Batgirl #3 – Tate Brombal, Writer; Takeshi Miyazawa, Artist; Mike Spicer, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: While the first issue of this comic was all action all the time, every issue seems to be doing something a little different. I think writing a Cassandra Cain solo title is pretty tricky, because she doesn’t have a regular home base, civilian identity, or supporting cast outside of the Bat-fam, so Brombal has been building it from the ground up. Last issue introduced us to a group of Vietnamese immigrants who run a restaurant and also provide emergency medical aid to people who need it – although it’s not clear if they survived the issue, and that’s a point of contention between Cass and her mother Shiva. With the two of them riding a train, the tentative relationship they had starts to break down, and it’s clear Cass thinks her mother is nothing but a menace. But as this issue makes clear, that’s anything but the case – and the introduction of the Order of Shiva has some big surprises.
Shiva is such a mysterious and mercurial figure that it’s easy to assume she’s one-note, but she’s always been a unique character, and the idea that she has her own order of loyalists that gain loyalty through good deeds is very much in character. We learn more about this through Jayesh, her second in command and healer who winds up helping Cass with her recent injuries and showing her another side of her mother. But for all of Cass’ training under Batman, she can still be pretty brash and reactive – and then when she sees someone on the train that shouldn’t be there, things go downhill in a hurry. Brombal makes sure to include enough space in this issue of Miyazawa to go completely nuts with a pair of two-page spread pages – before we get to the big cliffhanger, which introduces another major player in Cass’ past back to the DCU. This series has not disappointed for a minute yet.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
