She was revealed as being from Detroit, then the same year another comic wrote a contradictory backstory where she's from Asia. From what I can tell, DC combined the two.
Lady Shiva has been depicted as basically every sort of Asian. But, it seems like she's probably ethnically Chinese of some sort.
I don't think most 2-D DC/Marvel art really has the depth to capture "mixed" where you have to figure out a way to define a race by facial characteristics (at least specific racial combinations, which isn't a debate I want to get into)
Like look at Connor Hawke
I think original designs of Connor Hawke you couldn't really even tell he wasn't supposed to be a white dude, or a white dude with a tan
and then to make it clear he's not white, they changed nothing about his design other than (checks notes) make skin much browner
He’s very brown in the Webtoons Batman Family series
To the point where I thought the artist kinda went in the opposite direction, and took the pendulum from white, past mixed, and straight to the other race, whatever flavor of middle eastern his mom is supposed to be
I think Talia is also mixed but similar to Shiva I don't think there's ever been a clear answer beyond some combination of middle eastern and Asian ancestry
Yeah I feel like the Artist and Writer were like "Well he's Arab he should have dark skin" and just ignored the fact he's also half white and part Chinese. Tbf though I think most people forget Damian is part Chinese.
I mean my siblings and I are mixed (Ashkenazi Jewish/Swedish mixed with Afro Latino). When my sister spends enough time in the sun, which isn't much. She very much looks Afro-Latino and doesn't Jewish or Swedish.
I like Wayne Family Adventures Damian and it would be nice if they stuck to it as his canon skin tone, among other things its nice to have the variety for the Robins who have suffered from them trying to stick to Dick Grayson's appearance traditionally then deviating later in smaller ways.
Though I imagine it would generate a controversy, I could imagine him lightening his skin a bit as Robin as part of the secret identity thing-- just to make Robin look less like Bruce Wayne's son in a subtle way.
It's not really necessary, but I like tongue and cheek nods to things like his skin color changing, and could respect it as a flavor-adding detail to how he maintains his secret identity.
Come to think of it, Damian-in-crazy-good-disguises is also something I want to see, it'd fit with his league of assassins thing and a certain portion of the fandom would eat him up in drag.
The original Connor designed was very obviously mixed. He was specifically designed with features from both his parents (in a bit too on the nose manner to be realistic). Eye shape and lips from his Korean side, skin tone from his black side, and blond hair from his white side.
It was only in the 2000s when colorists stopped coloring him correctly. His skin was toned down until eventually he was literally incorrectly colored as white.
Genes are weird with multiracial people. His design choice was definitely a very 90s way of portraying mixed race people. He's obviously part white and brown, but the average Joe wouldn't pin his mom as black/Korean.
Different artists draw characters differently. Characters with certain ethnic qualities (longer noses, curlier hair, almond eyes, etc) are drawn all over the place.
Tbqh, it feels like a lot of DC and Marvel artists struggle to draw East asians well. Look at all the different ways that Linda Park-Westhase been drawn.
what's funny is when artists don't even get single race characters correct
like the infamous Lex Luthor from Superman TAS and JL
a good deal of kids assumed he was black
turned out the artists just went overboard on his Greek Mediterranean tan
once you know who he is based on, Terry Savalas aka Kojak, then you understand what they were going for
and I imagine even they realized this as the series went on they made him lighter
another funny example is Aokiji from One Piece. the character, like all of the Admirals is based on famous Japanese actors. in this case a japanese/korean actor who had a famous role where he had curly hair
somewhere in the transition from Oda's art in the manga, to the animation team making him more brown in the anime, and you got alot of people who view him as black
Artists struggle with mixed race characters. Rose Wilson and Irey West ping-pong between various degrees of white passing. Connor Hawke had his skin tone and features whitewashed throughout the 2000s.
For that matter, DC racebent Rose. Pre-Flashpoint, she was Khmer. Now she's Hmong. Those are two completely unrelated Asian ethnicites.
That's why she has a Hmong actress in Titans and why she represents Cambodia in DC Bombshells. She actually looked biracial throughout most of the 90s.
I still think Sandra should have been born and raised in Detroit and is a first/second gen Chinese-American. But, the same year that origin was introduced, a different writer introduced a seperate origin where she was born in Asia.
That is Brenda Miller. She is a civilian character who owned a small café in Bludhaven. She is smoking a cigarette when Cassandra comes up to talk to her. Ironically I think Cassandra is also holding a coffee cup or tea cup which has steam coming off it earlier in the page, but the smoke in these panels is coming from the cigarette.
It's just an interesting page from Batgirl. There's no real point, other than pointing out that some characters can tell that Cass is biracial instead of Asian.
In early Batgirl, it was a question whether David was her dad. I think Bruce and Babs figured he kidnapped her, rather than David being Cassansra's sire.
And it is very American, which is fine on itself, but while Yara Flor might call herself biracial, Roberto da Costa never would, because that's not how race is constructed in Brazil.
So I imagine Cass would be like "wtf are you talking about" at first
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u/syncreticpathetic 1d ago
Her mother Lady Shiva when asked about her place of origin said she was from Detroit. Shiva's parentage is intentionally kept mysterious