Joker is God. Amen.

[benicio127.insanejournal.com]

So last post... last day... Joker/Harley week. Sniff, sniff.


Anyways this is my favourite scene from the novelization of No Man's Land by Greg Rucka. A lot of it a more detailed version of the comics, but he did add some great bits. I would highly, highly, highly, highly recommend this book to anyone. It's a great read and has some beautiful Cass/Babs scenes. His Babara Gordon is AMAZING. Seriously. Her anger over Huntress... gahhh... well I don't want to spoil it for you, but get it. GET IT!

And for legality, a scan from Mad Love.


This requires a bit of reading.... but it's only a couple of pages!

I'm not sure which is my favourite part of this page. "You have WHO tied up WHERE?" or Joker imagining Riddler saying: "Oh yeah... that's what's his name... you know... Mr. Harley Quinn." LOL!

Comments

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

What are the Cass/Babs scenes about?

[benicio127.insanejournal.com]

Basically it's Cass's first encounter with the Bat-team and she can't speak properly. Babs is teaching her how to speak. According to the novel, Babs is also the one who christens her "Cassandra" as there's no other way to address Cass at that point in time. (She can't speak, therefore can't say her name).

(Tho I'm not sure if Babs giving Cass her name is regular continuity??)

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

(Tho I'm not sure if Babs giving Cass her name is regular continuity??)

I don't think I've actually read Cass's first comic appearances during NML. But Babs is the only person I can think of who would name her Cassandra. Before Cass appeared, IIRC there were a number of instances where Barbara used "Cassandra" as a fake name. And there's the Cassandra from Greek mythology who had dreams about the future and made prophecies or whatever. I could be wrong but I think that makes Cassandra count as an oracle of sorts, so there's a connection.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Okay, my heart is now officially broken.
I knew he didn't talk to her, but I never knew he didn't even name her.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

Well, if he never spoke to her, how could she have a name that she would be aware of? And when Batman and Barbara first met her, they didn't know Cain was her real father or where she came from, so they had no way of finding a birth record or anything.

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

It hadn't occurred to me that *that* was the case. I got you, but ... even beyond the cruelty of doing so, it seems impractical to teach/train somebody without ever naming a person. It's the first thing we tend to do to all of the things around us: Name it.

[parsimonia.insanejournal.com]

It's the first thing we tend to do to all of the things around us: Name it.

It's true. And when you think about how much restraint a person would have to have to never speak a word during all that time spent together...he might have found it best not to name her, so he wouldn't be tempted to call her something.

Mind you, they may have had some of non-verbal "names" of a sort for each other, kind of like sign language. But my impression is that Cass would have never heard a single word spoken in all the time she was being raised by Cain until she ran away.

[benicio127.insanejournal.com]

Agreed. It's as if he didn't even give her the decency of a name. Some people even name a goldfish. He didn't even give her that amount of humanity: a name.
I kinda wanna punch Cain in the face right now.

A bit of Cass love...

[benicio127.insanejournal.com]

I know, it is terribly sad. Cain was a horrible father who only taught his daughter to speak in violence.

And yet, unlike the Rogues Gallery villains (who have similar issues: bad parenting, bullying, abuse), she doesn't take on this traumatic experience and turn it into hate.

Re: A bit of Cass love...

[mysteryfan.insanejournal.com]

Yes. I see her as a very noble character.

Re: A bit of Cass love...

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Wish DC don't. They're on a massive pre determination kick at the moment, and Cass was the first POW of that war. At least she escaped though, unlike poor Jericho...