Batgirl and Beechen Seek Redemption

[andy khouri]

Adam Beechen has a history with Cassandra Cain, and in the upcoming six-issue miniseries “Batgirl,” the writer plans to resolve every question left outstanding regarding the troubled character.

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16398

[FemGeek]

Looking forward to this, especially the explaining what happend between the end of the Batgirl series and her joining the Outsiders. That would've ruined my love for Batgirl had I not gone out of my way to avoid it.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I just hope he doesn't screw the character up more. DC's really giving Batgirl fans the finger, IMO. Beechen couldn't spend five srinkin' minutes researching the character and he's gonna fix her?!

[Hybrid2]

If this lead to a serie.
Who would write it?

I'm still asking why chose Beechen?I agree with giving the fans the finger comment.

[Allen T]

That's the thing, Beechen's Batgirl was not Batgirl that just appeared in a comic only a couple of months beforehand, even accounting for OYL.

1. Lets see very verbose for a character who just began speaking words and last time we saw her was just learning to read.
2. Went over the deep end because daddy taught another daughter. Never mind the fact that she learned in the final issues of her series that Cain had raised others like her, and she was okay with it then.
3. Was very free in killing when it has been established she was trained to be a killer, violence was her language, but the very act of killing itself so traumatized her that she refused to let anyone die on that anniversery including someone on death row. Yep she would just go back to killing because Daddy was teaching another. Totally makes sense.

Granted it wasn't Beechen's decision to make her "evil", but it was clear that he did absolutely no research (considering the fact that it was established that Cain taught others and she had no problem with that). Hell, the last issue had a great set up, it wasn't "evil" but it could make her work at cross purposes with the bat family, but no we get bat-#@%^ insane Batgirl. Of course, Beechen gets to do the first fix "Oh look guys Batgirl was totally acting out of character because Deathstroke was drugging her! Oh wait that doesn't explain her verbosity? Guess I'll have to write a mini to further explain the complete fubar job I did to this character".

Really how is it that the man responsible for screwing up the character is the one being allowed to "redeem" her? Do you think those Flash television writers are going to allowed anywhere near Bart?

[FemGeek]

That's the thing, Beechen's Batgirl was not Batgirl that just appeared in a comic only a couple of months beforehand, even accounting for OYL.

1. Lets see very verbose for a character who just began speaking words and last time we saw her was just learning to read.
2. Went over the deep end because daddy taught another daughter. Never mind the fact that she learned in the final issues of her series that Cain had raised others like her, and she was okay with it then.
3. Was very free in killing when it has been established she was trained to be a killer, violence was her language, but the very act of killing itself so traumatized her that she refused to let anyone die on that anniversery including someone on death row. Yep she would just go back to killing because Daddy was teaching another. Totally makes sense.

Granted it wasn't Beechen's decision to make her "evil", but it was clear that he did absolutely no research (considering the fact that it was established that Cain taught others and she had no problem with that). Hell, the last issue had a great set up, it wasn't "evil" but it could make her work at cross purposes with the bat family, but no we get bat-#@%^ insane Batgirl. Of course, Beechen gets to do the first fix "Oh look guys Batgirl was totally acting out of character because Deathstroke was drugging her! Oh wait that doesn't explain her verbosity? Guess I'll have to write a mini to further explain the complete fubar job I did to this character".

Really how is it that the man responsible for screwing up the character is the one being allowed to "redeem" her? Do you think those Flash television writers are going to allowed anywhere near Bart?

Truer words were never spoken.
Im gonna give a second chance though, but if he messes up I'm gonna go on a localised rampage. Dressed as Batgirl.

[DonC]

Adam Beechen writing a Batgil miniseries?

Pass the popcorn, baby, this is gonna be fun.

[Dard]

Some of what's in the interview is good, some bad.
It seems that he really thinks that his run wasn't exactly the best, and he didn't even blame readers for "misunderstandings". But that it confused "some readers" seems to be a real understatement.

I already knew that it wasn't his decision to turn her evil, and turning her evil was not what ruined her. I could come up with a dozen different way that she could end up evil without ruining her. (As a matter of fact, in another discussion I actually did) So this is neither an explanation nor an excuse.

I think the idea with the list, the desire to explain those points and refusing to simply sweep unliked aspects under the rug is a good one and I hope more writers would do it. The problem is that there is at least one point on it that simply can't be explained without ruining the character further: How she was able to write Navajo as an illiterate. This is such a big contradiction that can't be resolved.
I wonder if it is on his list at all. He shouldn't have made the list himself. He should ask a fan to write one for him.

I asked my retailer why he thinks DC would assign Beechen to Batgirl again. He said that there are probably promises, obligations or even contracts that would never get known to the readers. Personally, I think that Beechen really wants to fix what he did. I just don't know if he can do it. There would be just two or three sentences he had to say and I would be sure that he will improve and give him a chance. Alas, those sentences didn't come up here.

I haven subscribed to the series and even now I will not. If reviews are really good, I will go for the trade.

One more thing: He says that he will address her "improved speech". At the same times he says that he will keep the series from interfering with Outsiders. But there she is back to her monosyllabic (sp?) speech patterns. This is a contradiction. Not one that can't be resolved, but I doubt he will do it. Because he only wrote about what he did and what he wants to resolve.

[blckng]

So Batgirl will get to fight Deathstroke again. Fun. Still waiting on my Nightwing/Deathstroke fight. You know, because he killed some three-hundred thousand people when he decided to bomb his city? Maybe? Please?

