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Batgirl #25
Ponder |
| Title: |
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I Am Become Death The Destroyer of Worlds |
| Cover Date: |
April 2002 |
| Story: |
Kelley Puckett |
| Pencils: |
Damion Scott |
| Inks: |
Robert Campanella |
| Colors and Separations: |
Jason Wright / Digital Chameleon |
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Synopsis: (WARNING! SPOILERS!)
This is the issue we've been waiting for
since 9, the fight to the death between Batgirl
and Shiva. While the events of Bruce Wayne:
Murderer took the focus away from the upcoming
fight after issue 23 when it was revealed
Batman and Oracle both knew of the upcoming
fight. The revelation in issue 24 of Batman's
identity may be more important in the coming
issues then in the events of 25, though Cassandra
does seem to have faith in her mentor.
The issue opens with Shiva defeating
a room
full of men setting up the fact
she is the
deadliest martial artist in the
world in
case a reader might be ignorant
of that fact.
This fact isn't lost on Cassandra
however
and as we first see her she's
trying to leave
a recorded message to Oracle
thanking her
for being like a mother to her
though that
message is erased. The thanks
to Batman however
is not erased and she thanks
him and tells
him not to blame Shiva before
telling him
she's sorry.
From her cave, Cassandra goes to walk about
Gotham and comes across a man about to jump
from a rooftop vantage point on one of the
taller buildings. With just a glance she
knows he's thinking about jumping and she
tells him it's not worth it, a odd comment
from someone who in a few hours time is to
fight to the death.
While still at the vantage point, Cassandra
receives a radio call from Oracle that she
needs to see her and Cassandra heads to the
Clock Tower. Where Oracle takes her into
the holo room to show her a holo made of
Cassandra killing as a child. While Oracle's
intentions are to stop thefight, Cassandra
temporarily paralyzes her in order to go
fight.
Cassandra meets with Shiva as arranged and
while Cassandra does seem to try she holds
back as she always does and Shiva does kill
her fulfilling the need for a fight to the
death. Shiva knew however that this would
be the result and evidently had prepared
for the year to be able to bring Cassandra
back from the dead and when Cassandra awakens
she's in her Batgirl costume sans cowl in
a temple dedicated to Shiva.
The two speak for a time and when Shiva asks
Cassandra why she wanted to die we learn
why she has been seeking redemption. When
making her first kill because of her ability
to read people, Cassandra in a sense experienced
much of what the man did up until the point
he died. And now that she too has died, she
feels different with that weight off her
shoulders.
During this talk however, Shiva's plan for
why she'd done all this becomes apparent.
She'd freed Cassandra from her guilt in order
to perhaps find death for herself which leads
to the real fight between the two which results
in a narrow victory for Cassandra and the
promise of a rematch in the future.
Analysis:
Cover:  (3 of 5 cowls)
While this is a nice cover, its not one of
Scott's better ones. The ripped costume and
the pose just give Batgirl a strange body
shape.
Story: (4 of 5 cowls)
This is the type of story you'll either love
or hate depending on whether you think the
end result was a cop out or not. Personally
I liked the story a lot and see a lot of
potential from the outcome including fighters
coming to challenge Batgirl now, Shiva getting
curious and trying to track down who Batgirl
is and where she came from, and exploration
on Cassandra's part into having a real life
or more of one.
Artwork: (4 of 5 cowls)
As usual the story is told more through the
artwork then through the words spoken and
Damion Scott comes through. The action is
told dramatically and while some of the fight
scenes could have been better with larger
panels the issue still worked. I only really
have two complaints, in 2 pages Cassandra
seemed to have nail polish on but no where
else and I still want to know how Cassandra
woke up in her costume.
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