In this review of Batgirl #8, The Book of Shiva continues as Cassandra learns of the Wu-San sisters first meeting with Richard Dragon, Bronze Tiger, and David Cain!
Batgirl #8 main cover by Reiko Murakami (DC Comics)
BATGIRL #8
Written by TATE BROMBAL
Art by ISAAC GOODHART
Main Cover: REIKO MURAKAMI
Variant Cover: JESSICA FONG
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 6/4/25
Batgirl #8 begins as Cassandra trip to Whitefish, Montana continues, so does her listening to the tale of her mother Shiva’s origins.
Years after fleeing the village in Tibet, Mei-Xing and Ming-Yue reestablish themselves in Detroit as “The Deadly Woosan Sisters”, Carolyn and Sandra, performing feats of martial arts and defeating any and all challengers in the ring for money. One night they’re challenged by Ben Turner and Richard Drakunvovski – two young fighters who train under the O-Sensei. The aforementioned master was a veritable godfather to the sisters, who take up the challenge and easily defeat the male duo. Impressed by their tutelage, the quartet become fast friends although Sandra is reluctant to join herself with such a merry group, especially as she lacks the romantic interests that her sister has for Ben.
Over time the four became a heroic team, battling forces of evil and training each other to improve their skills. Ben and Carolyn grew closer together, while Richard’s interests in Sandra only led her rejecting him. Sandra is still plagued with anger for the murder of her parents and the Tibetan village. One night, while walking the streets, she’s confronted by a man who introduces himself as David Cain. He’s been stalking Sandra for some time, and offers her a chance to pursue her destiny of greatness, allying with him on an intimate level. She forcefully rejects him, but runs back home after he mentions that he got the same answer from her sister. Bursting through the bedroom door, Sandra and the boys are horrified to discover Carolyn’s murdered corpse. Swearing vengeance, Shiva vows to go after Cain, just as years later Cassandra reaches her destination.
Analysis: I liked this chapter more than last month’s, as the history blends into both honoring the past while establishing a new version of Shiva’s origins. It’s tailor made for longtime fans, and for new readers unfamiliar with Shiva, it presents a decent perspective of events that they might find online or in back issues.
For the uninitiated, Shiva was created in the 1970s by legendary DC writer Dennis O’Neil, first appearing in the pages of Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter. There, she was tricked into believing that Dragon was involved in her sister Carolyn’s murder and began as an enemy, before being set right and joining his crew of good-guy crime-fighters, alongside Ben “Bronze Tiger” Turner and the O-Sensei. Throughout this early iteration, Shiva’s skills were nigh-unmatched, and she relished a challenge no matter the odds. This continued into the 1980s, where she (in a crossover with The Question, Green Arrow and Detective Comics titled “Fables”) relished at the opportunity to fight Batman and test her skills against his. That’s obliquely referenced in 1988’s Death in the Family, where she’s a brief suspect of being Jason Todd’s mother, and she once again leaps at the chance to fight Batman, kicking his butt in the process.
What Tate Brombal is doing here is actively invoking Shiva’s Pre-Crisis history with Richard Dragon, which has never really been ignored or retconned explicitly, but put on the backburner for the sake of League of Assassin shenanigans. That might still come later, but the death of her sister Carolyn and her history with Dragon and Bronze Tiger has always been a core part of her origin story, as recently as the animated film “Batman: Soul of the Dragon”, which is fundamentally a love letter to the Richard Dragon comic, with the three leads taking center stage. In Batgirl #8, we retcon that Richard and Ben meet Shiva when Carolyn is still alive, and the four of them teamed up for a time. I think that’s perfectly reasonable as a modern change, so we can understand Shiva’s thirst for revenge better after knowing Carolyn for two issues, and seeing that it wasn’t only Shiva who mourned her. I actually like seeing the four of them in their early twenties fighting giant grasshoppers. It’s very 1970s, very fun, and gives Shiva that history of being a hero and not just the evil dragon lady label.
It should also be noted that this issue has a ton of old-school references eagle eyed fans might pick out. From the “Denny’s Gym” in the background, to Shiva’s colorful fits with the headband, which are the same clothes she wore back in the days of the Richard Dragon comic. Additionally, the nightmare of the God Shiva she has and how Carolyn’s body is rendered references Batgirl #73 (2006).
Which leads to the second part of this backstory, the introduction of Cain. To be candid, David Cain’s place in Shiva’s backstory never sat right with me, because it’s purely to keep her as Cassandra’s mother. This is a character who all of a sudden is inserted in the history of someone who’d been around since the seventies (while Cain was created in during No Man’s Land in 1999), and made to be so superior to her he kills her sister and forces her to have sex with him to sire a successor. It’s really gross and done just for the sake of the Cass/Shiva lineage. The relation between the two has been history for almost twenty years now, so we’ve been stuck with it, but I’ve never enjoyed it on a level of pure taste. I don’t know how else it might be squared since Cain is Cassandra’ biological father, but while we don’t see him and Shiva copulate in this issue, it’s an unpleasant detail I’m anxious to see Brombal tackle next month.
But I have faith that it won’t be as bad as the last time in 2006. Brombal’s love for Shiva stays high, and as a comic book fan I really enjoyed to new version of her history with Dragon and Tiger. I’m still not loving his voice for Shiva, and to be honest I don’t love his characterization either. The entire time Shiva’s a sour-faced buzzkill, whereas in the old days of the Dragon comic, Shiva had a devil-may-care attitude about facing unbeatable challenges and relishing the chance to improve herself. Here, she’s just mad all the time. It’s also the idea that she’s always been kind of “bad” insofar as her life of violence made her a meaner, darker person than her sister. I think that’s small thinking. She’s s dark character, but that shouldn’t have to be her persona. It’s like with Batman, or even Cassandra. Just because they have tragic backstories doesn’t necessitate their personalities to cohere to being morose fuddy-duddies.
Isaac Goodhart still rocks on artwork, with the first image of Cassandra reacting to the attendant in the train being a new favorite image of mine. The physical prowess of the four martial artists were all on terrific display, and the varying tones of each scene between the public ringside match, the 1970s-esque monster fighting, and the dark Cain scenes were rendered with requisite vibes of adventure, intensity and atmosphere. My fingers are still crossed Goodhart continues past this arc. He’s doing splendid work.
I’m excited again for next issue. I am wanting the book to get back to our girl Cass, but I at least enjoyed this chapter in the new origin of Shiva. Not perfect, but overall fun and interesting.
