Not Her Father’s Daughter — Reviewing ‘Batgirl’ #25

There are ties that bind us to others — often family — and sometimes those ties can be like a deadly anchor, threatening to pull us down into darkness, leaving us in a space that is detrimental or even fatal.

Especially so if you happen to have one of the world’s deadliest assassins as a biological father, much like Cassandra Cain. It’s a bloody reunion as Batgirl #25 brings the duo together again, perhaps for a final time. This volume hits a milestone in the continued amazing run from Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mike Spicer, and Tom Napolitano.

Sometimes things in life can be a bit circular.

Back in the original 2000s first ongoing Batgirl series, the 25^th issue saw Cassandra having a very deadly fight against her mother Lady Shiva (though Cass didn’t know the familial connection quite yet). This time around, the 25^th issue comes with Shiva dead and father David Cain coming to fight Cassandra in a far less “honorable” way.

Throughout this series Brombal has been mining the history of Cassandra in bold, big, and fitting ways. He’s been fleshing out the character and letting her move forward, while still tapping into a dark past. Not in the same ways as have been done before either — less the typical “running in circles strip mining of status quo and classic stories” that comic books often find themselves doing.

No, this time the past informs how the character moves forward. This issue alone makes sure to note how much progress Cassandra has made. Just the presence of her brother Tenji and friend Jaya in her orbit and their growing familial relationship stands as evidence.

Not only is the character work spot on, but the action and dynamics remain fast, kinetic, and well crafted. The fight between father and daughter is one that takes everything Cassandra has to even escape. Cain fights dirty, by involving and killing citizens, because he knows that he cannot beat Cassandra without an edge. Her following the methods and morals of the Batfamily is a “weakness” which can be exploited in his book.

These tense moments are rendered perfectly, as always, by Miyazawa. He’s brought a true signature style to this series time and time again, dipping into a more soft almost animated sort of whimsical appearance that leans into the darker sharper artistic realms. It allows the characters and spaces to breathe and stand tall.

Paneling choices keep the audience in the thick of the action, be it fast or slow, and give it that quicker sort of appeal. It bounces us around as the facial expressions and body language tell a massive tale of their own.

Balancing the lightness and darkness to equal degree is something baked into the artwork. It’s also part and parcel for the colors that Spicer brings to the table — keeping things very toned down and natural, allowing the spaces to feel warm and lived within. That persists even as darker and more rough tonal beats are being presented. There is no truly vibrant stand out splashes because this is not that type of hero book. Things are bloody, dangerous, and blunt.

It’s some of the backdrop color filters which are given the more vibrant power. They help break things up and really hone our focus in on characters or moments.

They work as ways to give borders and draw the eyes through the panels. Similarly, the lettering achieves this same appearance and appeal. Napolitano is a master at making sure the lettering really flows and never weighs down the reading experience. It works as a focus for the reader as they find themselves digging deeper into the entrancing story.

Various applications of SFX working to break up the moment and hammer home the seriousness of the story. Razor sharp edges are clear as the letters and SFX cleave their way through the story in the best ways possible.

Being a milestone issue means being a bigger issue, and including a secondary story.

Within that story Brombal, Damion Scott, Alex Guimarães, and Napolitano continue the family fighting, as Cassandra’s brother Tenji Turner takes the spotlight.

Like the aforementioned previous Batgirl #25, Tenji too had fights with their shared mother Lady Shiva. While Cassandra’s was one that ended in (temporary) death, the fights with Tenji were to test him for something, while also using negging to tear him down or build him up. Hard to say with Shiva, it might have been a bit of both.

Here the character work continues to be solid as we bounce between past and present — brother and sister fighting for Tenji’s birthday, as he has been pushed to want to beat his sister one day. It’s a very traumatic and deep bit of backstory for the character.

Rough edges of the story are easily created thanks to Scott’s artwork. One that is heavy and very exaggerated in some respects, with a somewhat muddy big of rough edges. It gets the point across and flows pretty naturally with the fight sequences and flashbacks which collide. Like the main story, Guimarães color choices are more natural and toned down to allow the sequences to feel heavier and darker. The more vibrant moments pop even more against the overall denser pencils and color combinations.

Batgirl #25 is now available from DC Comics.