Review: Birds of Prey #2
Rating: 8/10
Created in the mid 90s, Birds of Prey was initially a team-up between Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl and Dinah Lance’s Black Canary. Over the next couple of decades, there have been a variety of different members. In many cases, the line-up drew heavily from Batman related characters. The new Birds of Prey series is taking a slightly different direction and it is looking great.
From the first issue of Kelly Thompson’s run, Dinah has been avoiding involving Barbara and instead set up a new team. The mission is not revealed until the end of issue 1. And it set the alarm bells ringing.
Black Canary wants her team to infiltrate Themyscira and extract her adopted sister, Sin, who is being held captive. If they don’t, the Amazons are going to accidently bring about the end of the world. And how do they know? Meridian has travelled from the future to warn them of what might happen and help them extract Sin. All sounds very plausible.
The Birds of Prey are embarking on a combination of a heist and a rescue mission, but there are few parts of the plan that haven’t been worked out yet, like how they are going to make it onto the island and past Themyscira’s defence system. Seems like a big problem, but Harley Quinn has a solution, even though Black Canary isn’t exactly jumping at the offer.
The dynamic of the team works. There is tension and conflict. Black Canary is the leader, but not everyone follows her lead. There is a little resistance from Zealot, a character from Wildstorm comics, who does not like the idea of killing Amazons. Harley and Black Canary aren’t exactly getting along. At the moment, the final two members (Cassandra Cain as Batgirl and Big Barda from Apokolips) have been great foils for the other characters and an amusing duo.
Issue 2 moves quickly with a clear deadline and a good sense of urgency. The characters have a purpose even if they aren’t sure how they are going to achieve it. The dialogue is great and there is a good slice of action.
The only element that felt uncertain was the colours. The line work is great. The stylising of the characters is distinctive, but the colours are odd. The colours were a little more pastel than the usual comic book colour scheme, to point it wasn’t clear if the copy was faulty. Have no fear, the pastels are intentional.
The issue contains a couple of cameos. DC’s very own objectional magic user, John Constantine (he seems to be everywhere) makes an appearance and there is a special guest from the Suicide Squad at the end of the issue worth waiting for.
NeuroMyths enjoys reading comics and did not receive this comic for review purposes, but will be looking for issue #3 when the Bird of Prey arrive in Themyscira.
Pick up your copy of Birds of Prey #2 (this is a paid affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more). And if you haven’t already picked up a copy of Birds of Prey #1, I would recommend it.
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