InsaneJournal

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zechs27 (zechs27) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-31 21:55:00

Entry tags:

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

Martial Arts Week: Cassandra Cain vs Lady Shiva The Rematch
As promised round 2 between two of the greatest martial artists in the DCU.

From the final issue of Batgirl, #73. Where we get a flashforward or present as it where from Ghost Steph telling Cass about Bludhaven which really fractures her to the core. But before Ghost Steph can bring Cass into the light she's wake's up in Nyssa's Lazarus Pit alive once more and of course completely insane.

It's here we find out that yes indeed Lady Shiva is indeed Cassandra's mother. Plus she's wearing the crazy outfit I think I've ever seen a warrior ever wear save for Nyssa's outfit from earlier this arc. But then again, I think Shiva thought she really was going to die and I guess wanted to look her absolute best.

In anycase, after Shiva smacks Cass and telling her she's better then this thus calming her down and negating the madness. It's then Shiva then tells Cass that she notices the girl doesn't use all the gadgets of the man she idolizes though she finds one item in particular of her belt note worthy.. a picture of Sandra with her sister. I had to scan this scene because really this says a lot to me about Shiva:

I really love those last three panels on that page. Just the look of emotion from Shiva tells a lot. Also I scanned this just in case cause I know again nevermore scanned Spoiler parts to this and Cass's rebirth. So if some pages are going to have to be removed it'll be this one alas or if I can add some just let me know.

But enough of my babbling.. onto ROUND 2:

Cass kisses her mom on the forehead before tossing her onto the hook. Shiva is thankful that she gets her death and dies. However, Cass lowers her head uttering, "Sorry mom." As we're shown the hook Shiva's impaled on loosening suggesting that it will tear and Shiva will be reborn. And in a way Cass repaying Shiva by bringing her back to life from #25 and here.

So there you have it, the final fight Cass had in her book. And now suddenly I think Hank Henshaw and Sandra Woosan should go out on a date together or be bestest buds given how much both are obbessed with death. :P

(Post a new comment)

	jedd_the_jedi 2009-09-01 03:26 am UTC (link)
	This is from Destruction's Daughter, wasn't it? I would want Shiva back, she's badass. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-09-01 03:28 am UTC (link)
	Indeed. And honestly she was in Robin's final issue too. If only Tim didn't use preptime to beat her so cheaply. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-09-01 04:13 am UTC (link)
	Is anyone else sick of the 'preptime' excuse? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-09-01 04:18 am UTC (link)
	It's so tied to Batman.. thanks to Miller with TDK Returns it's now forever tied to him alas. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-09-01 12:26 pm UTC (link)
	I don't mind Tim beating her with 'preptime' so much as he defeated her with Shiva's natural weakness: chocolate. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-09-01 09:53 pm UTC (link)
	WHAT WOMAN COULD RESIST A MINT ON HER PILLOW AMIRITE? (Reply to this) (Parent)

zippthorn
2009-09-01 05:11 pm UTC (link)

Simply saying "preptime" is almost like the "punchline" to the Aristocats "joke" nowadays.

They'd occasionally show Batman and co. training in their off hours, which, James Bond-style, would pay off in the climax of a story. Nowadays, they don't do that so much. However, one of the better sequences on Dark Victory has Bruce trying to puzzle through the Loeb-plot while exercising, picking locks, etc. I used to always think maybe he would have figured it out faster if he was solely concentrating on the "mystery," but then I realized it never pays to over-analyze a Loeb-plot.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

jaybee3
2009-09-01 03:39 am UTC (link)

That was great *sniff* Thank you. I'll be honest Batgirl was THE comic that made me a regular month-in month-out DC reader (until OYL then I bailed). It was the first title that I absolutely had to get every month and then to buy all the TPB of the issues I missed. So I'm biased, but ... how can the powers that be at DC see this character (one of its first real high profile attempts at diversity) who carried her own book for 70 issues, see her potential and then just turn her into a 2-D villain and Asian stereotype Dragon Lady? And then to replace her with another white blonde (who they formerly thought so little of they killed her off and didn't give her a memorial). Really, DC? Weren't Supergirl and Wonder Girl and Speedy enough to fill the WASP quota?

