Ahead of the DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration, Batgirl's role in the anthology is being celebrated with Stanley "Artgerm" Lau's variant cover of Cassandra Cain.

DC shared Artgerm's variant cover, which depicts the character in her iconic Batgirl costume -- although it is torn from battle. The character's identity was put on full display, with Cassandra Cain looking confident even after being confronted by a criminal at knife-point. According to Artgerm, the art is a "homage cover of my old Batgirl 12 issue." A closer inspection also revealed the artist's signature positioned at the edge Cain's cape.

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Cassandra Cain first appeared in the DC Universe during 1999's Batman #567 as a part of the "No Man's Land" story. Despite not being the first to take on the mantle of Batgirl, Cassandra was the first to receive her own standalone ongoing series in 2000. The daughter of a League of Assassins member and Lady Shiva, she was conceived with the expectation of becoming the ultimate bodyguard to Ra's al Ghul. Cassandra's upbringing was such that her father taught her fighting over speaking, making her incapable of speech for a long time. Despite her father's wishes, Cassandra abhorred murder and ran away. Eventually, she found herself assisting Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, and through her came into contact with Bruce Wayne. Not only would Cassandra become a superhero, but she would also be adopted into the Bat-family.

The DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration is set to provide a collection of stories created by Asian and Asian American artists, featuring a variety of iconic characters from DC's roster. Cain's story, written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Marcus To, will be one of the anthology's focuses. However, it will also feature Shoes, also known as Cheshire Cat, an apprentice to Catwoman, which will be written by Ram V and illustrated by Audrey Mok. The anthology is also set to debut an entirely original superhero from Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang.

Artgerm was born in Hong Kong and describes his artwork as a blend of Western and Eastern styles. Working as a concept artist, designer and illustrator, Artgerm was also the co-founder and creative director of Imaginary Friends Studios. Through this studio, he has had the chance to work alongside companies such as Square Enix, DC and Marvel on various art-related projects.

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration will be released in comic book stores and participating digital retailers on May 11.

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Source: DC