#But I read the new Batgirl comic

[rockingthegraveyard]

how much of Cassandra Cains comics have you read?

pppppppp none 🫣

I'm relatively new to the comic scene. I've read most of the comics with Jason but I'm still making my way through some. I mostly rely on those posts a list of the issues the characters are featured in. I've yet to come across one for Cass.

I've read a few posts that have talked about her but until I get around to her, I only have what I read from others.

[necrotic-nephilim]

there is not enough femslash in batcest circles. the girls deserve to be just as weird about each other as the boys are. if BruDick gets to be weird father/son/brothers/lovers/friends/rivals/soulmates then it is only fair that Babs/Cass get to be mother/daughter/sisters/lovers too. Something about that deep intrinsic but undefinable love that is born out of trauma, especially if you consider Cass not knowing what healthy love looks like in the first place. i think it's fun and deserves just as much fandom content.

besides that, you can get even more niche with rarepairs like Helena/Steph. Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma is already a fantastic comic and even though it's their only real canon interaction it has so much potential. very comparable to TimJay in how Helena tries to get Steph to understand her morals and the corruption you could play with it.

batman: huntress/spoiler: blunt trauma (1998)

that comic also highlights on how both Steph and Helena are outcasts of the Batfamily and don't have the approval of Bruce to be doing what they do in "his city". I think there's so much Potential in Helena taking Steph under her wing because Bruce won't let her in and it becomes a weird codependent toxic sapphic mess. I think the protectiveness Helena feels over Steph from the get-go is so clear and the way she wants to look out for Steph, wants to make sure Steph understands the real world? I love them. Helena should be allowed to steal Steph, actually. I think it'd be fun.

there are a lot of other possibilities too like Babs/Steph or even getting weird with Helena Bertinelli/Helena Wayne and the existential question of "is it selfcest or not." But these two specifically live in my head rent-free, especially Helena/Steph and one day I'll convince everyone else to ship it too.

[batbabydamian]

🕊️/ do you like any ships? you don’t have to particularly ship it avidly but any you’re fond of?

i’ve mentioned jondami before but in terms of comics, stephcass!! they’re already so fun together in Batgirl (2000) and then the final issues of Batgirls (2021) really nailed it for me 😭

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

A lot of posts and fics in which the Joker faces justice focus on how it affects Jason.

What I'd like to see is how it affects Barbara.

Don't forget that the Joker changed her life forever too.

[laufire]

you could be generous and think that both barbara in batgirl (2000) admitting to dick that she finds it difficult to connect with and care about a non-verbal cass, and stephanie on batman & robin eternal upon meeting cass saying she's "barely a person" because she speaks one word, are meant to be the writers' showing you a reflection of the characters' ableist prejudices. except one of these actually explored that and what it meant for the characters and the other seems determined to do jack shit about it and instead commits to "everyone acts like an asshole for no discernible reason and (worse) with no discernible narrative goal" as a vehicle for storytelling.

[fantastic-nonsense]

cataloguing the various times Cass has shown an interest in and/or love of the visual and performing arts since her introduction as references for my Cass fic and it's actually kind of maddening that nothing has really ever been done with this considering how many times it's been referenced.

for those interested (and this is a non-inclusive list):

Dance is the most textually supported art form Cass has shown interest in. Pre-reboot, Cass does an acrobatic-style dance for Jean-Paul as a gift and thank you for working together in Azrael: Agent of the Bat #61 and has a TON of fun "mosh-pit dancing" while attending a rave in Batgirl Vol. 1 #63:

Meanwhile post-Flashpoint, Tynion had an entire mini arc about Cass discovering ballet (starting in Batman & Robin Eternal #7) and dance as an art form she has a major fascination with (Detective Comics #950-957 and scattered references throughout the rest of his Tec run):

She actually lives in an abandoned room at the Gotham Metropolitan Ballet in the out-of-continuity Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey mini:

Cass does a lot of experiments with clothing, makeup, and fashion throughout her Batgirl run (particularly during the Horrocks and Gabyrch eras)...some of which has occasionally carried over to post-reboot!Cass's fashion choices, like her unicorn robe in Batgirls:

She also designed and created her own Batgirl costume using pilfered arts and crafts supplies in the Shadow of the Batgirl graphic novel:

Cass was seen acting out scenes from Shakespeare's The Tempest with Clayface in Detective Comics #958 as a form of speech therapy:

Steph mentioned that Infantino Carmini’s The Three Graces was Cass's "favorite painting in Gotham" in Catwoman (2018) #45, implying that she knows enough about painting and visual art to have a favorite:

Post-Crisis!Cass got a lot of her vocabulary from watching visual media (especially television). Many of her later pre-reboot appearances are littered with various pop culture references that she absorbs through watching tv and film (Alien and Star Wars, for example):

there was also a semi-recurring gag of Cass picking up off-color/outdated/weird expressions from tv shows she watched in order to learn about criminology and how to "talk like normal people":

Also Cass watching those awful daytime reality tv shows? unfortunately canon:

Her fighting style has also always been depicted as very fluid and acrobatic, other characters watching Cass fight have sometimes referred to her fighting "dance-like" or "poetry in motion," and artists often incorporated dance-esque choreography into her training sessions with Bruce and the Bats' VR fighting simulator:

The one art form she continually has no interest in is literature (largely because for a long time she couldn't read and had no real interest in learning how), much to ex-Head Librarian!Barbara's frustration, though I've been told she's apparently reading Edgar Allen Poe in Batgirls right now.

