Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand Perfectly Reinvents the top Batgirl (Review)

Origin stories are an essential part of superhero comics. Heroes and villains alike live or die based on their character and what fuels them. Batman wouldn’t be half as interesting without his parents’ death being his driving force, for example. Origin stories have to act as a thesis statement for who a character is and what they stand for. With that said, they’re very hard to write, as so much can go wrong with conveying the entirety of a character within such a small package. However, as hard as they are to write, it’s ten times harder to rework an origin story that is already incredible.

Yet, the Absolute Universe has done exactly that countless times now. This darker, grittier world has reimagined DC’s classic heroes and villains in all-new ways, and sometimes, new roles. In the main universe, Cassandra Cain is the second Batgirl and a hero who rose above her violent past to become one of the most compassionate people in the world. In the Absolute Universe, she’s an assassin intent on stealing a powerful artifact. Now, after months of wondering, Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand #1 gives us the Absolute answers we’ve been waiting for. Her origin has been completely reimagined, and, just like this universe has proved, it knows how to adapt those like a champion.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

An Assassin With a Kind Heart

This one-shot took us through Cass’s life. It started with a retelling of how the Joker trained under Shiva in the League of Assassins, only to slaughter them all when she denied him control. Only seven of the League’s elite survived, and David Cain wanted to raise Cass with a quiet life, but she lost that chance when an explosion robbed her of her voice at age twelve. From there, Lady Shiva raised her to be the world’s greatest fighter. She spent every waking hour beating cruelty into Cass as she rebuilt the League. Yet, Cass never let her mother’s hate or her father’s fear define her. In the end, she defeated her mother and chose mercy, agreeing to create a better League, a League of Shadows, together.

At her core, Cass is a character who embodies empathy. Her body-reading skills let her intimately understand the pain others feel in a way that no one else can, and so she chooses to help and protect others. Even in the Absolute Universe, with even less positive influence than her original counterpart, Cass refuses to let violence or hate trump her empathy. This Cass is very different, clearly, but this new origin captures those themes perfectly. Cass is the girl who will break into a monster’s prison and fight a horde of the dead to save someone she never met. It’s a near-perfect thesis on who she is.

My only complaints, and the only thing keeping me from giving it five stars, aren’t actually in this one-shot, but in how it connects to Absolute Catwoman. See, in this issue, Cass is the epitome of mercy and wants to change the League to be something more, but in Selina’s series, she’s a remorseless assassin who slaughters anyone who keeps her from her goals. It feels like there’s a weird disconnect between the two depictions of Cass. Granted, she hasn’t directly killed anyone, assuming the car pile-up in issue #1 was non-fatal, but her associates definitely have. I find it hard to connect the merciful, empathetic Cass who hates violence here with the hardened killer in Catwoman, but perhaps we’ll learn more about why that is in time.

A Raw Depiction of Violence and Pain

Matías Bergara is the resident artist for this one-shot, and I cannot think of someone whose style would fit it better. Cass’s journey through this comic is filled to the brim with raw pain and violence, told as much through visuals as it is words. This comic does not shy away from bloody violence, and from the first page on, you can feel every blow and cut like they were hopping out of the page. His depiction of the Joker makes him feel like every bit the demon that he is in the story, and is genuinely the most terrifying he’s been thus far. Given that we’ve seen him eat a man and inject orphan blood directly into his veins, that’s saying a lot. Every bruise is earned in this comic, and every time Cass takes a hit or dishes back it is a feast for the senses.

As great as the punchiness is, the real masterwork is in the subtle details. Cass doesn’t speak up against her mother until the end, but every time Shiva cuts someone down or punishes them, you can see the twinges of regret and compassion on Cass’s face and in the way she moves. Every character is equally as expressive, even right down to Shiva’s stoic solidness, which gives way to reveal the terror the Joker instilled in her heart. Of course, we can’t talk about the art without acknowledging how awesome the black-and-white section is when Cass is blindfolded. It’s some of the best stylized action on the shelves, and the cut to the pink of the sunset as they reconcile is beyond incredible.

Overall, this is the one-shot to grab for this month, and might just be my top pick overall. Cass’s story is revamped without losing the core of her character, which is exactly where the Absolute Universe shines the most. I cannot wait to see more of her, wherever she goes next.

Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand #1 is on sale now!