Hello and welcome to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club!
This week we’re continuing our look at Cassandra Cain, the second Batgirl, by looking at the first eight issues of Batgirl, the first on-going book the name has ever had, written by Kelley Puckett and drawn Daimon Scott.
Reading for this entry will last from 2021-05-08T05:00:00Z → 2021-05-14T05:00:00Z, but of course, if you’ve just recently learned the ability to read and write via a weird telepath guy, you can always come back.
So let us know what you think of Cassandra’s first foray as a leading star!
And if you’re looking for more Bat-related goodness, I got you.
First, we’re still having our Casefile detailing the massive Batman story “Hush” by superstar artist Jim Lee:
Also, if you want more Batgirl related goodness, for the month of May the Birds of Prey Club will be reading issues not just from Cassandra Cain, but from Stephanie Brown and Barbara Gordon’s time as Batgirls!
If you’re looking for some other non-Cass reading, here’s some more from other Bat-adjacent clubs!
At Renegade Robins, throughout the month of May, the Bat-Family will be dealing with the fallout of the death of Damian Wayne in Requiem, and we’ll tap into the end of Jason Todd’s long-running Red Hood & The Outlaws:
Over at Harley’s Crew, they’re doing their tail end of their exploration of the character Poison Ivy:
The House of Horror Club will be dipping it’s toes into Gotham waters while they read the mini-series “Gotham City Monsters,” that features Bat-characters like Killer Croc and Lady Clayface!
And @Bar-El is still doing the read-along of the Superman/Batman arc “Supergirl of Krypton,” leading up to a Watch Along of the animated adaptation Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.
And if I missed anything, please feel free to shout it out.
“What? This girl who was trained from birth to be an assassin has actually assassinated someone?! I can’t believe it, Alfred! Why did I ever trust her?”
I hate you, early 2000s Bruce. I really, really do.
B-b-but how is he supposed to see himself through this tiny girl who’s undoubtedly had it way, way WAY worse than him?
Yeah, that part feels a little immature on Bruce’s part. At least here he doesn’t really take it out on Cass but more on David Cain, who just really freaking deserves it.
That was great – I was especially struck by that reading these stories.
In the past when I’ve read people complain about Cassandra not feeling like herself in the New 52, I kind of filed it as mostly fanboy nostalgia, but reading these I realized just how much of a cheeky little ■■■■ Cassandra can be after she gets the ability to communicate. She’s not on a Damian level, but moments like Barbara testing her ability to understand words and Cass pointing at her when she says “cellulite” and resolving in what she thinks is her last moments fighting Shiva to spit in her face rounds out Cassandra’s character a bit more than she would otherwise.
I do still like how she was brought back in the New 52, but hopefully some of that energy can be added to her as she continues – I mean, she’s spending a lot of time with Steph lately, so that’s bound to rub off on her.
