Star Trek: Encounters with the Unknown by Jeffrey Moy, W. C. Carani, et al.

Star Trek Classics #3: Encounters with the Unknown

Collection published: 2012
Contents originally published: 2000-01
Read: April 2026

Written by Nathan Archer, Janine Ellen Young & Doselle Young, Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith

Pencils by Jeffrey Moy, David Roach, Robert Teranishi
Background Assists by Philip Moy

Inks by W. C. Carani, David Roach, Claude St. Aubin

Colors by Dan Brown (with Nick Bell)

Letters by Ryan Cline (with Jenna Garcia) & Naghmeh Zand

Like Enemy Unseen, this "Star Trek Classics" release on Hoopla from IDW takes a Wildstorm trade paperback from the 2000s and rebrands it. While Enemy Unseen collected several otherwise unrelated Next Generation stories, this one collects four Voyager stories, three double-length one-shots and one three-part miniseries. I was surprised that the obviously intentionally vague title Encounters with the Unknown is actually pretty applicable to all four stories even though it feels like it could be applied to almost any Star Trek story if you squinted hard enough!

The first story is "False Colors," whose basic premise is that Voyager encounters what seems to be a Borg ship, but turns out to be something else entirely, and then Seven, Chakotay, and Tuvok must infiltrate it in the guise of Borg drones... leading to Seven possibly starting her own little collective. Like Perchance to Dream from Enemy Unseen, it reads like it's written by someone who is new to the comics medium: lots of word balloons, few visually interesting things near the beginning, the kind of stuff that might make for a fine episode of the tv show but is dull on the comics page. When the interesting conceit of the story finally turns up—would it be ethical for Seven to establish a "collective" of her own if it helps protect Voyager? how would she feel if she did?—it's not really used in an interesting way, the characters don't seem to actually face a dilemma due to it.

I felt like the whole comic might have been constructed around the idea of the shocking cover image of Seven as a Borg—which to be fair, was similar to how several actual Voyager episodes were developed.
from Star Trek: Voyager: False Colors #1 (script by Nathan Archer, art by Jeffrey Moy & Philip Moy and W. C. Carani)

The second story in this volume is the one story I can say I've wholeheartedly enjoyed across both volumes of Star Trek Classics that I read. "Avalon Rising" is about the Doctor being sent to an alien planet to recover an artifact blocking transporters; the planet is in a medieval time period, and its knights and squires interpret the Doctor as a wizard from a distant land, a role he ends up leaning into. It's delightful stuff: visually interesting (artist David A. Roach proves every bit as adept with this Doctor as the one he normally illustrates) and the dialogue and character arc for Bob Picardo's Doctor are pitch perfect (the writing is by the unknown-to-me wife-and-husband team of Janine Ellen Young and Doselle Young). It's the kind of premise you could image them doing on screen, but they never did, reminiscent of some screen episodes (sort of a mix of "Heroes and Demons" and "Muse" and "Living Witness") without being derivative of them. Neat conceit as the Doctor retells stories of Voyager's adventures through a medieval lens, a nice heartwarming ending. Honestly, one of the best Star Trek comics I've ever read.

Unlike any other story in the volume, this one was clearly constructed around interesting visuals suited to the comics medium.
from Star Trek: Voyager: Avalon Rising #1 (script by Janine Ellen Young & Doselle Young, art by David Roach)

Next comes "Elite Force," which I guess must be an adaptation of the videogame of the same name. Despite writing by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, stalwarts of space adventures comics in general (e.g., Legion Lost) and Star Trek comics in particular (e.g., Early Voyages), I found this hard to grab onto; the "Hazard Team" characters just don't give us enough to care about. Plus (and this isn't their fault) two stories about derelict Borg and scavengers in one volume is too many!

This guy's entire personality is "dumb jock."
from Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force #1 (script by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, art by Jeffrey Moy & W. C. Carani)

Lastly there's Planet Killer, a three-part miniseries about Voyager coming across another iteration of the same weapon as in "The Doomsday Machine" from the original series. The beginning is too slow and obvious considering the reader already knows what's up even if the characters don't; the second issue wastes half its pages on Harry Kim laboriously recapping "Doomsday Machine" for some reason; the third issue is very rushed, with a lot of stuff happening in reported speech or narration, instead of on the page. Like "False Colors," too talky for a comic, and despite some good efforts by artists Robert Teranishi (who I don't know) and Claude St. Aubin (who did strong work on DC's R.E.B.E.L.S. a few years after this), the action sequences lack the necessary intensity to make the premise work. The guest character feels like an afterthought (contrast them to Commodore Decker in the episode this story very closely mirrors).

