Adoptive Amazon, part 2 (Earning the Togs)

[bluefall]

Seems only right to start my posting at S_D 3.0 with a new World of Wondy post (well, actually, not a new World of Wondy post, but one not currently online, at any rate), so let's get back into the history of the second Wonder Girl, shall we?

Last time around, which was, I admit, kind of a million years ago, Cassie muscled her way into powers and the beginning of a heroic career through sheer idealistic pluck, and Diana was proud of her and strongly supported training her as an amazon, though her mom was not especially fond. This time, Cassie completes the process by losing a mentor and acquiring a rogue, as we finish out Byrne and Cassie officially becomes Wonder Girl.




By the by, if this chapter is choppy or tricky to follow, I apologize. I've done my best to crop, clean and clarify, but Byrne's got about six billion irons in the fire here and it can get messy and abrupt trying to isolate just the relevant Cassie stuff, particularly when working around the page limit.

Anyway, we begin just after the return from Olympus where Cassie got her powers; Diana, Cassie, and Helena are visiting Jason "Etrigan's Host" Blood and his friend Randu when Artemis (currently part of a demon-hunting organization) busts in through the window and attacks Jason. Diana moves to protect him.



The spell that connects Artemis and Diana is screwing with Diana something fierce and Artemis pretty much kicks Diana's ass, so naturally Cassie moves to get involved.



Randu chants the "gone, gone, form of man" rhyme, removing Jason from play in exchange for Etrigan, who knocks the fight out onto the street and confuses things further.



See, now I would be flipping out with sheer joy just to not be dead, but Cassie actually seems most excited that she saved Artemis, here. It's not that she can fly, it's that her ability to fly allows her to save the life of some random nutcase who just attacked her friend.

Anyway, more fighting ensues, Diana still off-balance enough that Artemis gets a chance for another try at a killing blow.



Dude, ow. Poor Artemis never gets no respect.





I tend to agree with Cassie that Diana's being weird here because of the spell - this is just too inconsistent with her reaction after the fake!Doomsday fight otherwise. But more important than Diana here is Cassie's reaction *to* her. The desire to help is Cassie's driving character trait thus far, but even that's not more important than doing what Diana asks her to; even with good reason to think Diana's not in her right mind and evidence that Diana is losing, it still takes her a couple panels to justify disobeying and overcome her instinctive reaction to stay put and do what she's told. Very unlike her relationship with her mother, innit?

The offscreen hand, by the way, is Neron, who sucks them all down into Hell and chucks them in cages, just because.



Cassie is, as ever, impressively sanguine in the face of weirdness and danger - even when she has every reason not to be, after Neron takes Diana and Helena elsewhere to be tortured and leaves Cassie alone with Artemis.







Despite her complaining, Cassie's perfectly willing to do what she can to save them all even when that means she herself gets left behind, which speaks well of her.

The guy talking to her offpanel is Merlin, also a prisoner, who convinces her that Neron didn't steal either her powers or Diana's, he's just, y'know, lying. So Cassie busts out of her cage to go try and rescue Diana, and it's a decent showing, but not particularly important, since Neron kills Diana anyway before booting them all back to the normal world - more on that elsewhere, as it doesn't really concern us now. What's important is what comes after: Diana's people taking Diana's comatose but perfectly healthy body to a hospital, where they all keep a miserable vigil with no idea what to do to try to wake her up.



Aw, she's such a good kid.

Unfortunately, elsewhere in the hospital...



(Everyone's depressed because of the Genesis crossover. [That's a more meta statement than it appears.] Pay no mind, it's really irrelevant.)



Heh. And that, my friends, is our first look at poor Dr. Doris Zeul, later to be known as Giganta, perhaps the most well-known of Diana's rogues and one of the least interesting and least-respected black hats in the DCU. Poor Doris. batcookies has some fun rants on that topic, which I hope to see more of someday. Meanwhile, though, we're here for Cassie, so...





Diana's posse go tearing around looking for her, and Cassie, Polly on her heels, finds Zeul's lab off in some quiet corner of the hospital.



They tear down the doors and interrupt the experiment, but not in time to save Diana, who gives up the last ghost of life there on the table.



