Sarah Kuhn

Cassandra Cain is the daughter of super-villains and a living weapon trained to be the ultimate assassin, but when her father threatens the world she has grown to love, she will have to overcome that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero.

Shadow of the Batgirl

Sarah Sammis

Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn and Nicole Goux is a graphic novel origin story for Cassandra Cain as Bat Girl. It begins with her on the street, having slipped away from her father. She leaves a man for dead who asks her to think about his daughter. The idea that a father could love his daughter forces her to rethink her limited understanding of the world.

Cassandra is befriended first by Jackie who runs a ramen shop. After a month in shelter in place, Nicole Goux's rendering of this fictional ramen is mouth-watering. In any normal year I'd go out for some right now. But I can't.

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Mythos

3/5 stars 

I have mixed feelings about this comic. While I love how they focused on Cassandra's relationship with Barbara, there were other components that weren't as good. This is not one of my favorite backstories that was given to Cassandra, but it does keep some of the same components as other origin stories have. This story does a good job of showing her guilt and how she evolves from it. Although I hate how her mutism is fixed rather easily, almost as if it were glossed over. I also thought it was weird how they omitted showing a lot of transition scenes of Barbara using her wheelchair (this is just something I noticed, not really a problem). Other than that, I really liked how they also focused on her developing relationship with Jackie, who acted like her mother. It was a rather interesting and sweet story otherwise. It's good for a quick read that can help you understand Cassandra's character better.

Shareca

Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn, Nicole Goux, Cris Peter, Janice Chiang, and Saida Temofonte is quite a treat for anyone in middle school or a young adolescent. The story of Batgirl may be as lore as most are aware of, but middle schoolers don't always have the ability to know about these heroes because of the topics they bring up. 

The original Batman series isn't suitable for someone at the age of 10, so all of these books under DC are classicly written for the middle school demographic. What this graphic novel does incredibly well is showcasing the story of Batgirl while also using incredible art, lettering, and colors. The colors are incredible and suitable for the younger audience. If you want to get your niece, son/daughter, any young person in your life a graphic novel to start their collection, this is the one. Alongside the other releases from last year: Batman and Catwoman. This fits in perfectly.

laura

* I got this book for review for the publisher for my honest thoughts*

I really loved this read and its take on cassandra cain an batgirl. I also really loved the art style that was created for this graphic novel. I also loved how this graphic novel focused on found family, assisan life. I also like exploring the the batgirl myth. That standout to me was the found fnaimy element and I will def check out more volumes of this series in the future. I really liked her as a character.

Becca Futrell

Thank you to DC Ink & NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Shadow of the Batgirl in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Batman universe but always felt that Cassandra didn’t have enough content. Most people know of Barbara Gordon — but not as many know of my favorite Batgirls, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. As much as I’m hoping that a YA author will come & give me a new Stephanie Brown story, I am very content with Shadow of the Batgirl.

In Shadow of the Batgirl, we start off hearing Cassandra Cain hearing the word ‘daughter’ uttered by her opponent. Our protagonist was never taught reading or words, yet she knew that word meant something. In this entire tale, Cassandra is learning who she is and that she has a choice to be who she wants.

Throughout Cassandra’s adventure, she finds herself making new friends and creating a new family. This is my personal favorite aspect of Shadow of the Batgirl. Our hero went from having a manipulative villainous father who used her as a weapon to having two supportive friends, Barbara Gordon and Jackie. Plus! She meets her romantic interest in the library, and he teaches her about passion through his romance book club! Seriously, how cute!

At times, Cassandra fears that it’d be impossible for her to change and that she’ll always be her father’s daughter. Shadow of the Batgirl teaches Cassandra, along with us, that we have a choice and that we don’t have to take the path that’s expected of us. We are the ones in control of ourselves.

Of course, there’s no graphic novel without graphics. I loved Nicole Goux’s artwork throughout this read; from the color scheme to the character’s expressions. Her art style pairs perfectly with the Batman universe.

All-in-all, Shadow of the Batgirl is a book that I’d recommend to those who love graphic novels, superheroes, and stories on being true to yourself.

Solange Bello

I received an advanced copy of this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review 

Shadow of the Batgirl was a lot cuter than I was expecting it to be, which is not necessarily a bad thing! 
It's targeted towards young adults and I felt like it was a very juvenile take on Cassandra Cain. 

I'm assuming she's about 15? maybe 16? and If I was that age now I would have been obsessed with this! 
The art was fun and cute, different from the other DC YA graphic novels but it still fits in well with the others. 

Her character development was obvious and well planned out for a comic, and I love that it still had fighting and action without being as brutal as regular comics. I would definitely buy all these for my nephew. 

This one has to be one of my favorites form the Ya graphic novels and of course I love the tiny snippets of Barbara Gordon/ Oracle and Gotham city. 

This was a super fun read and I flew through it in one sitting I would definitely recommend to older and younger readers alike!

Cassandra Cain, teenage assassin, isn't exactly Batgirl material...not yet, at least. But with Batgirl missing from Gotham City, can Cassandra defy her destiny and take on a heroic mantle of her very own? She'll have to go through an identity crisis of epic proportions to find out. After a soul-shattering moment that sends Cass reeling, she'll attempt to answer this question the only way she knows how: learning everything she possibly can about her favorite hero-Batgirl. But Batgirl hasn't been seen in Gotham for years, and when Cass's father threatens the world she has grown to love, she'll have to step out of the shadows and overcome her greatest obstacle-that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero. Sarah Kuhn, author of Heroine Complex and I Love You So Mochi, takes on one of her favorite heroes for a new audience of readers. Featuring the edgy art style of Nicole Goux, Shadow of the Batgirl tells the harrowing story of a girl who overcomes the odds to find her unique identity.

Shadow of the Batgirl

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