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Tweak says, "Eat your Spinach or the moths"

zechs27 (zechs27) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-29 14:13:00

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/cassandra cain, char: lady shiva/sandra woosan, creator: damion scott, creator: kelley puckett, publisher: dc comics, series: martial arts week, title: batgirl

Martial Arts Week: Cassandra Cain vs Lady Shiva

Two of the greatest Martial Artists in the DCU go at it.

From Batgirl #25.

Damn this was tough to choose what to keep and what not. This issue was utter gold. I wanted to scan every inch of this damn book, but alas couldn't. Given it was doubled sized (over thirty pages) I get one additional page to post.

It's one year later after Cassandra made her deal with Lady Shiva to retain her ablities and be at her peak. The latest intell from Oracle show's that Shiva is back in town ready to claim her part of the deal she made with Cass. Knowing the being she is about to face perhaps THE greatest martial artist in the world, Cassandra make's a recording:

Cass then goes to a skyscraper to clear her head. A suicidal man come's up beside her. Noticing his body language, Cass talks the man out of jumping. I so wanted to post it but that deny us the glory of the fight.

Cass goes to the clock tower to drop the recording off. Instead she finds a holographic projection of her only kill being played. Oracle appears begging Cass not to go through with this. Cass disables her so she can't warn Batman and again states, "I'm sorry."

She then goes to the spot where she made the deal. Shiva is waiting and the two commence their death duel. Cass tries her best, but Shiva uses her trademark move and kills her.

Then not soon after, Shiva uses another move to bring Cassandra back to life. The two share a cup of tea as she asks the young girl what it was like to experience being dead. Cass gives her an answer to which Shiva nods and responds, "Karma, that I understand.". She then begins showing Cass a wall of "fame" one of her cult members made for her. It's of every kill Shiva has currently ever taken. The said creator of wall is then revealed to be lying dead not far from it and Cassandra demands he be brought back to life as well. Shiva refuses and explains it took her an entire year to learn the move she used to bring Cassandra back to life.

I take it Round 2 requests from Batgirl #73 will be wanted next?

(Post a new comment)

	(Anonymous) 2009-08-29 08:44 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks so much for posting all of these fights. We "old school" Cassandra Cain fans need all the sustenance we can get these days. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	endis_ni 2009-08-30 11:16 am UTC (link)
	hugs At this point I'd be tempted to offer such fans all the tea and cookies they can safely contain. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sailorlibra 2009-08-29 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	Given it was doubled sized (over thirty pages) I get one additional page to post. You know you can post ten pages from a thirty page comic book, right? Unless they've changed the rules and forgot to tell me... Also, awesome fight! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-08-30 06:29 am UTC (link)
	Well if that's true.. edited!! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	starwolf_oakley 2009-08-29 09:47 pm UTC (link)
	Doesn't the final BATGIRL storyline give some background on Shiva? One thing I've wondered is how old she was when she started training. Cain started training Cass from Age 1, but some flashbacks implied Susan Woosan was at least in her teens when she started training. I'm surprised that Lady Shiva is so good if she began training at a (relatively) older age. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-08-29 09:49 pm UTC (link)
	Shiva trained all her life, and she was always extremely good, but until her mid-to-late teens she let her sister hold her back. When her sister was killed, Sandra realized how much better she could be, and in time she became Lady Shiva. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	starwolf_oakley 2009-08-29 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for the info. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mooppoom 2009-08-30 02:11 am UTC (link)
	Well, there is the fact that she let the guy who killed her sister impregnate her and then gave him the baby. Complicated gal, that Shiva. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	zechs27 2009-08-30 06:28 am UTC (link)
	Gail also covers this in her Birds of Prey OYL run too. With Dinah going through the same training as Shiva did. However, she make's the more moral choice compared to Sandra. (Reply to this) (Parent)

timgueguen
2009-08-30 12:37 am UTC (link)

The last few days I was reading some of the original Richard Dragon comics from the '70s, which of course feature Lady Shiva. Frankly I find Shiva a far more interesting character in them than Dragon even given the limits of '70s era comics. Dragon comes across as flat compared to the smartassness of Shiva. She tells Dragon she hangs out with him because he's always getting into trouble, which I can totally believe because he's not much personalitywise. I get the impression Marty Pasko, who wrote those comics, liked Shiva a lot more than he did Dragon.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	kingrockwell 2009-08-30 02:35 am UTC (link)
	Marty Pasko? Aside from a fill-in by David Anthony Kraft in 11 and 12, all of those comics were written by Denny O'Neil! Though I will concede that Richard wasn't much of a character till Post-Crisis, even if he was just a supporting cast member to The Question. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aegof.livejournal.com 2009-08-30 01:50 am UTC (link)
	I love that last page. (Reply to this)

	vignettelante 2009-08-30 02:03 am UTC (link)
	Wow, I really like this one. It's incredibly dynamic, and it's...Cassandra Cain, getting to do what she does best. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bariman1987 2009-08-30 05:12 am UTC (link)
	Cassandra Cain is the best at what she does, and what she does is be awesome. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	vignettelante 2009-08-30 08:35 am UTC (link)
	Motto. (Heh, didn't think of that.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

kingrockwell
2009-08-30 02:28 am UTC (link)

Zechs, I still have, like, three of your entries to read, but I just wanted to say, you're pretty much the Hero of Martial Arts Week. As many posts as have been made, a significant percentage have got to be your fault. Kudos, seriously.

Also, being this is a 29 page story, you can easily throw in the page I posted in the proposal and any one other and still be within posting limits!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-08-30 07:05 am UTC (link)
	blush Thank you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-30 03:08 am UTC (link)
	Well, this puts a new spin to Cass actually killing Shiva later. (Reply to this)

	zechs27 2009-08-30 06:34 am UTC (link)
	Two new pages I was saving but thought I couldn't post are now added. :) (Reply to this)

	jedd_the_jedi 2009-08-30 08:28 am UTC (link)
	Cass breaking the sword with her bare hand is just so badass! Go Cass! However, Babs will always be the one and only Batgirl for me. Sorry. (Reply to this)

	unknownscribler 2009-08-30 12:58 pm UTC (link)
	Who wrote this? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kingrockwell 2009-08-30 09:05 pm UTC (link)
	Story by Kelley Puckett, art by Damion Scott. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nagaoka 2009-08-30 01:31 pm UTC (link)
	The glint from Shiva's katana makes Cass look like a Black Lantern for a second there O_O (Reply to this)

	unknownscribler 2009-09-17 04:34 pm UTC (link)
	Anyone else irked by the way Oracle is written off in favour of Batman? (Reply to this)