It's not that I don't like Steph, but I see scenes like this and I remember what's been missed.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-09-01 04:12 am UTC (link)
	I tend to think Cass has been unofficially declared 'radioactive' by DC. Give it a few years and maybe a decent author will bring her back. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-09-01 04:14 am UTC (link)
	Hopefully, but then again maybe we should be grateful they didn't make her turn out to be like Connor Hawke. Poor Connor. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

starwolf_oakley
2009-09-01 05:51 am UTC (link)

You've got to wonder the logic. And there had to have been some logic. Even DC doesn't do bad storylines just to make do storylines, no matter what I say about Dan DiDio hating us.

What was the original plan for Cassandra Cain? Did they just want to make her a Robin villain a'la Jason Todd? Or was there a bigger plan that Adam Beechen executed poorly? Then was called to "fix it," which Beechen did even more poorly.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-09-01 06:34 am UTC (link)
	I love to know that and what Chuck Dixon had in mind for Cass's redemption story he was going to tell in Tec before it got axed in favor of Beechen's mini. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	pepperspray101 2009-09-01 09:29 am UTC (link)
	Ohhh! I forgot about that one! ugh! If only we could ask him! ...wait. Doesn't Dixon have a message board somewhere? O_o;; (or would he be forbidden from talking about it...) whines God, I loathe Beechen's mini. Dixon doesn't impress me too much, but I can't help but think even something by him might've been better! sighs I can only dream now... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	zechs27 2009-09-01 03:52 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think he be more inclined to talk about it there. However, if he where at a convention however, perhaps he be more willing to let loose what he had intended. Same goes for Steph given we know he was going to have Cluemaster show up. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-09-01 12:28 pm UTC (link)
	The original plan was to make Cass an adversary for Tim, something which, at the end of Destruction's Daughter, when she's unsure whether or not the code of the Bat is right, could have worked. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jaybee3
2009-09-01 05:32 pm UTC (link)

That could have worked. God knows at this point Dick and Cassandra are pretty much on the outs without her being evil. It could have that they had different views on what it meant to be a "Bat". It could have made sense without turning her into a card-carrying villain.

Whatever though I still can't let DC Editorial off the hook, whoever was editing the Bat-books obviously let Beechan's Dragon Lady newly Navajo literate Cass (who now Tim can suddenly beat) through even it didn't mesh with any previous characterization of her. And when it failed, they gave the same guy the mini to clean up his own mess.

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espanolbot
2009-09-01 12:15 pm UTC (link)

Apparently she's goingto play a "prominent" role in Batgirl next year.

Whether this means she'll be a supporting character who mentors Steph or something, or she does a Mary Marvel and goes evil again we'll have to see.

Apparently the reason she quit was that she was heartbroken that just after getting over her issues with her biological dad and getting a "real" one in Bruce, he was taken away from her.

Maybe she quit to wander to Prada Nambat or whatever it's called to get her head together before becoming a new sueprhero or something.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	darthnat 2009-09-01 12:22 pm UTC (link)
	According to the con report over at Funnybook Babylon, DC made it apparent that the story would not involve her being evil. (Reply to this) (Parent)

retro_nouveau
2009-09-02 12:00 am UTC (link)

Very hopeful that it's an extended arc leading up to Cass resuming her rightful place -- Steph still dresses (and thinks) in purple. The handoff was definitely handled abruptly and badly (and Tim's going through the same kind of erratic lashing out, ugh). I'll be bothered if Cass doesn't bounce back in black, but if Steph is erstwhile eggplant eternally, I'll be enraged. Robin for a while, ok, Batgirl for a while, ok, but Steph = Spoiler.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	I completely agree (Anonymous) 2009-10-30 02:01 pm UTC (link)
	'Batgirl' made me fall in love with comics. The intricacies of the relationship between Cass and Shiva was so compelling...and sad. I miss her. Babs www.comicvine.com (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nezchan 2009-09-01 04:48 am UTC (link)
	It's great of course, and Cass is badass. But her boobs at the bottom of that second scan HURT SO MUCH! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	zippthorn 2009-09-01 05:14 pm UTC (link)
	Maybe they're her kung-fu "battle aura"? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kingrockwell 2009-09-01 06:51 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, as goofy and ridiculous as Shiva's costume here is, Cass looks like she's in dire need of a Bat-bra. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-09-01 02:38 pm UTC (link)
	Yikes, Cass's tits just spring into action in that third panel. (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2009-09-02 02:38 am UTC (link)
	You've inspired me to share this YouTube tribute to Cassandra Cain, which I discovered shortly after the outrageous events of "One Year Later." I found it very enjoyable. I hope others will, too. (The video initially states that the audio has been disabled, but it actually hasn't.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2e-R7rCSYo&fmt=18 (Reply to this)