“Clowntime”, July 2002, written by Steven Grant, art by Bill Sienkiewicz, Terry Moore, and Jimmy Palmiotti, colored by Sheri Van Valkenburg, lettered by John E. Workman, Jr., edited by Lysa Hawkins.
This is a really good overview of the Batgirls of the DCU that features excellent artwork by Sienkiewicz and Moore. The art works to underline the difference between the world Cassandra Cain as Batgirl faces versus the world Barbara Gordon as Batgirl faced — or perhaps it only underlines the different ways each looks at the world while wearing the costume.
In her typical style, Cassandra takes Barbara’s story of her own first encounter with the Joker when she was Batgirl in a skewed way and decides she needs to face off against the Clown Prince of Crime in order to properly prove herself as Batgirl.
Realizing how her words were twisted by Cassandra, Barbara panics — a wonderful character moment showing some oft-overlooked human frailty lurking beneath Oracle’s perfect facade — and calls in Black Canary to help. Canary wisely points out that in a situation involving the Joker, one should call in Batman and apparently holds her ground until Barbara caves in and does so.
Canary and Bats pursue Cassandra but keep watch from a distance to see if she can handle the Joker herself, planning only to intervene if it becomes necessary.
The difference in the Batgirls’ confrontations with the Joker, while Barbara had less physical skill than many vigilantes and certainly less than Cassandra, she more than made up for this with her intellectual skills and her ability to use them strategically. Cassandra’s incredible physical and martial skills are always at the fore over her method, meaning she often has to take several hits before she shifts into strategic mode. By the end of the story, we discover that Cassandra sees this difference as a deficiency on her side.
This is a very successful entry in the DC First collection, with pitch perfect portrayals of all involved characters both artistically and from the writing side, and giving us a nice glimpse back at Barbara as Batgirl.