Probably the best part of the art were all the ship-in-danger shots; very well done.
from Star Trek: Voyager: Planet Killer #3 (script by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch, art by Robert Teranishi & Claude St. Aubin)

So, on the whole, aside from "Avalon Rising," there's little here I'd call "classic." (Oh, also my Hoopla edition has a mistake where what's included as the first page of "False Colors" is actually the first page of "Elite Force." I think the first page of "False Colors" is missing as a result.)

Golden Age Secret Files & Origins by John Ostrander, Cliff Chiang, et al.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, DC did a lot of "Secret Files & Origins" one-shots, which would have a couple short stories about a character or theme, coupled with some profile pages or other in-universe background. There were two JSA ones, as well as one JLA/JSA one, the stories from which are all collected in the JSA by Geoff Johns collections. But aside from a five-page story included in The Justice Society Returns!, this one has gone uncollected, so I picked it up on its own.

There is some JSA focus here (the aforementioned story and a profile page), but much of the issue focuses on the Crimson Avenger. "The Crimson" was, I think, DC's second superhero in publication order, following Superman, which meant that following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was the first one.* The story "The Dawn of the Golden Age," written by John Ostrander and drawn by Cliff Chiang, focuses on this legacy; reporter Clark Kent tries to figure out what motivated Lee Travis to put on a costume and fight crime. What the story does is kind of clever; it reinstates Superman as the first superhero by having Travis be inspired by a vision of the future where he sees Superman! It's a nice story, supplemented by some strong art from an early Cliff Chiang, who I always like. Ostrander, as always, is good at character voices and continuity, which is exactly what this story needs. There's also a text story in the form of a faux newspaper interview of Travis by Jonathan Law (the Tarantula from All-Star Squadron) and a profile page. Back when I read the Thomases' The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy, I said you could make a good trade out of that, Secret Origins #5, and DC Comics Presents #38. Well, now clearly you would chuck in this stuff to wrap it all up; it would make a good follow-up to the DCCP story.

script by John Ostrander, art by Cliff Chiang

"The Dawn of the Golden Age" is a full twenty-page story; the rest of the volume is filled out with shorter ones. I already discussed "Scenes From The Class Struggle at J.S.A. Mansion" when I read it in Justice Society Returns!; the other two are a kind of funny story about Dr. Occult trying to get Zatara the Magician to be become a crimefighter and a frankly baffling one about young Dr. Sivana.

Decent stuff overall; as a fan of the post–Golden Age Crimson Avenger, I'm glad I tracked it down.

* Sometimes, anyway. Sandman Mystery Theatre pushed the Sandman's debut back so that it preceded the Crimson's, for example... but the story here ignores that and has Sandy explicitly say Wes was inspired by the case of the Crimson Avenger and the Phantom of the Fair. That said, Sandy wasn't around yet when that happened, so what does he know?

 

Golden Age Secret Files & Origins was originally published in one issue (Feb. 2001). The comic stories were written by John Ostrander, Tom Peyer, Peter Gross, and Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt; pencilled by Cliff Chiang, Peter Grau, Peter Gross, and Jamal Igle; inked by Cliff Chiang, Claude St. Aubin, Peter Gross, and Rod Ramos; colored by Tom McCraw; and lettered by John Costanza and Richard Starkings. The text story and profile pages were written by Scott Beatty, and the profile pages were illustrated by Peter Grau & Christian Alamy, Mike Collins & Bob McLeod, Mark Propst, and Michael Lark. The issue was edited by Tony Bedard.

