I'm moving this blog to Tumblr...

I've got it all set up.  I've done this because there are a lot of Cass/DC Comics fans tumbling all over Tumblr.  Time to migrate there and join the multitudes and tumble along.  Blogger or BlogSpot is still a wonderful place and I've enjoyed my time here (and resisted the change for the longest time out of loyalty to the platform), but Tumblr is more active and it's easier to post art-heavy entries there and engage other people's Cass commentary.  Please join me there where I'll be joining YOU!

Cass thinks Batman has lost his mind!

I have a great deal of difficulty drawing "straight" superhero adventure stuff.  As much as I love Cass the character, I can't help but put her in ridiculous situations to explore her potential for comedy.  Even though I prefer DC's official version to feature in dark stories (as opposed to cute ones), her straightforward, no-nonsense attitude and taciturn demeanor (at least she's supposed to be taciturn, even after she learns to talk) and her unpredictability all mean she makes a wonderful comedic foil for other costumed people.  Especially ones who are her personality or skill-level opposites.  The contrast can make comedy gold.

I don't see her as telling jokes or playing the clown so much as causing other people to do so.  She herself is far too serious for that nonsense.  The other characters can gab it up and try to banter, but then Cass will glower or frown and wordlessly cut through the nonsense to make them look foolish or to punctuate a joke, or do it with some abrupt and scene-stealing action like knocking someone out without warning or leaping off a building. 

Also, slapstick is her forte.  As in, she might slap you with a stick.

This may be the first time I've ever drawn Stephanie Brown...

Maybe.  Maybe not.  I decided it was time to draw something pleasant.  Steph's having a blast, Cass is putting on a front.  Later they'll go out and beat up some thugs or do some reconnaissance work for Oracle or Batman, but for now they're just hanging out.

Batgirl #1: Futures End... and there she is!

Well, there's (for the most part) the Cass we all know and love.  In Batgirl #1: Futures End, written by Gail Simone and drawn by Javier Garron, we find a very Batman Begins/The Dark Knight Rises-style story unfolding that takes place 5 years later in the current New 52 narrative.  I don't want to spoil the main thrust of the book (which I found effectively shocking and then moving in the way it's meant to be), but since everyone has already seen the preview art showing a team of younger Batgirls-- which a number of Cass and Stephanie Brown fans have clamored for over the past few years-- I feel it's safe to at least show you this.  Which you've no doubt seen.  I'm not a regular New 52 buyer or even an occasional one at this point, and I rarely if ever keep up with anything that goes on at DC due to the absence of the person this blog is all about.

When I do look into anything at DC, it's either old stuff or I'm doing a Google search for "cassandra cain."  That's the extent of my involvement.  But a comment here piqued my curiosity, as did that preview so I took a chance.

And there's Cass.  Also Stephanie Brown and Tiffany Fox.  We know this because they use their names, and this time we get several Cassandras and Casses.  Note, however, we don't get a single Cain.  This cagily leaves open the New 52 Cass' origins.  It's unlikely she has the exact same background as the original Cass (but I'm frequently wrong in my guesses), but Gail Simone peppers the dialogue with a few hints many of the important things remain.  You have to read it to understand what I'm talking about.

We may not see Cass again for a long time after this Futures End stuff winds up (haven't the faintest idea what their plan is; I take my DC one Cass at a time), but a team of these three Batgirls makes for a little lighter, more enjoyable fare than a lot of the stuff I've seen that put me off so much of DC's current product.  Simone gives each Batgirl her own distinct voice, works some chemistry magic between them all.  And if you're more of a Steph person, I think you'll dig this even more than this Cass fan did.  I'm not jumping up and down screaming, "SHE'S BACK SHE'S BACK SHE'S BACK!"  Not yet, anyway.  But I did pay 3 bucks for this and that should tell you a lot.

That's right-- I'm recommending you read a New 52 book rather than just go back and read the original Cass series.  I feel confident the rest of you Cass fans will enjoy this (but please also read the original Cass series if you haven't and prevent her fade into obscurity).  I never thought there would come a day.

A bit more on that imposter Black Bat from Batwing #1...

I read a few comments about this to the effect of, "Well, maybe the artist slipped Cass in and some editor or higher-up at DC said the colorist had to change things so it wouldn't be her."  This has happened before. 

