Batgirl # 2 (2024)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Lady Shiva has called for Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. A group of ancient warriors called the Unburied are out to kill Shiva, and be extension Batgirl since she is her mother. After Shiva's temple was blown up and her followers inside were murdered, Batgirl finally decides to step in and help her mother out. What will happen next?

 "Mother Part 2 of 6" opens with Batgirl and Lady Shiva surrounded by the Unburied ninjas. They fight them and soon defeat them all. Shiva says Batgirl was distracted. Batgirl says Shiva was shot (she was hit by an arrow last issue). Lady Shiva says their train of Gotham departs at sunrise. Batgirl head off and says she's going to see Batman instead.

Lady Shiva warns that if she involves the Bat Family, the Unburied will not stop until every last one of them is dead. Batgirl says the ninjas weren't so difficult. Shiva says those pawns are the least of her worries. She says if she still resists her cause by sunrise, she can involve whichever Bat member she wants and prepare their funeral rites. Batgirl agrees to leave Batman out of this for now.

Sometime after both women have left, the Gotham Fire Department arrive at the burning temple looking to find and save any survivors. They are suddenly killed by an unseen attacker. We see a warrior armed with blades, saying that is also there to find and save. He puts his swords away and closes the eyes of his victims. He says their sacrifice will not go on seen, but some things must burn.

 

Batgirl takes her mother to a restaurant where the owner knows her and calls her 'Kitty Kat'. Batgirl tells the woman, Ba' Bao, that her mother 'Sandra' has a train to catch but she's injured. Ba' Bao gets her kit and starts to patch her up. As she does so she says that 'Kitty' never mentioned a mother and says she must be proud of the woman she has become. 

Lady Shiva asks how Ba' Bao knew her daughter. She says one day Batgirl showed up at her doorstep like a stray cat. She didn't say much but she liked the food so she kept coming back. She asked to be taught the Vietnamese martial art Voninam. In exchange she trained her grandsons in her various forms of martial arts. They lost their parents when they were young so Batgirl's training is how they get by in this world. 

Lady Shiva says Ba' Bao's healing skills are efficient. Ba' Bao says she's a war nurse so she had lots of practice. She notes the type of wound and asks if Batgirl is in danger. Shiva says she is being difficult but she does this for her own good. Ba' Bao says it must be like pulling teeth from a donkey.

Ba' Bao says it's difficult being the mother of such a strong-willed daughter. Their art Voninam teaches the principle of hard and soft, force and flow. She is sure Batgirl knows of Shiva's iron hand but she asks if she knows of the benevolent heart beneath it. She reminds her that mothers are their daughters first teachers. If she wishes Batgirl to bend, she must bend first. She must listen, speak, force and flow and then she can heal.

Later on Cassandra and Shiva eat at the restaurant. Shiva says she doesn't fear any man, nor does she fear death but she does find herself fearing the death of others. She asks if Cassandra will leave with her if she can convince her of the current threat. Cassandra tells her to talk.

Lady Shiva explains that there are many legends of the Unburied.There was a legends passed down from her mother. There was a century's old tales of the monks who found a great power in the divine chi of a small blue flower. These flowers sprouted from the unmarked graves of a hundred monks that were murdered in a bloody war. As the living mourned their dead, they gathered the flowers and soon discovered that they granted incredible gifts. These were mystical powers of healing, strength and sight. When the world learned of these gifts, they sought these powers for themselves.

The monks resisted the world's greed as these flowered were born of the chi of their kin. More wars followed, which led to more blood and more flowers. The battles would swallow and bury the monks and the blue flowers. Centuries later, they are now unburied with vengeance in their hearts. Cassandra asks why they returned now.

Just then one of the ninjas kick the restaurant door down. The ninjas have arrived this time joined by the warrior from earlier. Lady Shiva says he is Kalden the Unseen. Kalden tells Shiva to come along and spare them the violence. Just then several knives fly out, stabbing some of the ninjas. Ba' Bao and her staff are armed with knives. Ba' Bao says they're the ones bringing violence to the kitchen and tells them to leave now. Shiva asks why she risks her life since she doesn't know her. Ba' Bao says she is Kitty's mother, that is all they need to know. The restaurant owner says they protect their own as everyone runs into battle.

