Robin OYL Part 2

[zechs80]

WARNING! This is the infamous story written by Adam Beechen that is remembered for what it did to the character named Cassandra Cain. Eighteen scans will be had of three issues (Robin #150-152).


There is only one thing reading this story will culminate in if you're a fan of Cassandra Cain:

The only way to survive after reading these scans is to remember, the character is in a better place and written by better writers now. Keep repeating that to yourself and you should be okay. Remember these positive thoughts.

When we last left Tim he had been given an ultimatum: Break out David Cain or else Cassandra Cain dies. Tell anyone and Cassandra Cain dies! So Tim does the logical thing. He goes to Blackgate to break David Cain out:




Thankfully after through the remainder of the security due to it being installed by Wayne Enterprises. And math is there anything it cannot do?! Wait the ninjas gave Tim this long a time table to break David Cain out? Well at least they're nice ninjas and not extreme with a very short time table.

Anyway, Tim breaks David out and knocks him out. He then interrogates David when they're near the meeting site. Cass's pop plays innocent not knowing what's going down. And seriously, the strange thing is re-reading this David Cain seems in character throughout this. It's only later in Beechen's Cass mini does the whole OOC David show up.

So since David doesn't give him the right answer, Tim knocks him out again. So they arrive and at first nobody is there. But being that this is ninjas they appear out of nowhere and begin fighting Tim. It becomes a numbers game and after a mysterious someone tells the ninjas to attack a weak spot of Tim they exploited earlier in part 1, they capture Tim.

And so the great mastermind of this arc stands revealed. Can you guess who it is?








I remember when first reading this. What this scene above reminded me of:

#150 ends with Cass holding Tim up and pointing the gun at her father. But just when you think it can get any worse? Oh but it does! IT DOES!





Heh.. Crazy crime crusade.



So did Linkara get his magic gun from Cass? I'm just saying. It looks the same caliber and fires more than one round. Plus it disappeared and suddenly Linkara began wielding one. Just saying.

After this EVIL act (as if the reveal wasn't the topper), Tim has had enough and with both arms (wait.. his shoulder was broken how did he do that?) beats down Cass's ninja posse. Oh and he blows some up too like literally killing them. Now we know who the bad influence was on Steph who blew up people up in the first issues of her series. Tsk tsk..

So it all comes down the epic showdown:



.....

Yeah, I think this one (besides the villain reveal) made me the most angry at this arc. I mean come on, Cass's ablities DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! If they did any thug would have been able to beat her. The only time she had that sort of problem was when the metahuman rewired her brain to talk. Ugh just ugh. But we're almost done. I have to finish this. *deep breath*

So Tim and Cass brutally fight each other both landing some vicious blows on the other. In the end before a victor could be claimed:




And Tim jumps off from the explosion Die Hard style to the ground to find some dead ninjas (not by his hand honest) and David Cain missing. So in final summary we're given this at the end:




But it doesn't end there. So Cass is a major threat to the Bat Family right?


Oh no, if you had the gall to stay around one more issue you where treated to one more slap in the face.







And thus ends how Cass became a super villain. Dare I continue and post her other villain ventures and the revelation she was on Slade juice? I hope you all survived without getting into a rage fit. I know I almost went into it after looking at these pages again.

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

Sometimes I think about comic book continuity, and how it can be a headache for the writers and editors even more than for the readers and fans.

Beechan once said, "They didn't present me with a rationale as to why Cassandra was going to change, or a motivating factor. That was left for me to come up with and them to approve. And we did that. But as far as to why the editors and writers and whoever else made the decision decided that was a good direction, I honestly couldn't answer."

It's not like ROBIN OYL was one massive "They just didn't care." It's more of a "Hey, maybe this will work, and it is not like Cassandra has that many fans otherwise we wouldn't have cancelled her book."

[zechs80]

Thing is though, Cass's ongoing wasn't canceled due to bad sales. Her book was ahead of numerous others and was solid at around a certain number (above 25,000 maybe even near 30,000 which in that time period was way above cancellation numbers). Theories or not evidence suggests that DC didn't want Cass as Batgirl anymore. The reasons we don't know fully why but we know they did. It had nothing to do with low sales. Not ever. If it did Tim's own book should have gotten the axe along with her's since they where neck and neck in sales.

