Old Comics that Still Hold Up: Cassandra Cain's Batgirl
Never Forget What They Stole from You
I love Cassandra Cain with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. That’s right: I’m in a special club called everybody. If you’re curious about diving into Batman comics, you’ll probably read classics like Hush or Long Halloween, but Cassandra Cain’s long run as Batgirl deserves to be inducted into the “classics” category. They’re good Batman stories, too — often exposing his more tender, fatherly side. Who doesn’t love emotional constipation!
Some background, to save you from a ton of reading: The original Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, was shot by the Joker in Alan Moore’s overrated The Killing Joke. The character continued as Oracle, a paraplegic detective and hacker coordinating the Bat Family (or the Birds of Prey team) from her perch in a clock tower. Gotham was then destroyed by an earthquake in Cataclysm and abandoned by the United States in No Man’s Land, in which Cassandra Cain first appears. These series are incredibly long and not always cohesive, but Graphic Audio did a fine job distilling them into an audio drama. It’s a good listen. I recommend it if you’re ever painting your house or setting off on a long road trip.
Purchased as a baby, Cassandra was raised by a hitman named David Cain, who never spoke a word to her. Instead, he taught her to read body language. This made her an intuitive fighter who can infer the intentions of her opponents as if they were blatantly stated. The plan backfired, however: When Cain sent his daughter to complete her first assassination, she watched him die and realized the horror of what she’d done. She ran away from Cain. Eventually, she became one of Oracle’s informants and agents, until Oracle gave her permission to carry on the Batgirl legacy.
Most of Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl issues are published as collected editions:
Batgirl Vol. 1: Silent Knight — For some reason, my edition is called Silent Running. Cassandra is obsessed with saving others and redeeming herself, but she struggles to overcome the childhood neglect causing her mental block with reading and verbal communication.
Batgirl Vo. 2: To the Death — Also published as A Knight Alone. Cassandra’s language center is unlocked, but this is interfering with her fighting abilities. Training sessions with Batman leave her bloodied. He’s concerned she shouldn’t go out as Batgirl anymore. She’s also drawn the attention of the famed assassin Lady Shiva, whom only the original Batgirl has defeated in combat.
Batgirl Vol. 3: Point Blank — or Death Wish. Cain is taunting Batman with video footage of Cassandra’s kill. Batman is in fierce denial that Cassandra ever actually assassinated anyone; Oracle rightfully surmises that this is because Batman sees himself in Cassandra, and doesn’t want to admit that he also has the potential to murder. Struggling with reading, detective skills, and guilt over the assassination, Cassandra becomes friends with Robin (Tim Drake) and great friends with Stephanie Brown, “The Spoiler,” another girl with a criminal father who can’t seem to earn Batman’s trust. Lady Shiva returns to claim Cassandra’s life, and Cassandra considers letting her take it.
Spoilers: This volume leans hard into Shiva’s namesake, the Hindu god of destruction and rebirth. To keep her deal with Shiva, and acknowledging her role in the death of a man, Cassandra allows Shiva to kill her. Shiva then revives her, asking, “What was it like? Death, I mean.” Cassandra realizes that Shiva herself wants to be killed and searches in vain for someone capable (or in the case of the Bat Family, willing). After an epic beatdown, Cassandra smirks, “Keep searching.”
Batgirl Vol. 4: Fists of Fury — These stories generally have a lighter tone and heavily feature Spoiler as a wisecracking foil for Batgirl, leading directly into Batman: War Drums and Batman: War Games. These last two are all-time favorites of mine, must-reads if you enjoy this version of the Bat Family.
Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood — Along with Tim Drake, Cassandra moves to Blüdhaven and attempts to pick up the pieces following the traumatic events of War Games. The young Robin and Batgirl are pitted against each other while sharing an unspoken grief. Contradicting the personal experience of her entire childhood, Batgirl acknowledges there is more to life than pain.
I haven’t been able to get my hands on Volumes 5 and 6, so I’m not certain how well-received they were or whether they’re worth reading. I do know the latter explores who Cassandra’s mother is. This may have something to do with the character winding down in the protagonist department.
There are many other collected editions that include Batgirl issues. However, several great issues don’t appear in any collections at all, including one that’s incredibly dear to my heart.
In Batgirl #49, Batman strips Cassandra of her rank as Batgirl and sends her away. She is financially provided for — and Alfred and Barbara act as enablers in assuring Cassandra that Batman is only acting out of love — but it doesn’t take long for Cassandra to retake the Batgirl suit by force and run back into the fray.
In the next issue, Batgirl #50, Batman and Batgirl are locked in combat. Nothing seems to deter them. Nightwing fears that they’ve been affected by Dr. Death’s drug, “soul” — he even fears they’ll kill each other. Neither, he, Oracle, or Robin can stop the fight.
After the fight, Cassandra is finally able to verbalize what her problem is. She and Batman reconcile.
Throughout this title’s run, Batman struggles with David Cain, Cassandra’s other father figure, who wants her back and even eventually begins to feel guilt over his treatment of her.
Other father-daughter tropes are explored: When Cassandra gets a bit sexually aggressive with Superboy, Batman’s gruff, protective response is sweet to the point of being comical.
I don’t know that anyone else has told such good father-daughter stories via Batman. They also tug at my heart because I’ve known so many neglected and/or abused children who just didn’t respond to prescribed, orthodox discipline. They needed someone to understand them and accomodate their needs.
This was a phenomenal Batgirl. She was taken from us. Feminist, fun vampire, and thief of joy Gail Simone complained it was sexism that kept Barbara Gordon in the wheelchair, since Batman’s tedious paralysis was eventually retconned. So we oiled the squeaky wheel and gave baby what she wanted. In 2011, Barbara Gordon became Batgirl again — somehow as youthful as ever — while Cassandra Cain eventually became an outsider named “Orphan.” Coincidentally, this is about the time DC started putting out really stupid stories the likes of which we hadn’t seen since the Golden Age of comics.
A huge percentage of my interest in DC diminished when I lost Cassandra’s Batgirl. When the Birds of Prey film threw Cassandra Cain fans a bone, all we got was a pickpocket in an arm cast. What a loss. It only took about twenty years for them to realize what they’d done and actually bring her back.
By the way: you can preview my graphic novel, 1000 Years of War, here!
Another one that is mostly out of print. But I have the first 25 issues in singles. They are awesome! And I will be collecting that whole run. It's a clinic in street level superhero, episodic story telling!
One of the great legacy characters. They had a real good split with Batman's kids outdoing him completely in one area and working together with their siblings to make up for their deficiencies. Tim as a gadgetier detective, Cass as a superior fighter, Dick as the front line handsome acrobat thief break-in escape artist and Jason as the violent rule breaker. It was pretty neat to see them expand the Batman legacy like that and it let stories go really deep in their particular direction instead of smattering them all about like with Batman himself.