 

This post is thirty-third in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers JSA by Geoff Johns, Book Three. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)
8. Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt (1985)
9. Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7 (1983-85)
10. Infinity, Inc. #11-53 (1985-88) [reading order]
11. Last Days of the Justice Society of America (1986-88)
12. All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant (1999)
13. Steel, the Indestructible Man (1978)
14. Superman vs. Wonder Woman: An Untold Epic of World War Two (1977)
• Wonder Woman: Earth-Two (1977-78)
15. Secret Origins of the Golden Age (1986-89)
16. The Young All-Stars (1987-89)
17. Gladiator (1930) ["Man-God!" (1976)]
    
18. The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy (1981-88)
19. The Immortal Doctor Fate (1940-82)
20. Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice (1951-91)
21. Armageddon: Inferno (1992)
22. Justice Society of America vol. 2 (1992-93)
23. The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern (1992-93)
24. Damage (1994-96)
25. The Justice Society Returns! (1999-2001)
26. Chase (1998-2002)
27. Stargirl by Geoff Johns (1999-2003)
28. The Sandman Presents: The Furies (2002)
29. JSA by Geoff Johns, Book One (1999-2000)
30. Wonder Woman: The 18th Letter: A Love Story (2000)
31. Two Thousand (2000)
32. JSA by Geoff Johns, Book Two (1999-2003)
    

The End of R.E.B.E.L.S. (2009-11): To Be a R.E.B.E.L. and Starstruck

It ought to be a crime that DC stopped collecting Tony Bedard's 2009-11 revival of R.E.B.E.L.S. with only eight issues to go. One more trade paperback would have sufficed to get the whole series in book form. It's a particular shame because this was probably the best DC space-based ongoing since L.E.G.I.O.N.-- it has its flaws (mostly too many characters that didn't get enough focus), but it certainly outdid both The Darkstars and the original R.E.B.E.L.S.

There is a sense here that the book is on its way out, though. Issues #21-23 are To Be a R.E.B.E.L., a story bringing Vril Dox's reestablished L.E.G.I.O.N. into conflict with the Green Lantern Corps. With Green Lanterns featuring prominently in the stories and on the covers, it feels like an attempt to cash in on how popular the Green Lantern Corps was at the time under Geoff Johns-- which surely wouldn't be needed if R.E.B.E.L.S. had been doing fine on its own. But Tony Bedard and Claude St. Aubin make the most of this mandate (if mandate this was): the two Green Lanterns are a Psion and an Okaaran, both Vegan species from the old Omega Men series, and using them allows for some new perspectives on the Vega system (L.E.G.I.O.N.'s new home base), and a decent role for Starfire.

The last five issues constitute Starstruck (numbered "Part 1," "Part 2," "Part 3," "Part 3," and "Conclusion"), which brings back series nemesis Starro the Conqueror for one last confrontation. Compared to the previous Dox/Starro clashes we've seen, this one feels much less epic, as Starro never controls more than the Psion homeworld and Ranagar, and it also seems rushed. One assumes Bedard knew his time was up and brought back the series's big bad for a finale (it was indicated when Starro was originally defeated that he would indeed be back), but didn't have enough issues to make it as exciting as he wanted. (It also hurts that with #24, the issues go from 22 pages to 20.)

It's not without its moments, however. Lobo using a clothespin to stop himself from being seduced via scent is great, as is how Lobo eventually defeats Starro's sub-boss, Smite. The Psion plan is a pretty incredible one, though there's something seeded with it that will never be followed up on, given that shortly after this was published, the DC universe was rebooted in Flashpoint. It's always fun to see Dox be Dox, but he probably gets the fewest good moments of the whole series in this storyline. Previously, Bedard and company balanced action and character well, but this climax tilts a little bit too much to action, and the solution to the Starro menace is surprisingly simple. Though I obviously wish it had been collected, this is only an adequate end to R.E.B.E.L.S.

Review: R.E.B.E.L.S.: Sons of Brainiac by Tony Bedard, Claude St. Aubin, Scott Hanna, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2011 (contents: 2010) 
Acquired August 2012
Read September 2016

R.E.B.E.L.S.: Sons of Brainiac

​

Writer: Tony Bedard

Artists: Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna
Additional Pencils: Sergio Ariño
Additional Inks: Walden Wong
Colorists: Jose Vilarrubia, Tanya & Richard Horie
Letterer: Travis Lanham

The last volume of R.E.B.E.L.S. sees a new status quo emerge: New Rann, formerly Throneworld, has been transported into the Vega system, longtime base of operations for the Omega Men. In exchange, the people of New Rann have let Vril Dox set up a new headquarters for a new L.E.G.I.O.N. there. This pulls together a lot of the diverse threads of DC's space stories, even more when you remember (as writer Tony Bedard does) that the Vega system and the Omega Men were originally devised as backstory for the Teen Titans' Starfire, who turns up in this volume wondering what New Rann is doing where her home planet once was. And then once Starfire's sister, Queen Komand'r, and a pair of rookie Green Lanterns turn up, things really get crazy.

