The Only Batgirl I Care About...Cassandra Cain!

"I don't kill. But I don't lose, either."

In the world of superhero comics, it's rare that there be any major character that sorta, kinda looks like me -- that I know of anyway. Usually, the super hero ladies are blonde, super boobed-out, and prefer to fight in a bikini top and G-string. Which is perfectly fine, but it's not something I can quite identify with.

Hence, my comic book tastes gravitating toward Sunday comics (i.e., Fox Trot, Get Fuzzy, The Boondocks) and autobiographical graphic novels (i.e., Optic Nerve, Persepolis).

Anyhow, during a trip to the comic book shop awhile back where I was waiting for my Comic Book Amigo to finish going through the latest Walking Dead issues, I -- for some reason...perhaps out of boredom -- started flipping through an issue of Red Robin. And what greeted me in the opening spread was the above image featuring a kickass lady with short, dark hair -- like me, like me! And, get this -- she had clothes on to boot!

I did a quick search on my phone and found out the following info about her:

Cassandra Cain is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe, one of several who has served as Batgirl, a character in the Batman comic book franchise. Cassandra's backstory presents her as the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva (Sandra Wu-San)...Cassandra was the first Batgirl to star in her own ongoing Batgirl comic book series; a Eurasian character who was replaced as Batgirl by Stephanie Brown in a 2009 storyline. She returned in late 2010, where she was now shown working as an anonymous agent of Batman in Hong Kong before adopting the new moniker of Black Bat. Read More >

I still remember that jail cell/lasso scene.

She's Asian AND she's...Batgirl!

I mean, the only other female superhero I ever identified with growing up was Wonder Woman.

For one, it was because of the Lynda Carter TV series I'd catch after school, but the underlying factor was that she had long black hair...like me (at the time).

As a little girl, that meant a lot. Even though Wonder Woman is not Asian, through my 8-year-old eyes, she looked enough like me that she became an honorary ass-kicking, Asian super heroine.

So it's nice to discover many many years later that there exists a fearless comic book hero who I don't have to misappropriate as Asian because she really is one.

As an adult, it still means a lot.

(PS: Dear DC Comics, please bring back Cassandra Cain whether as Batgirl again or as Black Bat. Do it!)