The autopsy, of course, is prevented by the fact that Hera shows up and transfigures Diana. So... Diana's dead. But she's a goddess now, so it's not like she's exactly dead dead, but it's not like she's around, so... well, Cassie's not entirely sure what to feel.



Georgia has called them all together to deal with Egg Fu, but there's nothing particularly significant for Cassie in that subplot, so let's skip over it, and consider instead the problem of Helena Sandsmark, Cassie's mother, and not incidentally, Jason Blood's girlfriend, missing since issue 127.





Temi's solution is to drag him along with them, of course. But man, Mike really is just in a perpetual state of "needs a good smack," isn't he?

So off they go to Jason's apartment, where they run into a talking pillow which claims to be Jason's best friend.





Cassie still needs some training, methinks. On the other hand, again, note that Artemis tells her to keep back and she does. She doesn't always know what she should be doing, but she does have a very good sense of who she should listen to and when.



The pillow demon is apparently not as much help as they'd hoped, though, since all they do next is hoof it to England to check out the hotel where Helena was supposed to be staying, which you'd imagine would be their next move anyway.





I really don't think Byrne quite gets the Bana.



Naturally, this leads nowhere good.



Tortured female heroes really is kind of a trend with Byrne, isn't it?



Exposition on Morgaine and Etrigan follows, but none of it is remotely important and much of it is stupid and subsequently ignored retcon, so we'll just skip to the good part:



Woo Cassie!



Er. Or not. Good effort, though!

Actually what impresses me the most here is that Cassie is somehow not at all traumatized by seeing her mother in that outfit. Now that is heroic.



And we're done with Cassie again for this storyline; Midlife!Merlin takes them all down to hell to fight Old!Merlin and le Fay and Neron, where they meet up with Donna and Polly and Jay Garrick, and Donna gets killed, and all kinds of other complicated crap that doesn't matter happens. Point is, Cassie escaped Hell (good practice for later escaping Hades and Apokolips; the amount of time she's spent in various versions of the place, maybe it's no wonder she went a little crazy), and helped resolve her mother's kidnapping and possession. End result, they all end up back home in Gateway.

Meanwhile, at the hospital from so long ago:











Hee. I love how much fun she's having.









After she threw him off the roof? Probably not.

So Cassie's thwarted her very first bad guy all on her own (well, except for that save by Mike, but he's a civilian and a douchebag and doesn't count). And what's the only appropriate response to something like that?



So there you go: Wonder Girl, as established by Byrne. She still doesn't really know what she's doing (I cut several hilarious panels of Artemis in Hell physically restraining Cassie by the ankle so she couldn't fly in and punch stuff when stealth was called for instead), and her toolbox for problem-solving is still pretty small, but she's aware of her inexperience and she knows who to listen to in order to learn. She's absolutely devoted to Diana and has no small admiration for other amazons as well, and she loves being a hero, but not so much that she can't be practical or serious about serious situations or leave the fun to others when necessary. She's calm and intelligent even when the danger is personal and her loved ones are on the line. In short, she's just about everything you could want in a new legacy hero. And her mentors seem to agree, offering her support, training and the validation of Donna's old uniform - though of course Helena's still not down with any of this, which will leave us room for lots of fun over the course of YOUNG JUSTICE.

Scans from Wondy v2, 123-136ish.

Next time: Cassie makes some new friends, and her mom gets into a cake fight.

Comments

[From: angelophile]

Whatever happened to this character? Can she be found in any current comics?

[From: bluefall]

Whatever happened to this character?

Geoff Johns.

Can she be found in any current comics?

There were a few vanishingly brief moments by McKeever right after the whole "purge the lasso of Ares' influence" thing that seemed an eensy bit promising. And, like, a couple seconds under Gail's pen during the Genocide business.

But basically no.

[From: iskander]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

"Whatever happened to this character?

Geoff Johns."



That is SO well put.

[From: jarodrussell]

Geoff Johns.

Hey, now, that's not fair. This is the guy bringing us Michael Shanks in a Hawkman costume...you need...hehe...be...hah...respectful...BWAHAHAHA! I tried, I really tried.

