Batgirl #11: Choosing Family

Batgirl #11, the final issue of Batgirl’s “The Three Swords” story arc is almost a coda for the uncertain emotional journey Cass has been on to this point. One part of ending that journey is Cass trying to make peace with her relationship with her mother.  Shiva’s presence dominated Batgirl’s first five issues, and her death has loomed large ever since. All the while Cass has struggled to understand what a mother/daughter relationship requires. Finally in this issue Cass gives voice to something that is actually very human–no one taught her how to heal from such a loss. In this tiny bit of dialogue, Bromball hits a universal sentiment–there’s no way to anticipate how such a loss will feel and what will be required to move beyond it.

Cass also finds a way forward when it comes to the many people laying claim to her because of her bloodline. The two “sword” adversaries that Cass faces in this issue represent competing groups and have two very different sales pitches. Batgirl #11 isn’t the first time someone has made demands on Cass due to her lineage. One of the themes Bromball has played with is the exploration of what, if anything, someone owes to blood relatives.

That question feeds into the third way that Batgirl #11 ties up the themes from the first ten issues. Cass is already a part of a found family with Batman and the surrounding characters. Enter Jade Tiger–a brother Cass never knew she had and isn’t in any hurry to establish a relationship with. Bromball blurs the line between actual family and found family here. Tenji and Cass may be related, but are they actually family? Batgirl #11 makes a strong case that blood or not, family is always a matter of choice.

Miyazawa’s art style is well suited to the action sequences in Batgirl #11. The knock-down, drag-out melee combat has an intense, visceral feel to it. The ladder quality is in part due to details like a character’s bloody nose or other such small injury carrying over panel to panel throughout a fight. The fight between Cass and Wu Bing, the second “sword” sent after Cass, takes a lasting visible physical toll on both characters as the fight continues. 

The former quality–the intensity of the action–is largely achieved by Miyazawa’s liberal use of lines extending back, up, to the side, etc. to emphasize both where the force of the attack is coming from and the speed and power behind it. Early in the fight, Cass kicks Wu Bing in the head. Rather than start small behind Cass to emphasize her speed going forward, these lines extend thicker from the side of the panel, diminishing on the other side of Wu Bing’s whiplashed head. The emphasis feels more on the force of the kick on its way to contact rather than the slowdown on the follow through. This contrasts with other panels where these lines start behind Cass and extend toward the panel’s edges, emphasizing her speed as she moves forward. In every instance, Miyazawa emphasizes the specific power and direction of movement rather than just employing speed lines generically, extending from the foreground backwards.

Further emphasizing the intensity of these fight sequences is a single color choice Spicer makes. Wu Bing’s red costume is already distinctive within this story arc’s color palette. The character has the ability to extend tendrils to wrap around, slice, and bludgeon her foes. These are all outlined by the same red as Wu Bing’s costume. The result is to create a villain that stands dramatically apart from the issue’s overall color scheme which is very soft greens, blues, yellows, and browns–colors evocative of and at home in a nature setting. In a way, Cass is fighting an invasive visual element that doesn’t belong in this book.

These action sequences are surprisingly text heavy at times–whether it be back-and-forth between characters, Wu Bing monologuing, or Cass’ internal dialogue. Napolitano does a good job keeping all of the text out of the way of, and for the most part not distracting to, Miyazawa’s dramatic art.