Birds of Prey v3: A Clash of Daggers TPB

Gail Simone and Duane Swiercynski use the third storyline as a way to swap the BoP roster around a bit. The book launched with Black Canary, Poison Ivy, Starling, Katana, and Batgirl. I’m not sure what happened with all those folks in the previous stories, as I only made it 2 or 3 issues in before I couldn’t read any more of the first trade. (Swiercynski has things moving along a little better here; while I never loved any particular issue, the story was fine.)

Back to the line-up! The first new member of the team is the mysterious “good” Talon introduced in Gail Simone’s Batgirl series. She’s fine, but it is pretty hard to get too attached to a totally mute character in a full facemask. I know people loved Cassandra Cain back in the day too, but I never really found a way to get interested in her either. (And it isn’t that they are women, I’m not a huge Snake Eyes fan either!) Later in the trade, we meet Condor, who is an affable doofus who seems to be a pretty decent guy. With his bird theme, simplistic view on crime and total lack of self-awareness, Condor is a pretty amusing addition to the team.

The storyline centers on Katana’s attempts to regain her sword from a mysterious clan of ninjas who are fond of daggers. None of the villains make for a very compelling central antagonist, which does weaken the conflict. Plus, the dagger clan totally resembles the Hand from Marvel comics, so I had to remind myself which universe I was reading about.  

So average villains plus a non-compelling storyline doesn’t leave the book too stacked with potential. That said, Swiercynski’s use of a few characters does make the book enjoyable to read. I really like Starling (I think she’s new to the new 52?), Black Canary’s power fluctuations are interesting, and it is amusing seeing Talon constantly wanting to kill her own teammates.

Admira Wijayadi, Daniel Sampere, Juan Jose Ryp, Vicente Cifuentes, and Romano Molenaar provide the art for these issues, leading me to believe there were some mad scrambles to meet deadlines. Only Ryp’s art really jumped out at me, with the intricate level of detail and gore that I’ve seen in his Avatar work. I actually think Ryp could be a pretty solid artist on a mainstream super hero book; the battle scenes were choreographed differently than I’m used to seeing.

This is an AVERAGE comic. But the good news is, I was able to finish the entire collection this time! And, I’d even read the next one! That’s a big step up for this book; one that exemplifies my feelings about the new 52 in general. 

Birds of Prey #79 & 80 (2005)

And with these two issues, I now have every issue of Gail Simone's Birds of Prey. I'm not sure why I ever dropped it, I think I must have been sore after Chuck Dixon left the book to go to Crossgen. In any case, I really dug the Birds on their cross-country tour of taking out vigilantes.

These two issues, the Birds are trying to reign in Thorn, the Metropolis vigilante suffering from split-personality disorder. I appreciate that Simone has the Birds and Thorn go up against the 100. The Metropolis villain group that is always tied to Thorn, so I liked seeing her get some sort of closure dealing with the villains. The Birds are never really in danger; these two issues are much more about the redemption of the Huntress as she joins the team. It is true, Oracle can be one manipulative lady. The entire trip around the country dealing with these vigilantes was a process to calm Huntress down and sell her on a kinder, gentler path. We know it worked, but it is interesting seeing it happen.

The best scene has to be when Black Canary shows a cop a name on her cell phone. Imagine trying to tough talk someone and they show you they have Superman on speed-dial!

Ed Benes draws everyone in these issues like a stripper. Including the male characters. Everyone is posing and standing around showing off their best assets, it's pretty funny. And Thorn's outfit is the worst. She looks like she's about to burst out of her costume in about four different places.

Good

Batgirl #1

Hmm. I'm pleased that the new Batgirl is who I thought it was, but I find myself pretty uninterested in her exploits.

SPOILERS ON: For those who missed it, Stephanie Brown, former Spoiler and former Robin is now Batgirl. It seems Cassandra Cain gave up the cowl when Bruce Wayne died, since she did all of her fighting for him. That leaves Stephanie behind to pick up the pieces. Steph is an interesting character, and I did like the parts of the issue dealing with her struggle to keep a promise to get out of the vigilante game. Bryan Miller succeeds in giving Steph a unique voice. I'm not sure if she's a freshman in high school or college though. Got to be college, right? She's been teaming up with Robin for years and years now.

I didn't care for the use of Barbara Gordon/Oracle. Miller uses the characterization established in her recent mini-series; that of an angry, moody almost recluse. Portraying Oracle that way really weakens the character, she was the brains of the DCU and now she's reduced to melodramatics and beating up toughs on the subway. I understand the mentor/mentee role that Miller is setting up, but that's a major step down for a former member of the JLA and leader of the Birds of Prey.

Lee Garbett's artwork is average. I found some of the action panels confusing (especially in the opening drag race) and his shot of Stephanie in the shower seemed unnecessary. I will say the choreography for the closing fight was much nicer, the action was clearer and easier to follow.

Average

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1

Yowch. Nightwing is now competent, but grumpy. The post-RIP stuff continues to come across poorly to me, as now even more folks are acting out of character. I also couldn't follow the text boxes, I'm unclear on which character was in the blue and yellow-oval batsuit chasing down the imposter Batman (was that Robin?) When did Damian get to be so "in" with all the Bat-folk? Didn't the Birds of Prey break up? Doesn't having Poison Ivy encourage Killer Croc to eat people make her a difficult sell as a protagonist in the upcoming Gotham Sirens? I'm also pretty annoyed that Black Mask is back again. He's been killed and come back about a half-dozen times at this point. Blowing up Arkham is getting pretty old too (but at least the Great White Shark was sprung, he even had some lines!) I've got to assume the military Batman is Jason Todd, but I am still annoyed he's even around, so I'm not happy to see him. This is a bad comic that seems to have no point. At one point I would have loved the idea of "the Network" a group of bat-allies doing their best. But I've got to think if Chuck Dixon and Doug Moench and Alan Grant were writing them, they probably would have been a lot more competent.

The art was very strange. Look at Robin's face on the cover. He looks surprised to be there! Catwoman also has a very strange expression, only Nightwing seems to realize he's on a comics cover. Tony Daniel is a very uneven artist, and that shows again here.

Poor