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A review by moadore
Batgirl, Vol. 1: Silent Knight by Kelley Puckett
3.0
As someone who actually has "Batgirl enthusiast" written in her Twitter bio, I'm a bit embarassed to admit that this is my first foray into the chronicles of Cassandra Cain. However, by the time I had finished Silent Knight I had cemented that lingering inkling that I'm more a Barbara Gordon enthusiast than anything else (who features heavily here as Oracle).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a non-fan of Cassandra but she's a world removed from Babz who is considered ~default~ Batgirl. Raised as an assassin from birth her story is a lot darker, with even her outfit being creepy rather than fun. Her "father's" bizarre training methods means she can't communicate verbally, to the point where she even lacks inner monologue - making her a difficult character for comics writers to work with.
SO - slight spoiler ahead - they fix her. Instead of maybe trying to run with it and hire super-creative writers, they just decide to fix a disabled person with the help of a psychic who happens to stumble upon her (clearly an all night brainstorming session was needed for that story arc). The fact that Oracle, who is arguably one of the comic world's best representations of a disabled character, features premodinmently makes it a harder pill to swallow (obviously, I do know that later down the line DC gets a re-boot and Babs is miraculously cured too!).
All in all, this had potential but it just didn't get the proper development it needed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a non-fan of Cassandra but she's a world removed from Babz who is considered ~default~ Batgirl. Raised as an assassin from birth her story is a lot darker, with even her outfit being creepy rather than fun. Her "father's" bizarre training methods means she can't communicate verbally, to the point where she even lacks inner monologue - making her a difficult character for comics writers to work with.
SO - slight spoiler ahead - they fix her. Instead of maybe trying to run with it and hire super-creative writers, they just decide to fix a disabled person with the help of a psychic who happens to stumble upon her (clearly an all night brainstorming session was needed for that story arc). The fact that Oracle, who is arguably one of the comic world's best representations of a disabled character, features premodinmently makes it a harder pill to swallow (obviously, I do know that later down the line DC gets a re-boot and Babs is miraculously cured too!).
All in all, this had potential but it just didn't get the proper development it needed.