Batgirl #16: Back in Cass’s Head

Batgirl is at its best when Cass’s emotional journey is central to the story. That fell away as the recent story arc, “The War of Shadows,” went on. Fortunately, as the arc’s story wraps up in Batgirl #16, what’s going on in Cass’s head is back in the forefront.

Nyssa Al-Ghul’s plan unsurprisingly leads to betrayal in Batgirl #16. It’s a very straightforward one which ultimately suggests the story could have been told in fewer installments. Fortunately the earlier muddled story aspects don’t hurt the climax. That Nyssa is working so much for her own benefit is an effective heel turn from the motives she espoused back in part one. It also provides a bit of a stain on Batgirl’s shield that she was taken in so easily. Even though her actions ultimately complicated Nyssa’s plan, it wasn’t by design. Brombal doesn’t make Cass look foolish, but he does slightly undermine her as a detective through implication.

Cass’s relationship with her mother is addressed once more in Batgirl #16. Though Brombal doesn’t frame it in the same terms as before this arc (specifically, is revenge something Cass owes her family and mother?), the mental discourse still has that quality. Is Cass a murderer? Does she want to be a murderer? As the image of Shiva goads her, the implied question is whether Cass will kill for her mother. The answer is never in doubt, of course. But Cass’s realization wraps up her interaction with Nyssa in a nice bow as she asserts that “Nothing will ever heal. Until we heal ourselves.”

The last emotional resolution for Cass occurs as she rescues Tenji, choosing her brother over murder and vengeance. It turns out that he was right all along.

Miyazawa again delivers intense action sequences. More than once the multiple sides involved risk the action devolving into an indecipherable visual spectacle. Miyazawa does a good job keeping the major characters in any given panel or on splash pages in the foreground, focusing the reader on what is going on with them. In the case of an early splash page where three characters arguably at odds are fighting the same enemies, one of them overlaps another with a third slightly further back. It gives each major character’s action a point of emphasis.

These fight sequences are enhanced by Spicer’s colors. The major foreground characters are always more vivid as compared to the enemies they’re fighting. And colors quickly fade in the background settings and people.

Fight sequences are not the only area where Miyazawa’s art shines. Cass confronts Nyssa between two major fight sequences and Miyazawa captures a range of emotion on Nyssa’s face very effectively. Most impressive is that thanks to narrowed eyes and a near frown, Miyazawa makes Nyssa look conflicted and almost distressed over what she has done. It’s slightly at odds with the fervency of Brombal’s dialogue, but that contradiction works because it keeps Nyssa from appearing overly arch in her villainy.

Shiva’s dialogue with Cass is depicted in bubbles with a pink fill and purple outline and text set against it. It’s the only dialogue in Batgirl #16 that doesn’t use the standard black on white, and it very effectively sets Shiva apart, reminding readers that she isn’t a real person in all of this.