By Mark Rodriguez
After several code name changes like Black Bat and Orphan ans soft reboots, Cassandra Cain is back as Batgirl. While her 2008 6-part mini-series dealt with her father, David Cain, this new series will now have her deal with her mother, Lady Shiva.
"Mother Part 1 of 6" opens with Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, confronting Lady Shiva. Shiva looks out the window of her high-rise and says she never knew she wanted a daughter. Batgirl says she talks as if she wanted a mother. Shiva remarks with 'that's my girl'.
Lady Shiva says Cassandra is late and they don't have much time. Cassandra asks about the dead guy on the floor. Shiva said he was a guy with a taste for violence that couldn't stomach it. Cassandra says 'no killing'. Shiva says the man challenged her and Cassandra repeats her statement. Shiva yields, which Batgirl thinks is suspicious since she never yields. Batgirl asks if she came to Gotham to cause terrorism. Before Shiva can finish her sentence, Batgirl tells her to leave. She says she has a good life now and she is not welcome here.
Lady Shiva explains that a great number of trained assassins wants both of them dead, and despite their past, she does want to protect her. Shiva says Batgirl can read her and know she's telling the truth. Batgirl says she knows how she reads so she knows how to deceive. Shiva says she is not so evil and Batgirl doesn't believe her. Shiva says she has arranged for transport out of Gotham tonight and if she doesn't leave they will not only kill Cassandra and her family.
Batgirl grabs her Batarang and Shiva grabs her wrist. Shiva tells her to quit since she knows she always wins. Just then several ninjas smash through the window and surround them. Shiva asks Batgirl if she believes her now. Batgirl waves goodbye and wishes Shiva luck.
Lady Shiva grabs Batgirl's cape and pulls her back. She says there is no luck, only the two of them. Cassie hits her mother across the face. The ninjas run into the fight and Batgirl tries for fight them off while fighting with her mother. Cassandra monologues how she was raised to be the perfect weapon and the world's greatest killer. Before she could speak she learned to read body language. None of this was her choice.
Cassie explains that she is an orphan by choice. She considered Batman her father by choice. She knows how to kill but holds back by choice. She is Batgirl and not even her mother can take that from her. Batgirl does a spinning kick to Shiva. Shiva swings her around and Batgirl fights back the surrounding ninjas mid-spin. Batgirl and Shiva are standing back to back as all the ninjas are defeated. Just then more of them bust into the building. Shiva and Batgirl leap out the window, Cassie using her cape like a glider.
Batgirl asks who the ninjas are. Shiva says they call themselves The Unburied, the legendary order of warriors that vanished centuries ago. They have returned and are out for their blood. They're after Cassie because she is Shiva's daughter. Cassie asks why she's protecting her. Shiva says she's protecting her because she is her mother. She says she gave her life and only she may take it.
After they land, Shiva says they will seek refuge in her temple, the Order of Shiva. This is the temple where she once brought Cassie back to life. Shiva says her followers will transport them out of Gotham but they have to hurry since The Unburied have numbers they can't match. Shiva turns to see that Cassie is gone. Shiva says this is her father's influence.
Just then there is an explosion in the distance. Batgirl (who suddenly reappears??) asks what that was and Shiva says it was her temple. Both women run towards it. They run inside and see most of the followers are dead. Batgirl is surprised that Shiva is showing concern for them. Shiva says they were the only ones that answered when the world turned on her. Batgirl confirms that they're all dead and Shiva asks how she can keep her no-killing rule after things like this.
The high priest was still alive and he warns Shiva to look out. Shiva catches an arrow which was mere inches away from Cassandra's face. Shiva tells her daughter to pay attention. Just then an arrow hits Shiva's side. Both women leap out of the way as the high priest becomes an arrow pincushion. More ninjas show up as Batgirl hides from view.
Lady Shiva yanks the arrow out of her side and tosses it aside. She tells the men to forget her daughter since she is the one they really want. She assumes her stance and tells them to try their luck. Cassandra monologues that Lady Shiva is a liar, a killer, a terrorist and a villain. She has done horrible things to people, including to her. She was awakened a threat that Cassandra doesn't fully understand, but she swears that there will be no killing tonight. She is Cassandra Cain, a weapon, an orphan, Batgirl, a hero. Tonight she is a daughter. Tonight Shiva is her mother. Batgirl leaps into battle, backing her mother up. She says there is no luck, only the two of them.
My Thoughts-
The comic came out back in November 2024, so at the moment I forgot where I bought it. The bag and board were a bit torn up and taped closed, and I usually get fresh new bags from Third Eye without the tape.
The story gets right to the point as Batgirl, presumably by invite, confronts Lady Shiva and already shows a strong distrust to her due to their history. There is a mystery gang of ninjas after them and so far we don't know exactly why. Due to being her daughter, Cassandra is in their crosshairs too. I'm assuming later on we'll somehow find out this either Shiva's fault or she did something horrible which will cause even more of a rift between them, but we'll see.
We still had a bit of action and I liked the mixture between Batgirl and Lady Shiva both defending themselves while they were also fighting each other. The art is pretty cool. The ninjas constantly saying 'What is buried always come to light' reminds me of the Court of Owls and their catchphrase, both intended to be the last thing you'll ever hear. Shiva complains about their repetitiveness the third time they say this, but to be fair, she wasn't meant to have survived the first time.
The part that was kind of weird and somewhat silly was Batgirl doing the 'Batman vanish' thing only to somehow re-appear out of nowhere seconds later. Maybe they could have used that 'just like Batman' joke somewhere else, or have Cassie waiting for Shiva at the temple. Plus the panel with Batgirl magically back by Shiva's side almost felt like we could have just skipped the panels where she vanished and nothing would have changed. I can imagine it from Cassie's side if she had a sense of humor 'heh, let me vanish to troll my mom, oh wait, explosion, never mind.'
I looked into some of the history between Shiva and Cassie and found out that Shiva killed and revived her daughter in a Lazarus Pit within the Order of Shiva Temple back in Batgirl # 24 and 25 in an earlier volume (this current run is considered volume 6). This was when Shiva first revealed to Cassie that she was her mother.
Just to clarify real quick, Cassie's first run is Volume 1 and the 2008 6-part mini-series was Volume 2. Volume 3 was when Stephanie Brown was Batgirl. Volume 4 and 5 are Barbara Gordon's runs during the New 52 and the Rebirth soft reboots. That leads us to the current run. There was a run called Batgirls (plural) as Babs watched over both Cass and Steph, but that wasn't considered part of the other volumes and might not even be canon based on how slightly out of character they were. Especially the super-serious and tragic Cassandra Cain. After finding out that Cass had a long Volume 1 run, I wonder why Volume 2 was just a six issue mini-series?
Another thing worth mentioning is that the comic's last few pages were devote to AEW's Darby Allin and his origin story, or at least a comic book-ish version of it. It seems every month around that time a different wrestler had their origin story added to the last pages of several DC comics. Eventually all of these stories of AEW wrestlers such as Swerve Strickland and Timeless Toni Storm would be collected in the 'AEW Origins' comic. I already covered that one here.
We'll see what happens to this unlikely mother and daughter duo next time!
Comments
Post a Comment
Leave your thoughts on this article!