Batgirl #17

 Summary 

Batgirl is fighting some street thug who just tried to rob a woman, Strangely he lands a hit, much to batman's surprise and the reader. Bruce takes her back to her base and goes through some katas with her and everything is executed perfectly. Bruce wonders if she is bored or tired of their "mission" she's not. Oracle interrupts with news of her file footage and blood sample from a  few issues back. Bruce has her go and in Cassie fashion she does things in ways other would consider hard. She copies a guards card right of his back, reattaches it in blinding speed, evades thirty two security cameras like they weren’t there destroys the file footage and retrieves her blood sample, starts a fire to cover her exit and rushes back to Gotham because Batman needs her. 
 
Bruce and Oracle have a talk about Bruce treating her like a female him. Bruce argues that they both have the same drive to protect people and Gotham, Barbera argues that as a young girl she needs more than darkness and fighting to be a working human being. Bruce doesn’t see anything wrong and him and oracle continue to debate. 
 
Cassie meanwhile in the sewers approaches the light from a manhole as a vampire would. longingly and when she reaches it the brightness and sheer “otherworldlyness” of it bathes over her. 
 

Later she returns to Bruce with a rose, delicate and beautiful. Bruce calls her away from the rose and to deal with Agent Masters. She reaches the man and using her intricate skill sneaks up on him and avoids six bullets fired from a magnum revolver at point blank range and takes him out. Later she returns to the rose and is fascinated by it. Oracle calls her away to a day in the sun, over some coffee. Cassie obliges and she and oracle have a talk about justice after the talk she shows oracle the dying rose. Oracle quickly snatches it and places it in water explaining to Cassie that a rose needs sunlight and water to stay alive and grow. They then enjoy the beautiful day together.
 End Of Issue
 
The Good
Cant stop taking about the art in this book, it is expressive, seamless, flows and captures what’s happening perfectly. Kudos to Mr. Scott.

The story was good but not for the reasons a casual reader may think. the first two pages show Cassie and the thug. He lands a hit on her for multiple reasons. Yes she should have been able to best him easily after all this is a martial arts prodigy BUT Cassie's mind is elsewhere, she feels guilty about her past...and the actions committed there she also doesn’t quite know if she’s an bad girl doing good or a good girl who may have done bad things. This lack of focus on the task at hand leads to her being hit. It can also be her not having fully recovered her full skill in the reading of body language which she lost a few issues back. This one is a stretch though as this man was not skilled or fast enough to land a hit on even the lowest of the batfam and we all know next to batman she's the top in skill. Later when she and Bruce practice, her technique is perfect, hit for hit just like Bruce so he's left as mystified as ever.
 
 Another important part of the  story is her connection to Bruce and Barbera. When Babs proposes that Cassie go get the blood sample and file footage Bruce thinks its not important and Cassie, she of course has little to no opinion as she looks straight at him for orders and guidance, her father figure attachment to Bruce is clear. However once Bruce decides its ok for her to go she happily obliges.  

Equally as important is that Cassie and batgirl are not two separate identities. To Cassie it doesn’t matter if she’s in costume or not. When she infiltrates the base to get her footage and sample she could be described as reckless to go in sans mask by the rest of the batfam but to her it is neither here nor there, I have a mission I complete it. It is only out of obedience to Bruce and his symbolism that she wears the batgirl costume. It doesn’t make her who she is.

Also loved the exchanges between Bruce and oracle as they debate what Cassie needs. Bruce thinks she’s like him so she needs nothing else besides the mission. Barbera though who has made a life outside Gotham….outside the batfam sees a bigger picture she wants Cassie to be a young woman who doesn’t define herself by Bruces’ ideals. She knows what a young girl needs more than Bruce because she lived a normal life and still does. She also points out to Bruce that Cassie will do whatever he tells her to because he is more than a father figure to her.

Cassie though is more than either realize as, with no prodding from anyone, if for nothing else but sheer curiosity ventures from the dark and into the light. The art here particularly the coloring shows the major contrast between the typical environment she is used to and where she “shines” to the brightness of day with all these people where she literally disappears in the crowd.

The next part of the book centers on the rose which is symbolic of Cassie herself. She is fascinated by it but has no idea what to do with it. When oracle invites her for coffee she is very happy to come along not just for the light but sharing the light with someone. When we see that the rose is wilting because of all the darkness and the few drops of water Cassie gives it, we get that Cassie the teenage girl cant thrive in the darkness like Bruce because so too will her humanity die. She needs a balance…… HELL it is suggested that what she needs is a normal life just as the rose needs light and water. She needs to be outside of all the heroing and darkness and the batfam.

We known life of a batfam member is never easy and cassis life is even more dangerous than normal we are left with the question…… is being batgirl good for Cassie or is it slowly killing that little girl inside her that wants to be loved and have a normal life?

A gem for batfam fans is that we all know Babs is smarter than Bruce, she is usually right so what does her realizations for cassie truly mean?

Deep issue...................

The Bad
Cant complain about a damn thing
 
The Ugly
5/5 stars