Firewall

Batgirl (Volume 3) #19
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Ramon Bachs

 

Eh this was okay. The mystery and this slipstream character doesn’t really interest me and I know I am a Cass fan so one may think I am biased, but this series is wayyyy overrated. It was cool to see Batman Inc gave Steph her own “cave” of sorts though.

Hidden Oracle

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #10
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Inaki Miranda

Cassandra Cain gets name dropped again as Tim asks why she doesn’t have access to Kord Tower. I don’t know that I am completely satisfied with the answer that she has too much going on now because well…we are never shown what the hell she has going on. I hope this wasn’t a throw away line and Gail or DC editors plan to show us what is going on with Cass soon enough. This was an otherwise fantastic issue that showed off how tough the Birds are and how it was a good plan to fake Oracle’s death. Loved the bit with Catwoman too!

Limbo Town

Batgirl (Volume 3) #18
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Dustin Nguyen

 

I have a confession – this is a good book but I always am upset when I read it because I miss the real Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. Now to get that out of the way, I really liked this issue if it wasn’t a little too cutesy for my tastes. It was great to see Limbo Town and all the stuff From Grant Morrison’s Klarion Seven Soldiers Mini as Steph tries to help Klarion find a mate for his cat. This was definitely not a story you could tell with Cassandra without it being altered a lot – actually now that I think of it you could tell it with Cass and it would have been so much better! Think of how she would freak out the people in Limbo Town! God I miss Cass!

Red Robin 19 and 20

Red Robin #19
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Marcus To

 

Tim fights the Unternet in its own virtual world in this issue (By the way I love his alternate costume) and one of the things he uses is a program representing Cassandra Cain! Nice job of course Tim would think of the greatest of Batgirls to defeat a threat. God I miss Cass being a regular member of the bat family!

Red Robin #20
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Marcus To

Red Robin fights off Catman and call in the Teen Titans to go after the Calculator – who has robots now. Okay what the hell – I am so sick of the Calculator! Let’s get some other villains he is in Batgirl, Birds of Prey, and now here! Enough with this guy!

Moon Bounce

Batgirl (Volume 3) #17
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Pere Perez

 

This was a fun story of Steph teaming up with Damian and saving a schoolbus full of kids from kidnapping. It was fun and the banter between the two is always amusing. Miller writes Damian really well and I loved the ending where Steph brings him to a moon bounce to teach him how to have fun.

Confusion

Batgirl (Volume 3) #16
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Dustin Nguyen

 

There were a couple of scenes in this where the action just confused me – I don’t know if it was Miller’s writing or Nguyen’s art but I just didn’t know what the hell was going on and I find myself not really caring about this whole “Order of the Scythe” thing. And yes I miss Cass.

Who Framed Batgirl?

Batgirl (Volume 3) #15
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Dustin Nguyen

 

Oracle returns just as Batgirl (Not Stephanie) is framed for the murder of a fellow student at Gotham U. Nguyen joins the creative team and I liked his work here. Cass being left out of the bat history lesson was explained here so I am not too upset about it. I liked Proxy’s new hair too. Good stuff.

Too Many Blondes

Batgirl (Volume 3) #14
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Lee Garbett

 

Okay I do like the growing friendship between Steph and Kara but ugh why does every teen hero have to be a pretty blonde now. It just makes me miss Cass more! If they teamed up with Wonder Girl and Speedy they could be the pretty blonde brigade. Garbett barely differentiates the faces of Kara and Steph here too it was annoying. That being said there were some amusing moments. I loved how Supergirl asked if Steph has a bat-bra.

Clay

Batgirl (Volume 3) #13
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Pere Perez

 

Batgirl takes on Clayface as he breaks into a bank in this one-shot issue. It was a fun romp but still no Cass…and seeing Steph as Batgirl just isn’t the same or give me that hell ya feeling as I did when I saw Cass kicking ass in her Batgirl costume. I do like Steph a lot though she is a fun character and in no way was this a bad issue. Great to see Wendy working as Proxy now.

Protecting Secrets

Red Robin #15
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Marcus To

 

Tim shows his genius in this fantastic issue where he pulls off a huge stunt to convince Vicki Vale he is not Red Robin and throw her off the Bat-family’s trail. It was great to see Miss Martian helping out and Tim continue to reach out to his connections. This really is the book for the Batfamily as everyone seems to be appearing here (Except for Cass of course, Vicki didn’t seem to know her identity because Cass is too awesome for that!) I like how Tam Fox is being trusted to keep the BatFamily secrets as well. This book rocks!