...bah

Still, here's hoping Cassandra is acting a little more like herself now. My expectations aren't that high, but still...

[The Cool Thatguy]

So Batgirl will get to fight Deathstroke again. Fun. Still waiting on my Nightwing/Deathstroke fight. You know, because he killed some three-hundred thousand people when he decided to bomb his city? Maybe? Please?

...bah

Still, here's hoping Cassandra is acting a little more like herself now. My expectations aren't that high, but still...

Well, the good news is that while it seems like the mini is to clear up his screw ups, it won't be status qou altering. Rather, it'll be like the latest Deadshot mini, focus on her character, play upon her origin without making any drastic changes.

[Brack360]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I'm a big fan of the character, and it sounds like Beechen is hopefully learning from his mistakes.

[Dard]

So Batgirl will get to fight Deathstroke again. Fun. Still waiting on my Nightwing/Deathstroke fight. You know, because he killed some three-hundred thousand people when he decided to bomb his city? Maybe? Please?

I have a list of things that I would love, love, love Batgirl do. If only two or three things on the list would actually happen, I would immediately go for the series and be happy.

A fight between Deathstroke and Cass is not among them. But it could lead to one. Batgirl also used to be in Blüdhaven. She would have the same motivation Nightwing had.
The point on my list?
If Batgirl ever referred to Brenda Miller! A fight against Deathstroke could give me that. But I doubt it will come to that. It sounds like what Beechen wants with that fight is resolving her abuse by him. I wonder if it could occur to him that she would have ulterior motives.

[rpi]

That's the thing, Beechen's Batgirl was not Batgirl that just appeared in a comic only a couple of months beforehand, even accounting for OYL.

1. Lets see very verbose for a character who just began speaking words and last time we saw her was just learning to read.
2. Went over the deep end because daddy taught another daughter. Never mind the fact that she learned in the final issues of her series that Cain had raised others like her, and she was okay with it then.
3. Was very free in killing when it has been established she was trained to be a killer, violence was her language, but the very act of killing itself so traumatized her that she refused to let anyone die on that anniversery including someone on death row. Yep she would just go back to killing because Daddy was teaching another. Totally makes sense.

Granted it wasn't Beechen's decision to make her "evil", but it was clear that he did absolutely no research (considering the fact that it was established that Cain taught others and she had no problem with that). Hell, the last issue had a great set up, it wasn't "evil" but it could make her work at cross purposes with the bat family, but no we get bat-#@%^ insane Batgirl. Of course, Beechen gets to do the first fix "Oh look guys Batgirl was totally acting out of character because Deathstroke was drugging her! Oh wait that doesn't explain her verbosity? Guess I'll have to write a mini to further explain the complete fubar job I did to this character".

Really how is it that the man responsible for screwing up the character is the one being allowed to "redeem" her? Do you think those Flash television writers are going to allowed anywhere near Bart?

Yep, that's pretty much it exactly. While it wouldn't have been my ideal path for the character, there are many ways she could have been made evil and had it ring true. Her retroactively learning Navajo was a complete contradiction of the very basics of the character, though. The way Bruce just kind of shrugged off that she'd gone loony was beyond badly written. The way Tim was able to fight off an army of ninjas and then hold his own against Cassandra was contradictory too.
I don't think Beechen is going to be able to pull this off for a few reasons. First off, I just don't think he's good enough as a writer yet. Having seen his writing in Robin and Countdown, he consistently wrote some pretty poor dialog. I also think that any explanations that are in the story are going to feel more like Beechen explaining to the readers rather than feeling like organic developments in Cassandra's life, much the same as what Judd Winick did when he brought back Jason Todd. And lastly, there are some things that simply can't be explained. Bruce's lack of a reaction to the knowledge that his most dangerous student had gone bad and the Navajo bit are only explainable by bad writing. You can't write a story to fix those.
The one thing that makes me hopeful is that, over the past year or so, the editors at DC seem to be on their game again. In the build up to Infinite Crisis and then during One Year Later, the editorial aspects of DC were a gigantic mess. They seem to have gotten their act together since then so I'm hoping the editor of this story will catch any more mistakes that the previous one let through.

[jonnynyc]

The only person who should be writing a Batgirl mini is Gabrych. I won't buy anything with Beechen's name on it after his Robin, Teen Titans and Countdown issues. They were all just too disappointing.

[Zodberg]

Honestly, I WAS looking forward to this series.

Adam Beechen wrote a strong Robin and I, having no prior experience with Cassandra of much substance, really enjoyed most of it and I'm sad it ended so abruptly and meaninglessly.
and I have to admit, Tim having his own Talia is a cute idea and Batgirl, while a good character with as strong convictions as anybody else- on paper, she frequently came off as a very gimmicky, like a Batier version of Echo.
Geoff John's de-drugging her, to be honest, was about as gracefully done as revealing Parallax as a space bug.

By putting Beechen on Batgirl, DC has given a capable writer a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Batgirl fans (if they keep an open mind - and who knows if that will or won't happen). And if he drops the ball - then the situation is the same as it was before.

BUT you know what.

I hate Jim Calfiore art. The man can barely make a curve, ALL the eyes are squinty (is it a joke? they put an artist who draws squinty eyes on a book about an asian?) and as his drawing of Poison Ivy in that issue of Countdown indicates - he can't draw the honies. He makes me regret getting so much of Gotham Underground.
However maybe he's got a new inker or something that will make his art work.