Cassandra Cain comes back... as a Black Bat chess piece!

Being in Japan, I don't hear about these things until after everyone else so I'm like little brother, always tagging along, towing my little Radio Flyer wagon filled with dog-eared Batgirl trade paperbacks and wrinkled up comic books. So while I really don't want Cass-O-Rama to become some kind of aggregator site where I'm just compiling links to other people's blog entries and Tumblr posts about Cassandra Cain, sometimes it can't be helped.

So here we are, reacting rather late to the Eaglemoss Black Bat white pawn (#028 in the set), with a release date of March 2013 (just in time for my birthday, hint hint).  Retailing for a mere $15.99 and currently available for pre-order.  If I wasn't posting this from work I'd have snagged a photo to show it off and make this post prettier. It's a nice little piece and quite a surprise considering Cass's status as persona non grata at DC Comics.  She's got her fly-away hair, pointy domino mask, a serious but somewhat bland expression, her white forearm wraps the purpose of which eludes me and she's double-fisting some dangerous-looking batarangs so you know she's open for business.  The sculptor has given her a muscular, not-too-exaggerated physique.  That in itself is a minor miracle.

There's such a paucity of Cass-related merchandise out there-- as far as I know it consists of one incredibly ugly action figure from DC Direct, another half-assed one from Mattel, plus a Hero Clix piece, an Ame-Comi statue and an all-but-impossible-to-find teensy-tiny figure from a Batman blind-box collection here in Japan-- so this is a welcome treat for this Cass fan, and if I may be so bold, for all Cass fans.  All twenty or so of us.

 Who would've thought it? They must have been too far along in the production process to cancel it when all the buzz about Cass and Stephanie Brown being toxic started making the Internet rounds. And of course, there may still be time for someone high up at DC to buy them all and destroy them before they fall into the hands of anyone who might appreciate having a small memorial of Cass's last costumed identity. Indeed, of her very existence before they blotted her out.

Of course we have to address the elephant in the room-- apparently the set originally included Barbara Gordon as Oracle and what was possibly Stephanie Brown as Batgirl.  Those are out, but Barbara is back in as the current Batgirl.  No surprise there.  Sorry Oracle and Steph fans.  There's even less Steph merchandise out there than there is for Cass.

With #012 in the set being a rather bad-ass looking Katana, I'm going to try to get both of them and also #03 Damian Wayne Robin so I can pretend the two of them are kicking the crap out of that little snot.