And, like, a couple seconds under Gail's pen during the Genocide business.

I bet Diana showed her those pictures of Stephanie Brown's autopsy and told her teenagers had no place being heroes.

[From: jaybee3]

"I bet Diana showed her those pictures of Stephanie Brown's autopsy and told her teenagers had no place being heroes."

I know some like Miller's take on Steph, but to me his Babs is all kinds of wrong and doesn't resemble at all the one that appeared in Gail's BoP (did he even read it?).

[From: nevermore999]

yes? She mentioned the autopy photos. Now that's she's seen Steph is serious about heroing and not gonna stop, she's supporting her like she supported Mifit. I don't see how she's "all wrong" (well, at first she was angsty due to left over stuff Miller had to take care of from the Cure mini, but now she seems fine)

[From: bluefall]

Diana's from a culture that doesn't have teenagers and honors death in battle. I wouldn't expect her reactions to compare to those of a woman raised to the idea that children should be coddled and sheltered and that death is wasteful and something to protect them from (and who, unlike Diana, has suffered that waste several times).

[From: jarodrussell]

So you think a cop's daughter...a cop's daughter who so badly wanted to fight injustice she became a vigilante...a cop's daughter who was crippled after retiring as a vigilante but came out of retirement to continue the good fight...would have a lesser noble view of someone who wants to join the fight than Wonder Woman? The facts certainly support your point of view, I just want to be sure I'm reading your reply correctly.

[From: bluefall]

I think an American with serious hangups based on her own experience as a young vigilante would be more protective of a child and disparaging of her ability to contribute than a Themysciran would of what she sees as merely a young woman, yes.

[From: jarodrussell]

Coolio. Just wanted to be sure I grok'd you.

[From: thebigapricot]

My eyes are burning from some of that art. Artemis needs to come back and work with Cassie and make her wear Donna's old uniform. Also Artemis in shorts at a carnival? ♥

[From: bluefall]

Yeah, WW was a low point visually for Byrne. Can't even blame it on the inking or color, since his composition was pretty uninspiring too.

I don't know that Cassie in Donna's uniform would work too well. MinaRho's got a pretty cool take based on the Cathy Lee Crosby Wondy that we could stuff her in, though.

[From: jlbarnett]

she wore it in Sins of Youth. For all people complain about her costume in Teen Titans it's jeans and a shirt. What she normally wears.

[From: queen_marshed]

That pillow demon gives me nightmares. And I'm not sure why. D:

[From: angel_gidget]

Sheesh. Denial all around. As far as I'm concerned, the current Cassie is still this awesome Cassie, just grown up with some wear and tear.

[From: milleniumrex]

She reached her high point as a character in Young Justice, when she had just the right mix of feisty tomboy with confident young Amazon, in my opinion. It was the perfect blend. But I continue to like her in just about any incarnation.

[From: angel_gidget]

I agree it was one of her best times, but I was pretty intrigued by the whole "mortal tether to Ares" thing in Geoff's era.. My only beef with it was that they only got to really explore the expanded powers aspect of things. I'd liked to have seen more of what being his "mortal tether" meant, like she was expected to be his connection to humanity somehow.

[From: jlbarnett]

yeah, I'm pretty much a fan of the current Wonder Girl. My biggest complaint about Teen Titans is how repetitive the book is.

GIP

[From: jarodrussell]

I'm totally making an icon from Artemis lying on that slab. I know it's out of context, but she looks "WTF?" in that panel.

[From: nikeskylark.livejournal.com]

i prefer cassie being a bitch over john byrne's whiny little brat

[From: ladymirth]

Where exactly is Cassie either whiny or bratty here?

[From: jaybee3]

Interesting how Byrne draws Cassie as gawky and not that attractive (which is sometimes how she appeared in YJ IIRC) and now she looks like every other blonde teenage superhero DC has (and it has a lot - yay diversity!) who's gorgeous (along with Supergirl, NewBatgirl, Speedy, etc.).

