Batgirl Rant

Robin #150
Written by Adam Beechen
Art by Freddie Williams II
Cover by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins

While the cover of this issue may have been too cool for school, the insides of this book are not. But first, I should tell what I liked about it. I liked Beechen's writing of Tim Drake, when he says he did geometry for eleven hours I smiled. This is a dedicated crime fighter, unlike Dick or Jason were, Tim is Batman Jr. He really could be Batman one day, he is driven enough. Other than that, I was appalled by this issue. Now this was not Beechen's fault, I am sure what made this story bad was an editorial mandate. Cassandra Cain has gone bonkers, so bonkers that she is totally out of character. For 73 issues of her solo series, we saw a girl who although trained to kill, she turned her back on that life and grew into a person to be admired. Why destroy that? There is no reason. Cassandra from her series would never become a killer or for that matter, talk like she talks in this issue. Cassandra was a shy girl, not this monster she has become. I would much rather have Cassandra dead than turn into a villain. It is a more hainous comic book crime than Hal Jordan going Rogue as one of the most important aspect of Cassandra's character was her devotion to not killing. I only hope that the next issue we find out things are not as they seem and maybe just maybe Cassandra has not become a villain. God, I hope so.