It’s A Bloody Family Affair — Reviewing ‘Batgirl’ #10

Family ties bring a whole bevy of emotions, be they positive or negative, and often plenty of other issues. Especially true when that family includes fighters and assassins living out the most secretive of lives.

Cassandra Cain’s life continues to be turned upside down in Batgirl #10, under the guided care of Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mike Spicer, and Tom Napolitano.

-SPOILERS FOLLOW-

The family that fights together, just might survive together.

Giving Cassandra Cain a brother, born of a different type of relationship, who kicks ass was a great choice. Especially since it adds another mixed-race badass character to the stable. While I’m really keen to find out how and why Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva ended up having a child, his mere presence is enough right now.

Brombal is doing such a stellar job with this character and series, really homing in on who she is and the complicated dynamic of her family situation. Expanding, while paying respect to what has come before, is all wrapped up in a book that gives us all kinds of martial arts fighting goodness.

Just is stellar is Miyazawa delivering the fluid kinetic energy and the whimsy he’s known for. Sharp action with rougher textures bleed into the smoother elements, really giving everything a dense hefty feeling. This touches on the inherent darkness of this series while really leaning on the lighter brighter elements that bring balance.

As noted, I really dig the fight scenes of this series. It’s so swift and dynamic. There is a slick depth to everything as the paneling choices really accentuate the feeling of movement.

The colors balance that light and dark even more. Spicer matches the rest of the artwork’s energy, beat for beat, keeping the overall scale of the palette somewhere in the middle to create a more natural neutral overall foundation. Through this, the darker shadowy tones and the lighter more airy tones are able to stand out equally. They can push against each other in a playful way that just makes the whole atmosphere pop and offer that tangible familiarity we like to see.

One of the dynamics that works best for Cassandra is the captions. Being a less vocal character, it’s those boxes which give us details of her inner thoughts and process. Together with the dialogue, there are wonderful layers to dissect. Napolitano does a perfect job at bringing voices and sounds to big bold life, living those unique voices their due while mining any and all visually dynamic energy present.

Batgirl #10 is now available from DC Comics.