[From: jarodrussell]

I am seriously asking this, would you count Cassie here as a blond heroine? I know she is blond as Cassie Sandsmark, but when she's Wonder Girl (here, I know that changed after "Sins of Youth") she's a brunette. Does diversity ever count IN costume or only OUT of it?

[From: jaybee3]

That's a good question. Personally hard to say for me. I'm going to go "out of costume". It just seems that so many DC teen females are natural blondes (which per percentage of the real population is very small), especially the ones who are distaff versions of major DC characters (Batman, WW, Superman, Green Arrow). I liked Cassie better when she had the black wig because at least she LOOKED different and one of the reasons I'm not fond of dumping Cass Cain for Stephanie Brown is that DC basically replaced a bi-racial developmentally challenged character with a blonde college student.

[From: jarodrussell]

Thanks for the answer. While I'm partial to blond characters (wearing patriotic colors, tied to a deathtrap, dating the guy who built that deathtrap), I can objectively agree that the sheer number of them borders on the ridiculous.

Also, yes, Cassie was a lot more fun in her wig-days, and, no, I have no love for DC dumping Cass, not even for a blond. Cass was awesome, period.

Thank you again for the answer.

[From: icon_uk]

I think he did draw her as his idea of pretty at that age, and had her dress DOWN as the heroine, inverting the Barbara Gordon/Dinah Drake, which was a nice touch.

[From: halloweenjack]

Cassie is looking a lot like Let's Dance-era Bowie here.

[From: kingrockwell]

I knew there was something she was reminding me of! Though lacking the curly hair, I'm gonna say she looks more like the Thin White Duke-era, only without red dye.

[From: robo_kai]

Thanks for going through all the trouble of reposting (and heartbreakingly trimming due to the new posting restrictions) these, bluefall.

Cassie nabbing Artemis by the ponytail and swinging her around is great. Did anyone ever think to do that to Shatterstar? (It's too bad he doesn't have the ridiculous rat tail anymore just because I'd want to see this happen.)

[From: bluefall]

What I like is that many creative types would have seen that as a statement of some kind - in fact, I think Byrne probably meant it as one, since he followed it up almost immediately by giving Temi a really dramatic haircut - but Luke just grew it right back over the course of his run, and Jimenez went totally nuts with it.

The ponytail of 90s excess defies all attempts to tame or eradicate it. ^_^

[From: jlbarnett]

Except wasn't it reduced to a little thing actually sticking up recently?

Was this posted before or does this seem so familiar because of overlap with When Wondy Was Awesome?

[From: kingrockwell]

During Rucka's run, yeah. A shame, too, because otherwise she looked good under Drew Johnson's pencils. I dunno if she'd been lacking it between, but she's got the pony-tail back, per S6 #11

[From: howeverimprobable]

Cassie is so cute and spunky here, while in comics today I have no love for her at all. Why did she have to stop being interesting and turn into your average superheroine? =/

[From: julian]

I know I said this last time you posted any Byrne, but it just leaps out at me every damn time. Wow, Byrne, so not a fan of backgrounds.

I do much more like slightly geeky tomboy than Polished Blonde, yes. Not that I've read Titans for awhile.

[From: timgueugen]

Someone stated a while back that it was Terry Austin who actually did a lot of the background stuff during their X Men run.

[From: ladymirth]

But didn't Voldy write the cake fight? I frickckin' loved the cake fight.

I'm tired of not being able to post PAD's Young Justice stuff. Maybe we should start an independent scans community exclusively to discuss PAD's work. I don't care if he's The Dark Lord, the man wrote my favourite comic series.

Dude, if I had to see my mother wearing that "Here there be crotches" outfit, I'd have serious PTSD. I hate how Cassie looks like a boy here (or a middle-aged woman) but her character is the one I knew and adored. Damn Geoff Johns for trampling on everyone else's character continuity for his own agenda. All that wealth of sub-plot he could have incorporated organically into the Teen Titans, and all he did was revamp the hell out of everything. People complain about his Bart, but that was nothing compared to making Kon-El The Kid into Connor the Emo Teen.

Cassie, I live in hope that the cutie I knew will shine through again one day and that someone will remember you used to be BFFs with Cissie before you'd ever heard of Kara.