Corrina Lawson, senior editor of the GeekMom blog at Wired.com, recently write a tribute to Cass at CriminalElement.com. It's a short and sweet overview of Cass's comic book career and hits all the high points-- first Batgirl to have her own series, her unlikely friendship with Stephanie Brown, the unfortunate heel turn, her stint as Black Bat and, of course, her disappearance from the DC universe narrative. Lawson refers to Cass as the "forgotten Batgirl." I mean, it's right there in the essay's title!
Yeah. Preach on, Ms. Lawson! We could make a case for Steph Brown also being a forgotten Batgirl. Arguably, Steph received a rawer deal from DC. As much as various writers twisted poor Cass all around at least she had a 73-issue run on her own title, plus various appearances in other books. Even a co-starring role with Dark Horse's Ghost in a mini-series. Steph's Batgirl book had barely gotten off the ground when DC destroyed... er... altered its continuity into what we call the "New 52," a continuity in which neither Steph nor Cass seem to exist.
Well, that still leaves Cass as a forgotten Batgirl. There's not a DC character who remembers her. Not even that one guy who was left at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths screaming from his padded cell about worlds dying! Worlds living!
Or whatever it was he was on about. You'd think in all the crises since then whoever that guy was-- Calendar Man? Grant Morrison?-- would still remember the way things were. And Cass.
To Ms. Lawson I say, "Thanks for writing about Cass!" And, "Don't worry! I won't forget her!" After all, I have this blog devoted to keeping Cass alive. And there are a few others, too. We'll keep banging away on our keyboards until someone puts Cass in a story again. And then we'll bang away about that, too.
I thought it was Psycho Pirate, but I'm not sure. I find Crisis on Infinite Earths very confusing.
ReplyDeleteI like seeing tributes like this that show people are still thinking of her.
Oh yeah, you're right! Psycho Pirate. And I agree about these kinds of tributes. They're always cool.
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