Batgirl Vol. 2: Bloodlines (Batgirl

Batgirl (2024)

by Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa (Artist), Isaac Goodhart (Artist)

Writer Tate Brombal and artist Takeshi Miyazawa continue their action-packed run on the Bat-Family’s premier martial artist, as Cassandra Cain’s family history comes calling when three swords come for Batgirl and she’s wanted dead or alive. When offered a fatal choice, Cassandra must choose between her dark bloodline and all its power…or being killed. Will Batgirl embrace these old family ties, or will she finally accept the new relationships being forged? More revelations unfold when a surprise arrival changes everything. Plus, Lady Shiva’s secret origin is revealed—in the assassin’s own words—when guest artist Isaac Goodhart (The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos) reunites with Brombal to tell the tale! This volume collects Batgirl #7-11.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Superheroes

Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2026

Reviews

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less impactful than the first thanks to the addition of new, and somewhat unwanted, faces that join the family fray. It loses the depth of the mother and daughter connection, bringing forth a new dynamic that is far from interesting. Shiva’s backstory in the beginning provides the most substance, and whilst the parallels are back, these hit nowhere near as well as in volume one. Cass herself is starting to become a somewhat background character in her own run, and unless it brings its focus back onto her, this series is going to seriously start to suffer.

actual rating: 2.5 stars

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.6 🌟

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8 stars

[Eli Seibert · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every secret sibling a member of the bat family was revealed to have in the last 5 years, I’d have 3 nickels (Damian Wayne and Respawn, Nightwing and Melinda Grayson Lin, and now Cass Cain and jade tiger) which is starting to seem like a lot to me. There might even be more that I’m just not aware of, but the impact of these “reveals” is really starting to lose their punch.
That being said this volume is still solid. I think Brombal writes Cass very well and it’s cool to see him utilizing the lore of the “Richard Dragon: Kung fu Fighter” comics from the 70s to add more layers to lady shiva’s origin.

[Larakaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars
Solid, a lot of backstory/history paired with action.

[Belfry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first book. A good chunk is a Lady Shiva flashback, and I don't like following her as much as I liked following Cassandra. There's also a brand new character who feels kind of unnecessary and who I'm worried will take over the book, so that's less than ideal.

[Niche · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5/5
A Shiva origin story and unknown long lost family member. None of it was particularly interesting. It's a lot of faces I didn't care about and them having fight scenes. May be the first time I drop a BatCass run. At least I've still got her ongoing Birds of Prey run, which fortunately doesn't tie in here at all.

[Bertazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how Brombal embraces the campness of Kung Fu movies.

[JP Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

El anterior estuvo mejor, pero aún así los diálogos y combates están bastante buenos, ojalá salga pronto el 3er volumen

[c · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVING this run so much! one of the most well written ongoing series right now. between this and Everything Dead & Dying, Tate Brombal... I was unfamiliar with your game

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

7-8, The Book of Shiva, ☆☆☆☆☆
9-11, The Three Swords, ☆☆☆

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues to excellently move from Mother-Daughter relationships to larger family relationships and the burdens, hopes, and goals given to us from previous generations. It starts with an excellent two-parter on Cassandra's Mother's origins. Going from just Mother and daughter to whole family tree as Lady Shiva's backstory is revealed as a secret love child of the Blood Clan leader's brother. It was really wonderful to show just how similar Cassandra and her Mom's relationship is at times to her Mom and her Mom's sister. Both times she was the more evil and ruminating of the two leading to pain on the other. But she tried to be more loving, in her own Machiavellian way, to her daughter and you can tell from the narration the reservation at trying to be more open and guiding.
Then we get a second arc titled The Three Swords. Cassandra gets a whole other foil in her half-brother who turns Cassandra from the “light” in the characters she foils to the “dark” as she is focused on avenging her Mother the same drive that villainized her Mom. It has a bunch of fun action as well as she deals with The Three Swords. But a twist! A fourth opponent from The Blood (the clan that's after and blood related to Cassandra through her Mom) comes and before the assassin dies places a fucking Blood curse to chase after them for some later arc. Also the third “Sword” is actually a League of Assassin offering Cassandra to come back and check out the new League and see if she wants to join. Looking ahead for the solicitation of volume three it looks to go somewhere interesting with legacy and maybe how we choose certain ties and relationships over others.
The first arc is drawn by Isaac Goodhard but the real draw is the main artist Takeshi Miyazawa who covers the larger Three Swords arc. This series has a lot of 80s kung fu movie energy along with excellent fights in page and dual page spreads that are so great to look at and read.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have we ever had a definitive origin for Lady Shiva? Probably - but we're getting another one here as Tate Brombal peels back some of Shiva's history as her daughter Cass reads her journal in the wake of Shiva's murder last volume.

Isaac Goodhart, Brombal's art partner on Christopher Chaos, pops in for these two issues with his clean, clear, fluid style that works perfectly, before ceding the floor to series artist Takeshi Miyazawa for the Three Swords story that follows, bringing Cass into conflict with Bronze Tiger and a new surprise that turns her life on its head. It's not what I expected, but I'm definitely on board for it.

And then there's some fighting, as there's always going to be. I don't think the plot moves along massively in these five issues, but there are definitely indications that there's a bigger story shaping up overall. Brombal's characterisation for Cass feels right, and the way he weaves Shiva's history into both the past and present stories works well too. Big fan of this book so far.

[Ryan Huynh · Rating 3 out of 5]

although was a decent read, not too much happens with the main storyline, slow pacing… but will continue the series as a fan of the Cassandra Cain batgirl. Volume one was better. This volume adds an interesting layer of tragedy to her backstory, but honestly was not a particularly big fan of two issues dedicated solely to entirely flashbacks. It is well done, but the pacing and lore were just a little bit too tangential for this me in a batgirl series. Feels more like a Shiva/Cain series than Batgirl (some may like that more than me).

[Amna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. Steep drop off from the last volume.

Listen, I love Lady Shiva, and I like exploring the mother-daughter connection between her and Cass. But Shiva dominated this volume. And then you get the secret sibling twist, which is so uninspired.

My issue with this Batgirl run so far is that Cassandra doesn't feel like the main character or that she has much agency in her own story. She's instead relegated to a rather reactionary role.

[Nevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, they've got me. This is still an inessential, by-the-numbers, story fleshing out a minor superhero. However, Cassie is a great character, and this looks like the first decent series she's had in a while. I would rather spend time with her found family in Gotham, but the new backstory and supporting characters they're coming up with are not bad. I'll be sticking with this.

[Rosi]

This was pretty fun. I love Cassandra Cain being Batgirl, and it's been nice seeing her as that. It had a lot of Lady Shiva backstory, roughly half of it was taken up by that, and then the other half was her following Shiva's historical trail. It didn't hit quite as hard as the first one, but it sets up some fun stuff I'm looking forward to for volume 3

[Brian Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not as strong a collection as the first volume, but this still a great read that still leans into the martial actions action that makes this series so enjoyable, while expanding on Cassandra Cain’s connection to her family and heritage.

Any time Takeshi Miyazawa gets to do an issue, you just know there’s going to be awesome paneling! I love his work!

[Sam Bakos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean it's fine ? But I wanted to read a story about Cassandra Cain not about every known and unknown relative of her, like this volume is barely about Batgirl and barely has her in it. 'Origin of Lady Shiva and Jade Tiger vol. 1' should be the actual title.

[Jourdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was so interesting! I’m a big fan of Cass and I love seeing her in her own solo run. I’m hoping Stephanie will get her own soon!