 

Batgirl and the kitchen staff fight off the ninjas. Ba' Bao tells Batgirl there are times when one must flee a city and its dangers. She has crossed oceans and fled from her home when danger arrived. She tells Batgirl to be wary of anyone promising salvation. Suddenly, Kalden smacks Ba' Bao to the floor. He turns to ask Batgirl if she is Shiva's daughter. Batgirl sees Ba' Bao on the floor and loses it. She attacks Kalden but he is too fast and dodges all her strikes.

 

Kalden palm strikes Batgirl in the jaw. She is dazed and Kalden seems to zip all over the place. He moves too fast for Batgirl to see his movements and she gets beaten down. As Batgirl falls to her knees, Kalden says he wants no more pain. Shiva kicks him into the freezer and says 'perhaps a little more pain'. Shiva helps Batgirl to her feet and says Kalden the Unseen is the one to really worry about.

Lady Shiva helps Batgirl leave the restaurant as she is completely out of it. Batgirl says they can't leave and abandon the others as they are still fighting against the ninjas. Batgirl is completely out of focus as Shiva takes her to the train yard.  As they get on top of the train, Cassandra thinks of Ba' Bao, Stephanie, Bruce and Barbara. She monologues that she can't leave her city and abandon her family. She can no longer read people and she wonders what happens next as the train starts moving. The Bat Signal shines above the nightly sky as they leave Gotham.

Back at the restaurant,  one of the staff members crawls towards Ba' Bao who is still down. Kalden says three people have already lost their lives today. He asks the young man where Shiva and Batgirl went.

My Thoughts-  

Things heat up as we get introduced to Kalden the Unseen, one of the most dangerous members of the Unburied. He's incredibly fast and strong and locked into his cause. He also completely rattled Batgirl, mentally and physically.

The opening fight had Cass monologue about how she's an 'oracle that can read the cards' and is control of her future. All of that confidence is completely shattered. Between seeing Ba' Bao taken out and her getting so outclassed in the fight against Kalden, she is broken and had lost all control. It was odd seeing Cassie so out of it, pretty much freaking out as Shiva escorted her out of the restaurant. Kalden is going to become the hurdle for her to overcome.

The story also introduced us to Ba' Bao, her family and kitchen staff. She shows one of the many ways that Cassandra does good in the city besides just beating people up. She became part of Ba' Bao's family and she brought positivity to her orphaned grandsons. Her discussion with Shiva shows how highly she thinks of Cassandra and she even gave her some motherly advice. Sadly Ba' Bao and the kitchen staff fell into the crosshairs of the Unburied. While they were able to take out the regular mooks, it was clear that Kalden was on another level. This shows more of what Shiva said, where everyone that gets involved, even if its unknowingly, will become victims of the Unburied and their quest for vengeance.

While the cover mentions 'sins of the mother' and we do get some backstory on the Unburied, we still don't know exactly why they're after Shiva and anyone related to her. My only guess is that Shiva has a few of these blue flowers tucked away somewhere. Cassandra does bring up a good point. Why would these century-old warriors suddenly make their return now? 

I am curious exactly how the chi-fueled flowers gave these monks their powers. Is just constant exposure to them that grant them their powers? Do they eat them? Boil them in tea? Maybe it'll be further explained, especially if it turns out that Shiva does have some.

We'll see what happens next time as Cass will have to get her bearings. We also have to see exactly where Shiva is taking her. The most we know is she just wanted to take her out of Gotham, but where exactly are they headed? I also feel bad for Ba' Bao and anyone that survived the attack as Kalden starts to interrogate them. I have a feeling they really have no idea where Cassie went, and I'm sure you know the consequences of that.

In regards to retro ads, if you would consider 2024 to be retro, I liked this one ad of Batman The Animated Series figures at Target. While I'm sure people would like to the 'Christmas with the Joker' variant, I'm wondering just how many people would care enough about Maxie Zeus to rush to their local Target to get a figure based on him.

 

The comic also featured preview pages of the, at the time, upcoming Batman Dark Patterns mini series. I already covered the first issue that the preview pages were a part of. You can check that out here.

 Batman Dark Patterns # 1 Review

It kinda bites when you think a comic has more pages than it actually does, because the last 5-6 pages are either a preview to some other comic, or an alternate cover gallery like what IDW does. It's getting to the point that when I get past the stapled middle part of the comic, I wonder how much of the actual story is left before we get to the fluff. In regards to Batgirl, I'm enjoying the story and can't wait to see what happens next.