly aren't many examples of the batkids grieving Dick after his "death," mostly because the plan to have him fake his death and go undercover as a spy was a pretty late decision, and the writers for the other series didn't have time to change up the scripts and show the characters giving Dick's loss the attention it deserved at the time.

Barbara was shown missing Dick shortly after his death, even if the reference was a little small compared to how it should have been when you think about their history and the impact his death should have had on her.

Batgirl (2011) #30

What gets my blood boiling is that we were supposed to get the funeral Dick deserved in the originally planned 2011 Nightwing series finale. There were plans for a huge farewell comic in which all of Dick's loved ones attended his funeral, and then the end of the comic was going to reveal that Dick was actually alive and going off to play spy. Sadly, this comic was scrapped because DC hates us and doesn't want us to be happy.

The original Nightwing #30 comic was supposed to include stuff like Jason and Tim realizing that they are now the last of the Robins, Roy crying over Dick's (fake) dead body, Barbara and Tim holding hands as they grieve together, Jason actually loving and missing his brother, hugs all around, and a bunch more that ended up being replaced with a stupid comic of Bruce and Dick beating the shit out of each other. Sigh.

Nightwing (2011) #30 Original Artwork

Mourning Tim:

Tim was...sort of grieved properly? He got more than Dick did, at least. 

We saw everyone’s initial reactions when Tim got annihilated by the drones, so that was a nice sad moment.

Detective Comics #940

While Dick treated Tim like little more than a coworker after the reboot instead of the brother he used to love, he was shown at least respecting Tim and being moderately sad about his death.

Deathstroke (2016) #34

Jason didn’t attend Tim’s funeral, but it’s clear that he does genuinely miss him and feel guilty about not being there for him when it counted.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #3

Miraculously, Damian is shown having more feelings about Tim’s death than most of the others in the Batfamily. Sure he’s a little snot about it, (taking over the Teen Titans and making them better than they were when Tim was leading them), but it was done with love, okay? It counts.

Teen Titans (2016) #1

Tim’s death had a huge impact on Steph (obviously; they were in love and all), and actually led to her getting a pretty interesting character arc so yay! Tim got fridged so Steph could get some awesome character development, I’m so proud of her <3

Detective Comics #943

Detective Comics #946

Aaaand that’s all I’ve got! Lots of drama, lots of angst, lots of grief. Hell yeah.

[gamesception]

Sception reads Cass Cain #14

Batgirl (2000) #3 Story: Peterson & Puckett Art: Scott & Campanella

The tag line says Batgirl "meets META", and shows this dramatic fight with a dark skinned muscle man, like his name is Meta and he's a big deal, as though meeting him is important. Like Crime Boss Jr. in the previous issue, this guy is not, in fact, important, doesn't come back in the future, and iirc doesn't even have a name. "Meta" is just referring to the idea of 'metahumans' in general. As for what this issue is about, it's not as coherent and self contained as issue 2, since it's setting up for issue 4, but there is a central theme here.

Like issue 2 there's an opening set up before flashing back to the main action of the book. This time we have Bruce as a narrator, and he's clearly been deeply shaken by something, but we don't know what yet. He bluntly relates the general premise of the book in those narration boxes I'm always railing against - thankfully absent from most of the issue otherwise. A mob accountant stole a bunch of money and abandoned his former employers, and to keep them from coming after him hid evidence of their crimes in his daughter's bear. The mob have kidnapped his daughter - and the bear - to get him to hand over the evidence. If they realize they already have the evidence then the girl is dead.

We also get the theme of the issue - one that will be a recurring theme throughout Batgirl - that of fathers and daughters, and in particular how being a good person and being a good father, or at least one who genuinely cares about your child, aren't necessarily the same thing.

As I've mentioned in the past, there have been many takes on Batman over the years by any different creators. The batman of the time was particularly grim and unforgiving, especially of himself and his allies. It's not enough to save everyone who can be saved - anybody who is killed in his city is a personal failure - his failure, his subordinates failure. It's irrational, and honestly childish, but this is a version of batman who was broken by the murder of his parents and never really recovered from that emotionally, from the helplessness he felt, and so he feels compelled to control everything - himself, his surrogate family, his city. Every unnatural death reminds him of everything he can't control, and puts him back in the head of that helpless kid watching his parents die.

In general I prefer a slightly more well adjusted take on Batman, but this is the Batman that Cass was created for, her issues are tailored to play off of his. Because she is exactly like him - equally unforgiving, of herself more than anyone else. Only we know her motivation is guilt, not revenge, which in turn implies that Bruce's motivation also isn't revenge, it's guilt. Survivor's guilt, but guilt all the same, and the poisoned root of his righteous fury isn't anger at the man who took his parents from him, but anger at his 8 year old self for not being able to stop it from happening.

And Barbara is having exactly none of it. Yes she gets frustrated with Cassandra, with her inability to connect with her and with Cass's apparent lack of interest in developing that ability, but she's also fiercely protective of Cass, and especially quick to protect her from Bruce. Because this Babs is older, and has known this Bruce for a long time now. She's aware of his bullshit, she knows how easy it is for his younger proteges to look up to and worship him, and she knows how much Cassandra already does. But she also how quick he is to turn on them for failing to meet the impossible standards that he holds himself to.

And, of course, the moment he's out of Bab's earshot, he tries to have this conversation with Cass anyway. And he just can't. But as readers we know he doesn't need to, that she already felt John's death as her own failure. Because they're the same.

