I wish I could remember what issue of Batgirl this was.
But here’s Cass being her wonderful self.
This is from Batgirl: Secret Files & Origins. It came out in 2002, which I think would’ve been about a year (or maybe two) into her ongoing Batgirl title.
It was the very first bat-comic I ever bought and read, my introduction to the DCU, and it’s still one of my very favourite comics ever. It’s a simple origin story paired with a story demonstrating what the origin tells us about Cass as a character.
She believes in redemption, she believes in helping people, even those who’ve done bad things or who’ve never known good in their lives. And she’s amazingly badass, strong, and talented. I absorbed this comic and just wanted to drop everything and be her.
Phil Noto’s clean, beautiful, and accessible illustration in this story is something I’m so grateful I had when reading this comic.
This comic introduced me to the concept of Batgirl. This comic defines Batgirl for me.
(It also introduced me to Barbara Gordon as Oracle. The comic has little profile pages for the main characters in the Batgirl title at the time, and Oracle just looked so cool, 17-year-old me reading it really wanted to copy her haircut, haha.)