Proxy

Batgirl (Volume 3) #12
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Lee Garbett and Pere Perez

 

The Calculator is defeated and Wendy becomes the new fill-in for Oracle as “Proxy.” I figured that was what was going to happen with Babs back with the Birds of Prey and I am glad it did. Too bad no Cassandra yet. Not much else to say ):

The Most Wonderful Anniversary Issue Diana Could Get

Wonder Woman #600
Written by Gail Simone, Amanda Connor, Louise Simonson, Geoff Johns, and J. Michael Straczynski
Art by George Perez, Connor, Eduardo Pansica, Scott Kollins, and Don Kramer

Wonder Woman reverts to classica numbering…well the numbering of all three of her series put together. Six Hundred issues! Now this was a damn anniversary issue! Beautiful pin-ups and wonderful stories that not only celebrated the character’s rich history but brought her forward. Gail Simone’s story of Wonder Woman leading a band of female heroes was breathtakingly drawn by Perez and ended with a sulute to the Perez era of the character. It was great to see all those female heroes working together – and Grace was there! We haven’t seen her in a while. But of course my favorite story has to be Amanda Connor’s short Wonder Woman team up with Power Girl that featured the Batgirl Cassandra Cain!!!!!! It takes place in the past but it was so great to see Cassie in her suit and all her glory again I almost cried! Sure she didn’t exactly talk like Cassie – but I am not complaining at least we got to see her. What a treat! Not to mention it was a great little story where Wonder Woman explains how Power Girl can bond with her cat. Simonson’s and Johns’s stories were good spotlights of how powerful and amazing the character is but the real meat of the issue is Straczysnki’s prologue to his new run. Shockingly, something has changed the timeline of Wonder Woman’s life and now she is an orphan raised in the city by amazons after Paradise Island was destroyed. The new costume isn’t going to last and let’s face it – it’s not the great but Kramer does the best he can with it. I know this isn’t a permanent retcon and that Diana will make her way back to the original timeline so I am interested in where this radical new direction is going. I also wonder how this will effect the rest of the DCU.  This was the perfect anniversary issue for Diana!

New Mentors

Batgirl (Volume 3) #11
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Lee Garbett and Pere Perez

 

I feel like despite being action-packed, not much happened in this issue. Calculator has gotten inside Barbara’s head but she is holding her own and Wendy is helping out Batgirl. It has some cool visuals but still no mention of Cassandra so I really don’t care. With Babs running the Birds of Prey again, Cassandra along with Wendy should be Steph’s new mentors.

Escape

Justice Society of America #39
Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Jesus Merino

 

For some reason I thought this was the conclusion of this arc but I guess not. This was all good as we check up on the heroes making their escape from the Nazis. It was cool to see grown up versions of our favorite heroes. The twist is that Mr. Terrific is going to use Obsidian to send a message back in time I guess we will see how it goes next issue.

Techno-Zombies

Batgirl (Volume 3) #10
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Lee Garbett and Pere Perez

 

Still no mention of Cassandra Cain and this was one of the weaker issues of the book…nothing really memorable occurred and the techno-zombie thing doesn’t do it for me. I guess I am just too sick of Calculator versus Oracle plots to enjoy this.

The Missing Daughter Saga Continues

Red Robin #12
Written by Christopher Yost
Art by Marcus To

 

Okay if Ra’s took the time to track down people like fucking Julie Madison, then why the fuck would he not go after Cassandra Cain – Bruce’s adopted daughter daughter and the former Batgirl! Is it because DC’s editors are asshats?! I think so. But anyways, this was a great way to end Yost’s run on the title and bring Tim full circle. This began as the story of Tim going in a direction too dark for the character but Yost has brought him back to Gotham and back to his old self. Hell they even made the costume more his. Yost’s run was great. I am certainly glad To is sticking around but I will miss Christopher Yost on this book.

Recycled Story

Batgirl (Volume 3) #9
Written by Bryan Q. Miller
Art by Lee Garbett

AHHHH! I do not want to ever read another Oracle versus the Calculator story. How many times has this been done? 3,000 times. How many times have I cared? Zero. Why? Why must they keep recycling this plot. Where is Cassandra Cain, bring her in and I can forgive the recycled plot. Where is Kid Eternity for that matter? Calculator kidnapped him in Teen Titans, will he be involved in this? I really want to like this book. Steph is a great character and Miller writes well, but with this same old plot of Oracle versus Calculator and the still-lack of Cassandra Cain and no one even looking for her I can not enjoy it at all.