Looking at all of this together makes it kind of frustrating that no writer has really done the connect-the-dots between Cass's notable, recurring interest in the visual/performing arts and her longing to express herself in a way that can be easily understood by other people. Tynion got the closest with the ballet/dance obsession, but he was constrained by having to balance a fairly large ensemble cast and so didn't have the space to really give that kind of attention to her character growth.

[stealingpotatoes]

Do you take some inspiration from Ligne Claire for ur art?

i'd actually never heard of that before today lol!! but looking it up, yeah i guess i must've without knowing it? i'd probably say my biggest inspirations for my comic style are the batgirl of burnside comics specifically and (this might sound stupid) lego games n tv LOL

[lilydvoratrelundar]

dc is doing a little mini relaunch after the current crossover finishes and honestly thank god because literally only two of their current ongoings interest me but there's a bunch of fun looking stuff happening in november that i might actually look at. and also it's starting series for several guys who should have had ongoings this whole time like the fucking JUSTICE LEAGUE

[supergir-ls]

i haven’t been involved in the dc fandom for years and even then i was 11 and stupid so can somebody tell me where to start

[atlantic-riona]

remember when dc tried to retcon tim's backstory so he was like a super athlete destined for the Olympics or whatever and he was also scarily intelligent and so bruce basically recruited him, thus removing the actual heart of tim becoming robin, which is not that batman needs a robin because of skills/smarts, but because batman needs a robin so that he doesn't lose himself to the darkness

[anthyies]

hi esha 🧍‍♀️ if u could force me to read any one comic series what would it be

HII JESSIE. oh this is really hard. my answers in general would probably be batgirl 2000. Red Robin 2009 1-12 with a big asterisk saying read the rest of robin first. and new mutants 1983 <3. however you have most probably read these.

[neonqueerautumn]

I just...miss my job okay...

[gob-lob]

Y’ALLLLLL

guess who just got comicssss

[starvinginbelair]

me trying to explain that while tt's nightwing run might kinda suck, it really was a good latch on point for new fans when it was first released:

[tangerinesri]

The way batman and co comics from the 80s up until flashpoint had so much weight and depth to them. Like whether it was in a batman comic or a separate comic, there was so much depth and complexity and emotion in the comics.

Now I read the most recent ones and it really feels like reading a hollow shell.

[havendance]

Anyway, my proposal for a run on Detective Comics where I write a series of one-shot stories showcasing all of the various supporting cast Batman has accumulated with stories, including, but not limited to:

Batman invites Nightwing to Gotham to help him solve a murder. The murder is very straightforward and they dance around the real reason Bruce invited him, until at the end, he finally admits in a constipated Bruce way that it's the anniversary of him adopting Dick and he wanted to spend time with him.

Huntress and Robin (Tim Drake) team up to investigate Killer Croc. It turns out he's turning over a new leaf in the sewers near the Marina. Huntress is dubious, but Robin convinces her to give him a chance, though she says she'll be watching him. We re-canonize Joker: Last Laugh.

Damian and Duke team up to take on a street-racing operation--a mission that naturally requires them to do some high adrenaline racing together.

The Riddler gets on social media with a plot that involves lots of puzzles and clues all over Gotham. Oracle taps into old members of "We are Robin" to take it down.

Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) and Batman end up on the same missing persons case. With the pressure on to find the missing child, they snipe at each other as tensions rise. In the end, after saving the kid, Bruce sort of kind of apologizes in a Bruce way and expresses some measure of respect for her.

Jason teams up with Ghostmaker to take on, idk, one of the Clayfaces. Does Gotham still have one of those? I haven't read any comics ghostmaker's in yet, but from I've heard it sounds like they'd have an interesting dynamic. Jason gets flashbacks to digging his way out of his grave.

Luke Fox recruites Harper Row (She does engineering stuff right? I also need to read comics she has a significant role in.) They take some new tech for a joyride and go bother the Penguin.

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) and Azrael team up to take down Mad Hatter. He probably has some elaborate Alice in Wonderland theming going on that neither of them get. (I think neither of them should have read it.)

Batwoman and Catwoman team up to steal back some Kane family heirlooms, possibly from Jacob Kane (What's his and Kate's relationship looking like anyway?), possibly from someone else.

Gotham Girl and somebody. Me advancing my Cass & Claire agenda Possibly Oracle trying to rehabilitate her in that controlling yet well-intentioned way she has sometimes? Someday, I will get to being more up to date on what Claire's status quo in current comics is.

A handful of representatives from Gotham's various crime families get together in the backroom of a bar somewhere. They play poker and exchange stories of being busted by the various bat-affiliated vigilantes in which they are very scary and almost inhuman. It ends with Batgirl (Cass) busting in and beating them up.

Helena Bertinelli takes a gig as a substitute teacher at Gotham Academy. She teams up with Maps & other supporting cast when Mr Freeze takes the school hostage while trying to escape the police.