Cass, Schmass
Man I am cranky today! I just finished reading a whole crapload of blogs and such and I've had it up to here. So in the spirit of the day, I am going to write about Cassandra Cain.
Apparently she has quite a following. Frankly I couldn't care less about Cassandra and whatever it is that DC has supposedly done to her. I don't read Batman with any sort of regularity, because with the exceptions of Alfred (whom I adore) and Tim (whom I like) I don't much like Batman or his merry little band. Except Oracle of course (whom I also adore). However she's in Birds of Prey, and I don't count her as a Bat-person anyway.
I believe that I have read somewhere that people are angry because some writer made Cassandra "go bad". This has somehow completely ruined her character, caused the earth to tremble, milk to go bad and small children to cry.
For Heaven's sake, I'm a Green Lantern fan! We know all ABOUT characters going bad! We've been Parallaxed for the love of God!
And while I am in a sardonic sort of mood, I'm going to just come out and admit it...Emerald Twilight was a heck of a story! More than ten years later, and it still gets talked about on a daily basis. Love it or hate it, that makes it a powerful tale. Things happened that are still being used as plot points. That makes it a damned powerful story.
So to the Cassandra lovers, I know that it may be hard, but I am sure that somewhere there is actually a plan. Maybe she's being mind-controlled. Maybe this is all some sort of deep dark plan that was hatched up between her and Bats. Maybe there really is a point to al of this. Or heck, maybe she really IS bad. Villains can be fun too.
So how's THAT for an apple of discord?
posted by SallyP @ 8:17 AM
13 Comments:
Yeah, in hindsight, the original Parallax stuff actually makes for some powerful storytelling. 'Course, that's easy to say now that Hal Jordan is back and redeemed. Really, though, in the long run, the whole Green-Lantern - Parallax - Spectre - Back-to-Green-Lantern scenario ultimately served to give Hal some character depth that he previously lacked. And, taken as a whole, the entire scenario reads like a story straight out of ancient mythology -- whereby the hero undergoes a truly horrific fall from grace and undergoes a hellacious series of trials and tests in order to redeem himself and return to his former glory. Great, great stuff.
You're right of course Sea, this is all hindsight. I was deep in the throes of Marveldom at the time, so I was only vaguely aware of what was going on, and also not so personally invested.
But some of these Hal vs Kyle people are REALLY out there!
Rebirth really did an utterly magnificent job in my mind of rehabilitating ALL the earth Lanterns.
I agree totally, Sally. I've never understood the Hal vs. Kyle people (what, they don't have enough room in their brains for both heroes?) -- but then that sort of thing always happened whenever DC tried to replace Hal with another GL -- I remember all of the Hal vs. John and Hal vs. Guy fights. It's just in the Hal-vs-Kyle case, the Internet has provided the whiners with a very public and easy-to-use soapbox. However, I think -- I hope -- that DC has learned its lesson: Don't bother with trying to replace Hal, because you'll just end up adding another GL to the ranks. ;-) Heck, they haven't even been able to get rid of Alan, and he's as old as my grandpa! "Once a Green Lanter, always a Green Lantern." John Broome didn't know the can of worms he was opening when he wrote THAT story, did he? ;-)
I feel sorta bad for the Cass fans, but after having seen this happen to comic book heroes over and over and over again, I do think they're well advised to adopt a "wait and see" attitude.
All I know is I asked Didio and the rest of editorial where Cassandra Cain is and they were like looking at each other with blank expressions.
Didio: Um....she's somewhere in the Himalayas...I guess
No joke....I think they've forgotten about her, lol.
I liked Cass and the Batgirl comic, but she was kinda on the edge from the start. She's interesting enough, but hardly a character I go nuts over. I didn't read the going bad story, but it's not nearly on the Parallax level. I mean, Cass hasn't been around nearly as long as Hal! Hal was Green Lantern for Pete's sake.
"Maybe she's being mind-controlled. Maybe this is all some sort of deep dark plan that was hatched up between her and Bats. Maybe there really is a point to al of this. Or heck, maybe she really IS bad. Villains can be fun too."
I thought Deathstroke was controlling her with drugs. Or have they dropped that idea since it appeared in Teen Titans?
Whatever. There are really easy outs in this one, and all it would take to turn the whole thing around is one writer who's a fan of the character and has a story to tell.
Really, though, in the long run, the whole Green-Lantern - Parallax - Spectre - Back-to-Green-Lantern scenario ultimately served to give Hal some character depth that he previously lacked.
Well, I give Geoff Johns this much: he's a master of turning dog turds into dogturdade. However well Hal may be written now, none of the ET / undoing ET cycle was strictly necessary to creating an interesting Hal. All that was required was putting a good writer on GL and having an editor who was on the same page. (That writer could well have been Gerard Jones, but his battles with his editor(s) are both legendary and tragic, and I think it especially shows in the final year or so of his run. Nothing but crossovers, tie-ins, and one-shots that didn't help the title at all.)
@Sally:
Most of the fans didn't mind Cass going to the dark side, they just didn't like how it was implemented. At all.
@Shelly:
The 'bad story' happened after her series got cancelled(T_T), in Beechen's run on Robin.
@Nick:
Exactly! The last time I saw Cass was at the end of 52?
@Anon: Yeah, Robin gave her the antidote to Slade's drug thingie before they clashed with Slade and his Titans.
I never read Emerald Dawn, but Robin OYL which turned Cass "bad" was just an awful story. Of couse I'm biased as a Cass fan, but the story is full of plot holes and totally cheap and predictable.
Anyway, "turning bad" can mean a lot of things. The ending of the Batgirl series actually suggested Cass might turn into a morally grey Punisher-type vigilante. A lot of Batgirl fans would have accepted that.
But Robin OYL blatantly ignored and contradicted the very core of previous characterisation and continuity. I don't want to bore you with the details, but it just made no sense.
Of course we hoped that it would be mind-control or an evil clone or something like that. But DC gave no sign whatsoever that something might not be as it seemed. And worse, made no announcement whether the story might someday in a few years maybe continued or not.
Since the Batgirl series had been cancelled and the new Batwoman just been introduced, there was (and is) good reason that DC might want to throw this character to the trash, or turn her into a cheap villain.
We got an explanation, sorta, that she was in fact mind controlled, in Teen Titans, but there are so many contradictions and story elements that don't fit (even worse in the Supergirl appearance) that it really doesn't look like a hidden masterplan, more like make it up as you go along.
And the current situation is that she has disappeared into limbo again, maybe reformed, maybe not, with no announcement of another appearance, or indication someone at DC cares.
So I think it's easy to see why Batgirl fans have every reason to be pissed off.
Unless you want to play the game "my character is more important than yours, who cares what happens to your loser..."
Actually you just officially became the straw that broke the camel's back: I finally did what I considered doing for a long time...
I started my own blog.
(Yes, I can hear everybody yawning.)
More about my view of Batgirl there!
Congratulations Elias! Come on over to the Dark Side!
Seriously, it is annoying to have one of your favorite characters mishandled. Or killed. (Oh Ted!)
However, sooner or later, something will happen, they'll get a new writer, a new story, a resurrection...SOMETHING will happen.
Thanks! :)
And I hope your right.
I also wish Ted would return...
(I am currently reading "Formerly known as the Justice League" for the 10th time or so.)
Hey, at least Booster's trying to bring Ted back.
He MIGHT have a shot.
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