Artists do slip in little background jokes, parodies and commentary.  Some see print and we get a laugh, or else they become infamous, such as the ones that are insults or criticisms aimed at other companies or professionals.  Sometimes the legal department gets into the act when some extra in a scene violates another company's trademarks or other touchy issues that might lead to cease-and-desist or litigation.  Or a well-meaning artist drops in a small tribute to a beloved character without first clearing it with the company.  For whatever reason when the people involved deem a character's appearance inappropriate, the word comes down to modify the art.  Some lines added here, some subtracted there, one or two colors swapped for one or two others.

That's certainly a possibility here.  The artist drew Black Bat Cass and DC balked and said, "Bleach her hair and add some purple or something on there to make her look at least a little different." 

On the other hand, there's a difference between some small background element or dialogue-less extra in a crowd scene and a character with some word balloons attached who appears in multiple scenes.  If you have a character talking and interacting with other characters, more hands have touched the material beforehand.  Meetings or at least emails between editors and writers, writers and artists and all that kind of collaborative jazz.  Character design sheets passed back and forth. 

No one's working in a vacuum here and it's not as if the writer and artist simply get together at Starbucks, make a comic and then mail it off to the publisher with a note saying, "SURPRISE!"  At least I don't think they make comics that way.  That would be a very cost ineffective way for a Time-Warner company to work, especially in these days of corporate narrative control with all these planned crossover events and whatnot.  You might get something that completely doesn't fit and have an entire domino-effect set of changes throughout the line, wasting time and money.

I could be wrong-- I have been before-- and I don't mean to suggest an anti-Cass conspiracy or any kind of insidious intent.  I think it's more likely this is meant to be a Black Bat that's not Cass.  Or, if it's meant to be the return of Cass herself, it's simply been botched.  Which would make me sad because I'd love for her to make a triumphant return in a recognizable form rather than have us stuck with a Cass who is about as un-Cass-like as any of those latter Cass Cains that got us into this mess in the first place.  Because I don't see any form of Cass going from silent fighter to dyed-hair chatterbox in a mere five years.  This new character could turn out to be plenty cool in her own right, or she might be a one-off they kill at some point and we never see her again.  Either way, she's just not Cass.

And one or two have mentioned that the purple costume elements and the character's dialogue remind them of Stephanie Brown.  I don't know.  I'm not reading these things because there's no Cass, but I could see a future scenario where Steph takes up the Black Bat costume rather than Cass, especially if there's no Cass and never has been one.  After all, Steph took the Batgirl costume post-Cass.  If the DC universe needs a Black Bat (and that's debatable), then Steph would be the most logical choice for filling that role at some point in her crime-fighting career.  I think this is a pretty neat idea, but I also don't think this character looks that much like Steph, at least none of the pre-New 52 images of her with which I'm familiar.

Anyway, I'm about as far out of the loop as anyone can be, so it could be all these points have been addressed within the story or some interview and I'm as wrong as can be about all of it.  That's cool.  For the record, as one of those vocal Cass fans you hear so much about on the television news, I'm not angry about any of this.  I'm not out 2.99.  Not picking a fight.  I'm just happy to have something Cass-related to think about way out here in space.  Although drawing endless Cass sketches is fun as well.

Yet another Cass Cain drawing by me...

No mask, bad perspective on her belt pouches, poorly drawn cape. It started out just fine, so lovely, but I went crazy and over-worked it and lost the form. The belt pouches were just wrong right from the start. I kind of like her intense facial expression, though, and the overall line quality.

Wish I had some Cass news for you. Of course she got her obligatory mention at a recent DC panel. It followed the usual script. A fan asked about Cass-- which may now be the DC panel equivalent of the old "FREE BIRD!" joke rather than sincere interest (I don't claim I'm the first to wonder about this, either)-- and a DC staffer responded noncommittally. And I didn't bother to post any of those "she's coming back" rumors from a few months ago because I didn't give them any credence from the start. Hence nothing much going on.

  I should probably get back to writing issue-by-issue reviews of her series, but it's easier just to draw or sketch Cass. I've got about 10 more Cass drawings in various stages of development from the initial sketch concepts to rough pencils to partially inked and I'll be posting them as I finish them!

Oh... I have this vague idea for a couple of pages of Cass action. I've drawn portraits, fake covers and pin-up style pieces but I've never really done anything sequential with Cass other than a few thumbnailed pages of this Cass and Supergirl go to Apokolips idea I had a while back. That turned into a marker sketch of Cass fighting a generic Female Fury (multiple versions, none exactly finished) and a 1970s-style Supergirl versus Darkseid image (more or less a "semi-comp" rather than a completed piece). Lately I've been toying with this short fight sequence where Cass takes apart a small group of armed thugs on a Gotham City rooftop. Pretty clichéd idea, I admit.

