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Tweak says, "Not the gum-drop buttons!"

zechs27 (zechs27) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-31 14:33:00

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/cassandra cain, char: lady shiva/sandra woosan, char: spoiler/robin/batgirl/steph brown, creator: andersen gabrych, creator: pop mhan, publisher: dc comics, series: martial arts week, title: batgirl

Martial Arts Week: Cassandra Cain vs the Mad Dog
Before Round 2 vs Lady Shiva and my little finale in posting in this event. The prelimary bout: Cassandra fighting her father's "first" the one called the Mad Dog.

I was thinking one massive post for these two fights. But no way. I'm keeping it seperate. I'll post round 2 later tonight.

From Batgirl #72.

After the destruction of Nyssa's base, Cass is leading several survivors of the League of Assasins to safety (including Alpha). However, Shiva orders the remaining half to hunt them down. A fight ensues and suddenly both sides are killed by the Mad Dog. Any remaining of Shiva's half retreats scared to death of the Mad Dog where finally Cass puts two and two together.

Enter the fight between Cain's "best" result vs Cain's "worse" result.

Part 1 of the fight is tame as Cass has to contend with Alpha whose trying to shoot Mad Dog while also trying to make sure no life is taken. She does this by throwing some gas caps into Mad Dog's eyes while going after Alpha making sure he doesn't shoot her "brother" down.

Part 2 is pretty much Cass vs "Wolverine". Someone totally in a beserker rage. Obviously someone who she can't read given he's just being a total animal, thus she's really struggling against him. And given that this is when fight is utterly vicious. I really wish I could scan more of this part of the fight, but the ending to it was powerful stuff so here's one part of it when they're fighting on tree branches:

This time the fight ends when Cass is knocked off the tree's and loses sight of Mad Dog. Shiva then appears giving Cassandra some advice on the animal's next move. Which pretty much is going after Alpha and the remaining LoA member (forgot her name but she was fiercely loyal to Cass). However just as both appear to be pot roast by Mad Dog's hand...

Utterly awesome and I know nevermore posted that last page before in her Spoiler stuff, and I didn't even realize this until after I scanned this. But it's so damn powerful that's why I kept it in.

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newnumber6
2009-08-31 08:54 pm UTC (link)

Damn you, don't make me nostalgic for Gabrych's run because then I have to remember how DC screwed the character over immediately after too!

Bah.

Anyway, I loved this. Not just the "Heroes are forever" line, which of course I iconed even though the visual isn't all that great, but I also really like the "You finally understand me. I win" line. As dying lines for heroes go, that's pretty damn awesome.

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jaybee3
2009-08-31 09:28 pm UTC (link)

I loved the "Heroes are forever" line too. I can actually picture Shiva saying that. She's someone I think who has a clear sense of who she is and who others are (this attitude showed up to when she changed places with Black Canary in BoP). She'd have no compunctions about killing Batman if necessary but she also respects who and what he is.

I miss Gabrych. He had Cass down perfectly. He was just starting to write when he was doing Batgirl but I have no idea if he's writing anything now.

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zechs27
2009-08-31 09:33 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, it's why I love his run on Batgirl. He really had something going on having Cass out on her own with appearances here and there of Bats and Babs with only Spoiler being the constant.

Sure he had his personal little bumps (Pig Biker in #66 and Laurza or whatever the heck Freeze's wife called herself in #70). But on the whole his run was good and a nice continuation of Puckett's.

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	perletwo 2009-08-31 10:31 pm UTC (link)
	It's a nice little tie-in to Bronze Tiger saying "We made you a warrior, you made yourself a hero" to Cass, too. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-09-01 01:11 am UTC (link)
	He's got an OGN coming out next year for Vertigo Crime! (Reply to this) (Parent)

psychop_rex
2009-09-02 07:47 am UTC (link)

I'm not sure whether that's entirely true. She may respect Batman for what he is NOW, but back near the end of the 'Knightfall' storyline, when he had gone to her to help get him back into fighting shape, she all but said outright that he wasn't worthy of her consideration if he continued to refuse to kill. She sicced a bucnh of assassins on him, and didn't let up until he convinced her that he HAD killed one of them (he hadn't, of course), whereupon, she pronounced herself satisfied. I'm not sure whether or not she ever discovered the truth, but back then, she was pretty explicit about how he didn't live up to her standards until he'd crossed that final line.

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