#TRAGIC that we got a Ben/Carolyn subplot instead of a Richard/Carolyn subplot though

[fantastic-nonsense]

initial Batgirl #8 thoughts:

Some Shiva fans probably aren't going to like this retelling because it makes her becoming Shiva somewhat inevitable rather than an avoidable tragedy. However, I'm a lot more pragmatic in that I recognize that 50 years and three continuities have elapsed since Richard Dragon and we've spent 20 years with the haphazardly-written 'Shiva as Cass's mother' retcon implying that Shiva loved Cain for "setting her free" from Carolyn so like. This is leagues improved from what we were working off of.

I'm sad that we lost the 'Shiva just loves fighting and being in danger' vibe in favor of a 'Shiva has vengeance in her heart from the beginning' interpretation, but otherwise I'm happy Brombal is giving Shiva a life and a voice and a perspective outside of 'Shiva The Mother' and 'Shiva the Villain', especially given that he's taking the time to explicitly re-canonize Richard Dragon in the process and is clearly doubling down on explicitly unpacking that Shiva did not want to have a child with Cain. I also genuinely love the work being put in to make Carolyn an actual character, especially the page-time dedicated to showcasing Sandra and Carolyn as two women who have a complex relationship and long history outside of Carolyn's fridging and Sandra becoming Shiva in response.

this is also the Cass origin unpacking we desperately needed, since:

The only time we've ever gotten the story of Shiva and Cain was a fairy tale-esque, lowkey victim-blamey 7-page sequence in the very last issue of Batgirl (2000) and Cass spent most of that issue fighting Shiva and leaving her for dead dangling over the Lazarus Pit. And then the Evil Cass arc happened, so absolutely nothing in that last arc about Cass finding out Shiva was her mom and the origins of how she came to be got unpacked or dealt with.

Clarifying all of this shit HAS to happen to move Cass's story forward. We haven't seen or discussed David Cain since he died in the New 52. Technically we still don't know what Cassandra's birth and early childhood looks like right now, because the last time it was brought up was during a time when Cass was thoroughly destroyed as a character and had a completely different history. Half of the point of all the Shiva focus in these first arcs is clarifying Cass's own history and what Shiva's place in it is.

Anyway, I really loved the issue. I thought it was a really solid attempt at consolidating all of the various contradictory pieces of Shiva's history we've been given into something that makes sense, and I'm interested to see where Brombal goes now that he's through all the set-up and Cass actually has to deal with all of her mother's ghosts popping up to Cause Problems on Purpose for her now.