Hey folks, Crooker back again with another issue of DC Comics’ ongoing Batgirl series, starring Cassandra Cain. This issue brought to us by the usual dynamic duo of Tate Brombal writing and Takeshi Miyazawa drawing. Lets see how they did for the big one-year-in issue, shall we?
I’ve have a lot of constructive criticism to lob at the book the past few reviews, but with this one I think the vision is finally coming into clarity. Jade Tiger’s narrative purpose, Cass’ behavior, the growing stakes… it’s all starting to align a lot better here than I think it was the past couple entries. Jade Tiger’s whole deal here, which I really did like a lot, is to act as the moral center, the angel on Cass’ shoulder pointing out the thing we should all be thinking here: “Hey, why are you okay working with the bad guys? Heroes aren’t supposed to do that.” Which… yeah, she really shouldn’t.
I think what this moment made me realize is that this book is using Cass as a sort of… not unreliable narrator per se, but a similar notion. Somebody who we, as fans of hers, need to remember to not always agree with or root for just because she’s the title character. Cass has been acting weird – she’s emotionally withdrawing, getting more vengeful. She’s working with killers and assassins willingly, the kind of people she hates more than anybody. Potentially more willing to do the one thing she’d never want to do again: kill. We should be more concerned about this, noticing it more, but not in a “shakes fist at the writer” kind of way, in a “I hope she’ll make the right choice” kind of way. I’m impressed, I’ll admit it. Brombal, for a few instances anyway, managed to weaponize my own bias for the title character in a way I didn’t expect.
DC
As a big milestone issue in the sense that it’s been a full year now, it doesn’t do much to celebrate the success, but I suppose it doesn’t have to. Even with a rocky couple of issues that, at least to me, felt like they were doing a mix of stalling for time and rushing on too fast, this issue worked really well for me. I think the pacing was pretty much perfect, and we’re back at a point where the right amount of subtlety is being applied without feeling obtuse. It’s a sigh of relief from me anyway, glad that I trusted the vision.
Miyazawa’s art is really good here, as it always is, so I won’t dwell on it too much. I do like the scenery we’re introduced to though, enhanced by Mike Spicer’s excellent coloring. Also, Cass with a sword is pretty cool as a visual to end on that strikes a perfect balance between awesome and worrisome, given context. Good stuff.
Batgirl #12 is really good, and I can safely say the story is living up to most of my expectations, thankfully. Another issue in the can, and a full year of story. I can’t say I saw any of this coming a year ago, especially not after my big Batgirl article which, to me, felt like fate calling my name to cover this book. I’m going to keep doing so, I can’t abandon my girl like that, so thankfully the story has managed to continue doing what I hoped it would do from the start: bring Cass back to what made her so beloved to me in the first place. So, my personal thanks for the entire team that’s worked on this book, and here’s to another year, eh?
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