[jaybee3]

The thing is though that Beechan also credited HIS editors (Eddie Berganza & Peter Tomasi) with helping him create this plotline and when it first started Beechan went on record saying that it was a "natural" progression of the character to anyone who complained. Now Berganza and Tomasi were at the time two of the senior Editors in the company AND two of the people in the braintrust that came up with the idea of Evil Cass (along with Didio I assume), if they had any problems with how Beechan was crafting everything they could have just stopped him at any point (or at least told him to read some of the old Batgirl series) but they didn't. So however much Didio would later go on to introduce Beechan at cons as "the man who made Cassandra Cain evil" (to which Beechan was booed) it was Editorial who was behind him all the way - even when they started getting called out on the problems in characterization from the get-go.

So I stick with "They just didn't care" and didn't expect the backlash (to be honest I still think many of the Editors - not writers - are befuddled that CC still has so many fans). I understand how others might see differently though.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"It's not like ROBIN OYL was one massive "They just didn't care."

Actually, that's not true. In this arc we saw a half dozen things that were contradicted by the last arc in Batgirl alone. Cass couldn't read, couldn't monolouge, was well aware of the fact that Cain trained others and loved her father and her training.

And don't get me started on the plot holes. Just this post alone...

Tim spends 11 hours breaking into Black Gate by himself, so how does he get Cain out?

So to clear his name of murder, Tim frees a mass murderer and allows him to escape?

Oh, and the video clearing his name? Well, Cass drops his *real* name during it. Think the cops might notice that?

Also..."Hey, maybe this will work, and it is not like Cassandra has that many fans otherwise we wouldn't have cancelled her book."

Wrong. Cass' book was selling steady around 23K. Catwoman, Hawkman and Firestorm all sold less and were all brought back OYL. Cass' follow up mini series sold only about 4K less than Steph's current series. Oh, and 'Oracle: The Cure' meant to return Babs to Batgirl status was written at the same time of the mini.

I think people automatically assume that because DC is a business, they won't make stupid decisions. But people forget that DC is being run by fanboys with virtually no oversight. Scuttling Cass wouldn't be much issue at all, really.

[ebailey140]

I think people automatically assume that because DC is a business, they won't make stupid decisions. But people forget that DC is being run by fanboys with virtually no oversight. Scuttling Cass wouldn't be much issue at all, really.

Businesses make stupid decisions all the time. Just looking at our economy for the last four years is proof. That was the end result of a lot of years of a lot of businesses making stupid decisions.

As for the "fanboys," this was before Morrison started writing Batman. This was one of the Hired Guns. Once the actual fanboys got involved... Morrison's very first story skuttled Cass's heel turn. Johns then did the "Deathstroke drugged and brainwashed her" retcon. It was the fanboys that put a stop to the whole thing.

Then there's Dini, who was the one lobbying to put Barbara back in the cowl. No nostalgia motivation, there, just part of turning the DCU into his own DCAU.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"As for the "fanboys," this was before Morrison started writing Batman. This was one of the Hired Guns. Once the actual fanboys got involved... Morrison's very first story skuttled Cass's heel turn. Johns then did the "Deathstroke drugged and brainwashed her" retcon. It was the fanboys that put a stop to the whole thing."

Yes, they back peddled...after massive fan outrage. Cass then bounced into limbo, then Outsiders and back to limbo. Grant likely just sideswipped Cass as leader of the League than any intention to help, given that the story never once referenced Cass and despite using virtually all of Batman's history, the most he's ever done with Cass was a cameo.

[ebailey140]

But, you were accusing the "fanboys," meaning Morrison and Johns, of skuttling Cass. They had nothing to do with that. Again, the one pushing to make Babs Batgirl, and therefore Cass not Batgirl, was Paul Dini.

The argument that a lot of folks wanting Babs as Batgirl was creators being nostalgic isn't accurate. What they wanted was Dini's DCAU Batgirl, which the Silver/Bronze Age Batgirl was not. Dixon's Batgirl: Year One retconned the DCU Barbara Batgirl into the DCAU one. So, what happened to Cass wasn't a result of Iron Age vs Silver Age, but DCU vs DCAU.