So Bruce and Cass bust into the safe house in typical bat fashion, Bruce going to interrogate the boss over the girl's location while Cass is trusted to take out an entire room of armed goons by herself, which she does in a couple of cool panels, because, again, fights between Cass and normal goons are foregone conclusions so we don't need to waste a lot of panel time on them.

But then a different sort of goon shows up, and Cass is suddenly confused and out of her element. The panel there does a great job of showing her surprise. Also the panel before it is great too, the low angle to emphasize how big the guy is, the foreshortening with Cass's right elbow towards the viewer with the motion extending up through her left fist for the punch, making it feel fast and strong which then emphasizes the surprise at how the guy's no-sell reaction.

Also, wasn't this guy dark skinned on the cover? Introduced without a name, wearing generic clothes, apparently not worth keeping visual details consistent between the cover and interior, it's almost like this guy isn't actually important.

But he can casually punch holes in concrete pillars, and Bruce is suddenly concerned, recalling issue 1 and the 'no costumed criminals' rule, which in the real world was about the kind of stories Cass's creative team wanted to tell, but in universe is about the fact that Cass's body reading and martial arts skills that make regular human opponents non-threats to her don't necessarily apply to someone with superhuman physiology.

Babs isn't the only one with protective parent instincts, and Bruce swoops in to push "Meta" out the window.

The mob boss, not eager to join Meta on a trip out the window, gives the girl to Bruce, who passes her off to Cass and tells her to go while he stays to fight Meta, who has shaken off the two story drop and climbed back up.

Cass hides with the traumatized girl in an abandoned trolley car outside, and puts a hand on her forehead to try to calm her down, which sparks a memory of her own father...

David, covering 8 year old Cass's eyes with his big hand and timing her as she assembles a pistol blind. Look how proud he is of her time! Look how excited she is at his approval! Proud parent passing their skills on to their child in a happy father/daughter bonding activity, but contrasted and made upsetting and wrong by the gun in her hands, the guns and ammo all around them. This particular version of David Cain, the man who is simultaneously the proud affectionate Papa who Cass loved and a monstrous murderer grooming her for a life drenched in blood, is so important to Cass's character and motivations and relationships with others, particularly Bruce.

The memory is interrupted when Meta finds them, the bat symbol torn off of Bruce's costume in his fist implying bad things.

Cass gets far enough away to set the girl down, then turns back for the fight. And since, in theory at least, outcome of this fight isn't a foregone conclusion, it actually goes on for a few pages, with Cass hitting the guys neck over and over, the guy catching her cape and slamming her to the ground seemingly knocking her out.

It's a cool enough fight scene, but while the outcome may be in question in universe, as readers we know Cass isn't going to suffer her first outright loss in a fight to someone who isn't even important enough to have a name. So as he steps over Cass's seemingly unconscious body to go for the girl, she gets up behind him and kicks him in the neck a few more times, bringing him down even as she does finally pass out.

Bruce is alive, of course, and shows up after the fight is over. I love how worried he looks when he's checking to see if Cass is alive, only breaking into a big proud papa smile when he's sure she'll be ok.

Back at the bat cave, Bruce is in high spirits despite being pretty badly beat up. He started the night with doubts about Cassandra after her 'failure' to save John, but ends the day proud and impressed with her performance and fully satisfied of her commitment to save lives even against impossible odds. "She's just like me fr". He's almost forgotten the mob evidence in the bear - which he does hand to Alfred to repair so the girl can have it back. This Bruce has a lot of issues, but he's not without compassion for innocent children at least. Alfred's more concerned with patching up his own kid.

But why was Bruce looking all dejected in the issue's opening?

Just then Batman get's a mysterious message from an anonymous source. How exactly? Does Batman have an email address? Anyway, the message has a video, through a keyhole camera, showing a little girl who Bruce recognizes as Cass in a room with some strange men. Little looks back, as though smiling for a camera that she knows is there, before, well, we already know what's coming.

But it does come as a surprise to Bruce, and the comic ends on a cliffhanger.

"What will Bruce - specifically this version of Bruce who is still so damaged by his trauma, who is still so triggered by death and killing that he holds himself and his followers personally responsible when someone dies even if they had no way to prevent it - what will this Bruce do when he finds out Cass, the young protege that he most sees as a reflection of himself, has killed someone?" This question's been hanging over Cassandra basically since her introduction in No Man's Land. Honestly, if I had been in charge of this book, I'd have waited a bit longer before pulling this particular trigger.

They do find a way to drag out Bruce's response though, a way that many people found kind of dumb but that I though was a perfect fit for his character. But that we'll have to get into next time.

For the time being, though, yeah, we're building up a strong theme this issue around parenthood. Babs as the protective mother shielding Cass from Bruce, the unseen mob accountant father endangering his daughter by hiding the evidence with her, Bruce trying and failing to impart his morals and mindset to Cass through the wall of her linguistic impairment, flashback David Cain who unlike Babs and Bruce was able to easily and naturally connect to Cass without the need for words, proud papa Bruce after Cass's fight with Meta, all ending on a cliffhanger as present David Cain moves to drive a wedge between Cass and the surrogate father she's replaced him with.

It's a fitting and not at all uncommon theme for a new legacy hero's book to tackle - but it's handled with a lot of nuance here, and with the parallels that have been set up between Bruce and David as father figures for Cass the idea that they'll soon be butting heads over her directly is pretty exciting.

Otherwise, as usual for this team, I love the writing and art in this issue, the reliance of panel art over words to convey most of the story and especially emotional bits like the flashback, the expressiveness of the characters in Scott's style. Great issue all round, even if it doesn't stand on its own the way issue 2 did.