InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm schizophrenic--and so am I"

heartless guttersnipe (parsimonia) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-09 00:45:00

Current music:	smokey robinson & the miracles - i second that emotion
Entry tags:	char: batgirl/cassandra cain, creator: phil noto, creator: scott peterson, publisher: dc comics, series: one perfect moment week, title: batgirl

One (of many) Perfect Moment(s) for Cassandra Cain
These five pages are from Batgirl: Secret Files & Origins. The art is by Phil Noto, who is fantastic at drawing Cassandra Cain in her Batgirl costume.

This comic was my first exposure to Cassandra Cain and to modern DC comics continuity. I love it dearly.

I love this scene because it exemplifies Cass's ability to be a bad-ass, but at the same time demonstrates a great capacity for compassion, empathy, and a very personal understanding of moral ambiguity. Her parents are assassins and she herself was raised to become one. She has complicated feelings about her parents, knowing they're bad people while simultaneously having a bond with them (Cain because he raised her, Shiva because of their whole "we're so talented! let's fight and kill each other!" dance they do).

She has killed before, so she has to, needs to believe in redemption and that bad things happening to a person or being "born bad" does not wholly determine who you are or who you can become.

At the same time, I find those last two panels, with the shadows from the jail cell window and her looking out, to be oddly, but fittingly, bittersweet. I think it suits Cassandra Cain very well.

(Post a new comment)

	kingrockwell 2009-06-09 12:34 am UTC (link)
	Bought this after it was posted at the old comm, because Phil Noto is always a good idea and because the Oracle pinup makes her look so damn comfortable. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-06-09 06:28 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I don't know if I mentioned it when I posted it on the old comm, but I must've been about 16 or 17 when I got this comic, and I remember just looking at the Oracle character page and thinking "How cool is she?! I want to copy her haircut..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	kingrockwell 2009-06-09 07:34 am UTC (link)
	Oracle totally has the kind of job you'd do in your pajamas. I wish more artists would have explored cozy!Babs. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-06-09 10:09 am UTC (link)
	It's true. I think early on in BoP she was more often wearing sweats and other comfy clothes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

jarodrussell
2009-06-09 01:11 am UTC (link)

It occurs to me, Cass is the only member of the Bat-clan who's heroism keeps her from her parents. Bruce does what he does trying to save his parents, Dick and Tim similarly. Barbara does what she does because of her father, inspired by him. Even Steph being Spoiler doesn't completely isolate her from her parents, especially not her mother.

But Cass has parents. Cain would take her back in a heart beat, and I beat even Shiva would be proud if Cass unleashed her fury on the world. She could have what Bruce, Tim, Dick, and (to some extent) Steph can never have, but she denies herself it, because the life she'd have lead would be that of a monster.

I'd never thought of it in that way, but to a large degree, Cass is kind of an anti-Batman in that she does what she does in spite of her parents.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

runespoor7
2009-06-09 01:27 am UTC (link)

Jason. His biological father is a non-motivation once we get past the original Two-Face confrontation, but like Cass he goes on a quest to find his mother. "Are You My Mommy" stories seem to end badly for the Batclan. Not sure where I'm going with that, but it's interesting to note that parents are at best a secondary motivation for Jason to be Robin.

As for Huntress, she's standing at the intersection of Bruce's and Cass' motivations; she wants to save her parents, but she's angry at them.

Cass is kind of an anti-Batman in that she does what she does in spite of her parents
That's a very good way of putting it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

parsimonia
2009-06-09 06:31 am UTC (link)

Well, with Steph, I don't think her mother really likes the idea of her being a vigilante. Not to mention that for a while there her mother was addicted to prescription painkillers (or something like that) and was kind of out of it. Steph and Cass have bonded over the fact that their fathers are criminal jerks. (That being said, I don't think Steph's father has ever been like "hey, kiddo, join me in my next heist!" while Cass becoming an assassin would mean she'd be working with her parents, probably.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-06-09 07:43 am UTC (link)
	The art is by Phil Noto, who is fantastic at drawing ~~Cassandra Cain in her Batgirl costume~~ . Fixed that for you! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-06-09 10:07 am UTC (link)
	Ah, thank you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ninjapeps 2009-06-09 07:57 am UTC (link)
	it's a damned shame this Cass hasn't been seen in years. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-06-09 10:08 am UTC (link)
	Seriously. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mysteryfan 2009-06-09 11:19 am UTC (link)
	Absolutely. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-06-09 06:34 pm UTC (link)
	You did . . . one bad thing. But . . . you're . . . not. That needs to be stapled EVERYWHERE ANYONE tries to write Cass. (Reply to this) (Thread)

parsimonia
2009-06-09 09:17 pm UTC (link)

It's weird how some people get her voice (and by extension her entire character) wrong. They write her as if she's, like, Data or Seven of Nine from Star Trek, as if she has an excellent vocabulary but finds our human culture to be strange and unfamiliar.

Obviously, there's some aspects of sociality that she missed out on growing up, but between her interaction with all the people she's met and formed relationships since then and the fact that she can read body language, she's not a freaking alien.

She essentially has a standard vocab (because of that psychic that messed around with her brain), but she's not as practised as most people are at using it, selecting the right words to convey appropriate meanings. And she's also more likely to use contractions and slang because she's more likely to improve her verbal skills by listening and watching people talk, and from watching TV.

(Reply to this) (Parent)