Cassandra Cain Batgirl versus Mikey from "Teen-Age Strangler"

 

This is the masked version.  I'm not just a comic book fan.  I also love Mystery Science Theater 3000, and one of my favorite episodes was the one where Mike and the bots demolished Teen-Age Strangler.  As the movie's most memorable and fascinating character, Mikey bears the brunt of most of the wisecracks.  I'd already drawn him for kicks, and I didn't want to let the image go to waste.  Plus, I had a strong desire to draw something in one-point perspective.  I drew this within a comic book-sized box and left room at the top for a logo and all that good stuff, as if this were the cover of an actual comic.

 

Continuing with the comic cover mock-up them, here's an unmasked "variant."

 

 

Mikey plays himself, but a popular Japanese singer-actor plays Cass because why not?  This thing is already so silly it could hardly be made sillier.  Unless it's by coloring it, which I may do over the weekend.  Or you can, if you like.

At least one person thinks Cass is coming back in Batman: Eternal #9 (June 2014)

And I agree.  I agree there's a ghost of a chance there's a smidgen of a slight possibility that it could be a thing that may or may not happen.  I'd be glad.  It would mean I have to buy a Nu-52 DC comic, which is something I stopped doing after Katana #8.

Checking out Eternal artist Guillem March's art on his blog.  Wow, he's been around practically forever, but I'm so out of the DC fan loop, I'd never even heard of this guy.  Damn, I quite like it, though!  I love the line quality and the way he handles dramatic lighting and figure construction.  He knows how to twist bodies, doesn't he?  Lots of energy in the rendering and lots of life.  Little bit of Kaluta, little bit of Kubert, little Buscema, little Wrightson, little Bissette/Totleben.  There's a kind of classic quality to what I'm seeing there, like he could have done a few covers for The Witching Hour back in the 70s.  I love comic book drawings that look like drawings rather than super-slick fashion magazine photos.  This guy definitely needs to draw Cass.

But whether or not he is or already has... that is the question, isn't it?

"BATSUIT" - Batman Music Video feat. BATMAN, Nightwing, Catwoman from "J...

Okay, wow! I have to admit this isn't what I expected when I got a comment asking me to check it out and post it here. I thought it was going to be one of those videos with images from the comics set to some melancholy emo tune (wait, is there another kind of emo tune?). Or a fan film with more enthusiasm than skill in the execution. I'm in favor of both of those things, actually. Instead, it turns out to be a slick music video with some surprisingly well-executed fight choreography to go with the beats, plus some excellent cosplay.

 The catchy song is one of those "come on" songs, which is a traditional theme in pop music. "Let's Do It" by Cole Porter may edit itself by making the "do it" refer to falling in love, but you know what you're supposed to think it means during the lines about birds, bees and educated fleas. These days, we can be more explicit and this song's lyrics make no bones (hee hee) about the singer Jennifer Zhang's passion for Batman's body.

And I'm completely cool with that, as well, although someone appears to disagree with Zhang's spy-flick flirting methods about halfway through. Give it a watch and find out who it is. Here's a spoiler-- it isn't Spoiler.

Cass Cain Batgirl ink wash sketch...

I did this yesterday.  It's Cass as Batgirl, surrounded by a bunch of faces.  Who are the people in the faces?  Some are characters from my imagination, some are characters created by others.  This isn't the best drawing I've ever done, which is obvious.  I can't even say it's a particularly good drawing by any standard.  Cass is kind of anatomically disproportioned and I put about three different light sources on her face because I was playing around.  But I like this drawing because I learned something valuable from it.  Something exciting!

Meet Cass Cain, the lovely show goat!

Madeleine M., one of the truest Cass-fans there is, named a show goat after our favorite Batgirl/Black Bat.  Now what I don't know about show goats-- or goats in general-- could fill several Earth-1s and Earth-2s out there in the DC multiverse, but I think that's one adorable goat.  She's even an appropriate color, with what looks almost like half a Bat-symbol in white on the left side of her chest!

Which leads me to wonder if anyone else has named an animal or even a child after Cass.  I mean, Nicholas Cage named his kid Kal-El and there must be a few Anakins running around out there.  So, any Casses?  Any Cassandra Cains?

Anyway, a big thank you to Madeleine M. for all the support!