Hey all, Crooker back again with another review of DC Comics’ Batgirl ongoing, starring Cassandra Cain. This is issue #15 as written by Tate Brombal and drawn by Stephen Segovia. Business as usual for me, so let’s get right into it.
Another month, another Cass Cain adventure, and while you’ll never hear me upset to have another Cass-led story in this day and age, I’m firmly at a place where I wish this story would try a bit harder to make some forward momentum, because it feels well and truly glacial right now. As per usual, this is carrying off from the previous issue’s events, with Cass dealing with the aftermath of the failed raid on the Unburied, and grappling with the implications of her actions. We’ve reached a point in the story where I can firmly say this story feels like it’s started to drag a bit, sad to say.
We’ve been on this “Cass gets angry and nearly gives into the temptation to murder and become just like Shiva” stuff for ages now, and the point has already been pretty firmly made. It feels like the story is starting to spin its wheels a bit, making the same vaguely sinister, Vader-and-Luke type of foreshadowing since Shiva died, and it’s frankly starting to feel like it’s being beaten over the reader’s head. Cass is being tempted by anger to do evil, I get it, I think we all get it by now; I feel like this is something that should have been directly confronted at least three issues ago, and the story is still beating around the bush with foreshadowing in this one. I’m not saying it’s not well done, or that it doesn’t give a foreboding effect, but it gets to a point where you just want to see the payoff already.
DC
It’s frustrating precisely because it is foreboding, and you can tell exactly what it is that the book wants you to be worried about. It wants you to scream at the page telling Cass she’s being manipulated, that she’s going to fall to the Dark Side of the Force or whatever, and I like that stuff, I HAVE liked that stuff… but I already called all that months ago, and I’m fairly certain most other readers have to. A book with characterization this strong, with such a tight and focused opening arc, should not be struggling so badly with pacing. I don’t know if this is an editorial thing, a desire to “write for the trade”, or Brombal’s personal taste for how this story should pan out, but it’s too much. This story is too damn slow. Even though things ARE happening, visually and in the narrative, the part that matters, the character we’re all reading for, has been running in place for months worth of story by now. It feels like her characterization has slowed to an absolute crawl, unable to move anywhere. I’m also disappointed by how obvious the telegraph of Jade Tiger’s imminent demise is. I would have praised this as good tension a couple issues ago, but now it feels like it’s come too late, and I’ve already started to lose my investment. He’s going to die, and Cass will realize she shouldn’t have been mean to him. Uncle Ben moment. I know the drill, it’s well done on paper, but it’s come too late to feel impactful.
DC
The highlight here is absolutely Segovia’s artwork. What gorgeous pencils, with a slick, fluid and dynamic style that feels right at home in this book. The imagery is so strong and the action (for what little there is in this issue compared to the last, not a flaw, just an observation) is really well done. I think Segovia’s style is in that perfect anime/cartoony range that feels right at home in an action book. One of the things that makes my frustration so palpable is the fact the imagery and art is so damn good in this issue, especially in the opening dream sequence. I only wish we could have gotten it earlier and faster.
Batgirl #15 is technically competent and well made, but suffers heavily from this overarching story line being far too comfortable taking its sweet time to arrive at a conclusion most of us already called months ago. That isn’t to say a predictable story is bad, so long as it’s done well and the reader is sufficiently entertained, but this issue just made me bored, and that, to me, is a damning sign that something is starting to slip. This story needs to hurry up and tighten the reins, because it’s really started to feel like it’s overstayed its welcome.
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