Random Back Issues #164 - Batgirl #63

New city, but Cassandra's managed to find another older redhead encouraging her to have fun. 

It's been a hot minute since we've looked at Cassandra Cain's first book (almost six years!) In the aftermath of the garbage fire that was War Games, Batgirl is operating in Bludhaven, and has been messing with the Penguin (who moved in after Blockbuster was killed, I think in the pages of Nightwing.) Enough so, Cobblepot approaches a quartet of shadowy figures - (Alexander) Luthor's Society of Super-Villains, because we're in the run-up to Infinite Crisis - about getting rid of her. Specifically, he asks Deathstroke if he wouldn't mind handling it, describing it as a 'feather in your cap.'

Let's maybe keep Deathstroke away from underage girls, shall we? 

In the meantime, Cassandra's completed a morning workout routine she's done since childhood, though she changed the ending to where she doesn't decapitate the final dummy. Heading out to get a coffee from the shop near her loft, she overhears Brenda, the owner, talking about how the Wayne Foundation got her a grant to help her keep her store, and she's hosting a big party to celebrate. Brenda invites Cass, who demurs, claiming she needs to work tonight.

After thanking Batman for helping Brenda, and being warned the Penguin is looking for new alliances (see above paragraph), Cass decides to attend the party. But what to wear? Cass hasn't been to a party before, minus that cruise Barbara took her on 20 issues ago where Cass encountered Superboy. She tries a dress skirt and jacket that make her look like a mid-40s real estate agent for some firm in a small Midwestern town, but correctly notes it's no good, and makes some modifications.

Brenda seems to like it, but Cassandra is more interested by the mosh pit, and possibly some boy she sees bouncing around. Party Time is interrupted by an explosion and fire at the neighbor's across the street and Batgirl is soon Kool-Aid-Manning through a wall - to find Deathstroke holding Mrs. Brauenstein by the throat, Mr. Brauenstein already dead at his feet.

Batgirl asks 'stroke to put the woman down, so he breaks her neck and drops her. The fight is on! This is what got me to hunt down that issue of Nightwing discussed in Sunday Splash Page. While it's more involved here, Deathstroke is played as being in control. Within the first page he's shot a hole in her cape, shot off one of the cowl's ears, and gotten her to dodge a shot that took out a pillar and dropped the ceiling on her. Batgirl's monologue describes his body's movements as like a choir. 'Many different voices. All at once. But singing too fast. Too loud. The message is lost. Until it's too late.'

Batgirl escapes before the house collapses, the chase moving to rooftops. Noting Slade's deliberately moving slow, she opts to change the game, passing up an chance to attack, instead vaulting him and running, to an old churchyard. Deathstroke tangles her legs with a net, but she's able to pin his sword between her legs and kick him in the chops, cutting herself free as he gets hold of the net. There's a bit of flipping around before things end up with Batgirl pointing Deathstroke's sword at his face. But he knows she won't kill. And that's fine, because this is really a test for his daughter Rose, aka the Ravager!

Batgirl will handle that, but Deathstroke eventually uses Chemo to blow up Bludhaven and drugs Cassandra into taking over the League of Assassins (thanks Geoof Johns and Adam Beechen, you hacks!) But Deathstroke will also lose a fight to Green Arrow, so it's not all wine and roses for that creep.

{2nd longbox, 70th comic. Batgirl (vol. 1) #63, by Andersen Gabrych (writer), Ale Garza (penciller), Jesse Delperdang and Andrew Pepoy (inkers), Wildstorm FX (colorists), Pat Brosseau (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #69

"Well, Who Expects to See a Blockbuster These Days?" in Batgirl (vol. 1) #58, by Andersen Gabrych (writer), Ale Garza (penciler), Jesse Delperdang (inker), Wildstorm FX (colorist), Rob Leigh (letterer)

Andersen Gabrych took over as writer from Dylan Horrocks (whose run I only own a few issues of, and it's notable mostly for Batman's attempts to keep boys away from Cass) around the time of the abysmal War Games storyline. I didn't start buying Batgirl until immediately after that, when it crossed over with Robin. Both characters were moving to Bludhaven to take over protecting it for the injured Nightwing. That was my first introduction to the character, and I liked her, liked Garza' art well enough (especially compared to Scott's work on Robin, which had gotten exaggerated to the point it was difficult to follow at times), so I kept buying it post-crossover. Right up through its cancelation at issue 73.

I think the initial idea for this run was pretty solid. Put Cass in an unfamiliar territory, with no consistent back-up. Tim's got his own shit going on, Batsy is Gotham, Cass and Oracle had a falling out over a few different things. She's really on her own, trying to figure out how to be more of a crimefighter and less of someone who patrols randomly and busts the skulls of any crook she happens across. She gets herself a snitch, has to tangle with supervillains, tries to process some of her grief over Spoiler's death, tries to take an interest in the neighborhood she lives in. She rarely showed much interest in things like that before, but she's growing as a person, and she sees it as important to trying to be more like Batman.

Garza handles the art chores for most of the issues. His art is less expressive than Daimon Scott's was, not nearly as exaggerated. Cass seems to spend a lot of time scowling or looking intense. She's really trying to be like Batman. He keeps her as this sort of slim, wiry figure she was when Scott drew her. There's also a lot of times he'll draw her and this small shadow, lurking and flitting about during fights. Really playing up how she can use her quickness to frighten and unnerve criminals in a different way from Batman. Instead of a dark presence looming, she's the indistinct bit of movement you only catch a glimpse of in the corner of your eye.

Eventually, the build to Infinite Crisis intervened and things went to shit. Deathstroke shows up, wanting to use Cass as a test for his daughter Rose. Cass comes to the (ultimately correct) conclusion Lady Shiva is her mother, which sends her on a road trip. She gets briefly tangled up with an OMAC, and then with the League of Assassins, who are using Mr. Freeze for something, by promising he can give Nora a dip in the Lazarus Pit. That didn't exactly end well. Once Infinite Crisis ended, Geoff Johns and Adam Beechen gave us crazy, murdering, possibly-hot-for-Tim Drake Cassandra Cain, running the League of Assassins and just generally doing the "I make the world better by killing evil people" shtick. 

It took a couple of years to fix that mess, and Cass never did regain her spot in the Bat-family hierarchy. They gave her a mini-series to try address things, but let Beechen, the last person anyCass fan wanted anywhere near the character, write it. It was a mess, but at least it got her back in circulation on the good guys' side. Still, it wasn't long before Steph took over as Batgirl, and Grant Morrison had already introduced Damian Wayne as another character raised to be a killer, and he had the advantage of being Batsy's biological kid. It seemed to buy him a lot more wiggle room than Steph or Cass ever got for their mistakes, considering he was an unrepentant killer. Nepotism strikes again!

It could have been worse. They could have left Cass in Bludhaven for when Deathstroke dropped Chemo on the city like a bomb. Wouldn't have put that past Dan Didio or Geoff Johns.

But for the first 6-8 months of Gabrych's run I read, I was really enjoying it, and it got me to track the earlier stuff down, so that's something.