Reviews

Batgirl (2000-2006) Vol. 1: Silent Knight by Kelley Puckett

captwinghead's review against another edition

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5.0

This is written and drawn in a way that makes it super easy to see how this would look on screen. The action sequences and each panel made this one of the most entertaining and interesting books I've ever read.

And Cassandra! I am adopting her. It'd be easier to name which members of the Batfam I don't want to adopt than which ones I do because they're all special in their own way. In a way, her origin reminded me of Elektra's in Daredevil season 2. I felt sorry for her because what kind of monster trains someone from infancy to be a killer.

The most important aspect of her character to me is that she chose to not kill people. She chose to stop and that makes her a hero. Regardless of what Cain tried to make her into, she chose to save people instead.

Watching Bruce train her was a little painful. Not just when she's losing but when he's blaming her for not being "good enough" or starting to look into her past. I got a huge kick out of him kicking David Cain's ass, though. Well deserved beatdown, that was.

Cassandra and Babs' relationship was great to see. She seems to be the only one desiring to see Cassandra's humanity and treats her like a person, first. I wish we'd gotten more on how she felt about Alfred and David Cain.

The scenes between her and Shiva were probably my favorites. There's such an interesting dynamic there and I hope we get more of that later.

The art was okay. Not my favorite but you get a feel for the motions in each action scene.

For a book where the main character rarely speaks, we still got to know quite a lot about who Cassandra is. I really enjoyed this and I can't wait for the next book.

canadiancat's review against another edition

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4.0

4/5 stars

I love Cass a lot and I’m glad I’m finally getting to her solo run.

heavensnights's review

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dark fast-paced

4.0

fishgirl182's review against another edition

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3.0

Cassandra Cain is not your average teenager. Raised at a young age by the assassin David Cain, Cassie is a unique killer, one who was trained to read boy movement as language. As such, she can predict her opponents' moves as they think them, making her almost unbeatable in a fight. Unfortunately this training stunted her verbal language skills. She can barely speak and only understands what others are saying by reading their body language.

In Silent Running, Cassie has been taken away from Cain and is living with Barbara Gordon (the original Batgirl). This arc focuses and Cassie's struggle to come to terms with her past and her transition as the new Batgirl. I did not know much about Cassie Cain before going into this and I found Silent Running to be a good primer on her origin story. It gives you a good look at Cassie's character and her struggle on how to live life now that she is no longer under her father's thumb. Gordon plays a mother figure and she and Cassie have to figure out how to relate to each other.

Batman plays a big part of the story as well. He's grooming Cassie as the new Batgirl and it is interesting to see how similar the two are. I did think Batman's reaction to a video of what could be a very young Cassie assassinating a bad guy to be a little odd. I might be wrong but I thought that he knew that Cassie had been trained to kill from a young age. While he might be shocked by the video, his outright denial that it could be real seems naive.

Cassie is non-verbal for most of the book, which did not bother me. It was pretty clear what was going on in the story and with her character, even without her verbalization. There was a point in the story where a psychic "helps" Cassie with her problem, which I thought felt out place. It was really quite sudden and seemed too much like a quick fix. I would have rather seen Cassie work through the language barrier instead of getting a magic cure-all. It was interesting to see though what happened to her fighting style once she had linguistic skills.

The artwork in this wasn't really my cup of tea. This was the early 2000s and the popular style was very exaggerated and overdrawn. Everything felt a bit too cartoon-y for me and, was it me, or did everyone have huge chins in this?

While I wasn't in love with the plot in this volume, I did enjoy learning more about Cassie Cain. She is definitely a fascinating character that I want to learn more about. As a relative Batgirl newbie, this volume gave me an intriguing look into the new Batgirl. I definitely want to read more about her and see where her character goes from here.

cordelia03's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

justiceofkalr's review against another edition

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3.0

The beginning felt a bit disjointed. Maybe that's because I missed out on some previous events. But even still I felt like it kind of jumped around a little awkwardly. Cassandra Cain makes a pretty interesting Batgirl though.

bbboeken's review against another edition

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3.0

Niet slecht. Goed genoeg in elk geval om mij benieuwd te maken naar meer...

kathryne2384's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

owlreader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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fallingaster's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5