In this review of Batgirl #10, the Jade Tiger has been discovered! Will Batgirl be able to set aside her feelings and work with the Bronze Tiger’s son?
Batgirl #10 main cover by David Talaski (DC Comics)
BATGIRL #10
Written by TATE BROMBAL
Art by TAKESHI MIYAZAWA
Main Cover: DAVID TALASKI
Variant Cover: TRAN NGUYEN
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 8/6/25
This review contains spoilers
Batgirl #10 kicks off as Norbu the Untested has descended on Dragon Ranch in search of the child of Lady Shiva. Before last issue that was understood to be Batgirl – Cassandra Cain. However Tenji Turner a.k.a. Jade Tiger claims to be Shiva’s son as well. He hurls himself into combat but is woefully unseasoned as a warrior, taking a sword-slash up his chest. Bronze Tiger intervenes to knock Norbu into his shed, before he and Batgirl rush off to save Tenji from bleeding to death.
Cassandra is confused and angry. She doesn’t understand why Shiva kept Tenji from her, and why Bronze Tiger wasn’t upfront with her either. Tiger claims that he didn’t want his child of Shiva to end up like Cassandra, always surrounded by violence. Tenji recovers from his injury, saying that Shiva would visit him on his birthday every year, testing his skills each time. Now that she’s gone, he’s going to use everything he’s learned to avenge her death. He swears to fight by Cassandra’s side, and the two make peace for the time being, just as Norbu returns to the fray. Already uneasy against Batgirl, he’s quickly overwhelmed by the two children of Shiva, going down in five moves. Furious and ready to unleash his ultimate finishing move, Norbu is quickly beheaded from behind by another assassin as Batgirl #10 comes to an end. Wu Bing of the Blood Clan has arrived.
Norbu the Untested has come for the daughter of Shica… (DC Comics)
Analysis
I’m still annoyed by the last issue, and am second guessing Brombal’s play for this arc. Batgirl #10 read slightly better, but there are still recurring cliche’s that I could do without, mainly people vomiting emotional exposition through bursts of violence. Last issue Cassandra just whaled on Bronze Tiger in a fit of rage, which didn’t feel right but I tried to accept considering the emotional journey she’d went through with Shiva. In Batgirl #10, Tiger destroys his wooden dummy, screaming that he didn’t want Tenji to turn into Cass or Shiva. I don’t buy that.
Someone as serene and experienced as Ben Turner should be able to express himself simply without acting like the other two teenagers in the room. I also don’t see why he couldn’t say “I didn’t want my son to become a killer like his family” without breaking something. But this kind of histrionic character writing speaks to the weakness in this run that’s been a poison pill for months now, and it’s wearing me down when it comes time to read the next issue. These are all overly emotional characters, but their emotions don’t register as anything other than wan, feeble attempts to drive conflict without feeling any truer than someone stubbing their toe and yelling about it for the rest of the day.
I think the larger issue is that the story is way too focused on a broad view of family and legacy and guilt and other concepts and themes that feel more and more abstract as new information is delivered. Cassandra is in flux with her feelings about her mother, but we haven’t been able to sit with her and see how that’s been messing her up for a long time. Just a single moment of her stopping and reflecting on what’s taking place would be nice, but the plot keeps moving and getting crowded with character after character. She’s mad at herself, mad at Shiva, mad at Ben Turner and mad at Tenji. That’s all logical, but it’s not being expressed in any way that’s interesting, or says anything about her character other than the fact that she’s the main hero and this hero is currently angry.
How else could this be better presented? Maybe by taking Norbu down immediately and engaging less with this Unburied nonsense which I’m (all to eager to be done with as well). She says she could defeat Norbu in five moves, but with her skill level and abilities, it’d be easy to writer he beating him in one.
Another nitpick is that for a character trained by Shiva and Richard Dragon, Tenji doesn’t seem to display any talent in reading people’s body language. Memorizing moves speaks to the complete opposite of the skill level of their masters. Was that intentional? Possibly, but he should still be an incredibly gifted fighter, right? Granted, he is fighting someone who Shiva and Batgirl have had a tough time with, so he’s stuck on a tougher difficulty level of opponents. Still, it’s another thing I’ve had trouble with, the presentation of these fighter’s skills. These are meant to be DC Comics’ very best fighters, and with almost every issue it’s just been struggle-fight after struggle-fight.
What I did like this month was some of Cass’ attitude. Her determination and confidence in taking on Norbu was cool, and I like that we’ve gone two issues in a row with her mask on. It’s almost like she’s hiding from herself.
I’m also wondering if Tenji is biologically Shiva’s son, or if there’s going to be a switch-a-roo with Carolyn. After all, Carolyn and Ben were the item. That would make somewhat more sense, and it’d be a welcome surprise.
Final Thoughts
I’m toughing out this arc, and hoping that we’ll be done with this road trip by the year’s end. I’m eager to see Brombal’s take on Cassandra in Gotham and her interacting with her real family again. Miyazaki’s artwork is still solid, but much of the emotional beats have me rolling my eyes. I really hope there’s not another violent outburst in next month’s issue…