Poor Comet. Go find Marij'n-- she loved you.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #18 (art by Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna)

Which is, of course, the exact kind of situation in which Vril Dox and thus R.E.B.E.L.S. as a series excel. In the book's first story, "What Happens in Vega...", things keep on escalating until Dox pulls the perfect rabbit out of his hat. It's like a classic L.E.G.I.O.N. tale of old, done just so, with humor and action. Starfire is a welcome addition to the team, and her relationship with Captain Comet gives that character-- a favorite of mine since Jim Starlin's Mystery in Space-- some much-needed focus. I liked how he had a much more "old-fashioned" view of relationships than Starfire, which makes sense, as he came of age during the 1950s! (And I was pleased that Adam and Comet discuss Tyrone, Comet's totally awesome genetically enhanced dog from that series, though sad that he doesn't actually turn up here.) And the idea of a relationship between Komand'r and Vril Dox is delicious.

Review: R.E.B.E.L.S.: The Son and the Stars by Tony Bedard, Claude St. Aubin, Andy Clarke, Scott Hanna, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2010 (contents: 2010) 
Acquired August 2012
Read September 2016

R.E.B.E.L.S.: The Son and the Stars

​

Writer: Tony Bedard

Artists: Claude St. Aubin, Andy Clarke, Scott Hanna, Geraldo Borges
Colorist: Jose Vilarrubia
Letterers: Steve Wands, Travis Lanham

R.E.B.E.L.S. is back on form with its third volume. Bedard is great at action, great at keeping the story moving, and great at weaving in old continuity without being distracting. In this volume, the series is affected by the DC crossover Blackest Night, but it's not a distraction: the massive outbreak of space zombies forces both Vril Dox and his enemy Starro the Conqueror to reformulate their plans. Plus, it allows for some tie-ins to the original L.E.G.I.O.N. run, as long-serving L.E.G.I.O.N.naire Stealth, mother of Vril Dox's child, is now dead and thus a Black Lantern. Before you know it, Lyrl Dox has a Starro spore... and Vril Dox has become a Yellow Lantern? I never knew I wanted that until I got it.

Sinestro has got nothing on Vril Dox when it comes to being an asshole.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #11 (art by Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna)

This is a little more action-driven than previous R.E.B.E.L.S. installments, but Bedard and his artistic collaborators keep the action interesting by varying it, and by keeping a lot of focus on characters and their relationships: Dox and his son, Dox and Stealth, and so on. It's nice that some DC space heroes left "homeless" by the cancellation of Jim Starlin's space stories (Captain Comet and Adam Strange) have a home here now, but it does mean the R.E.B.E.L.S. team is getting a bit crowded, and indeed, Bedard seems to realize this, as Strata and Garv depart in this volume, but still, Ciji the Durlan and Strata's friend Bounder still feel very underdeveloped: what motivates them? Still, this is the big action finale, not exactly the spot for character ruminations, and it's good at what it does, and the end promises a new set-up going forward.

Using first-person narration in the action-heavy issues is a good tactic, too.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #14 (art by Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna)

Review: R.E.B.E.L.S.: Strange Companions by Tony Bedard, Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin, Scott Hanna, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2010 (contents: 2009) 
Acquired August 2012
Read September 2016

R.E.B.E.L.S.: Strange Companions

​

Writer: Tony Bedard

Pencillers: Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin, Karl Moline, Derec Donovan, Kalman Andrasofszky
Inkers: Andy Clarke, Scott Hanna, Mark Pennington, Derec Donovan, Kalman Andrasofszky
Colorist: Jose Vilarrubia
Letterers: Steve Wands, Travis Lanham

I didn't like this as much as volume 1 of R.E.B.E.L.S., I suspect mostly just because it collects less. The Coming of Starro contained six issues that functioned as a near-complete story, though they were obviously setting up for something bigger, but Strange Companions collects three issues of the regular series plus an annual that lays out backstory for Starro the Conqueror and some of his minions.

I don't know how this would all read to a L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S. novice, but as an experienced reader, I dug both the continuity and the humorous take on it.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #8 (art by Andy Clarke)

What's here is good, though. Vril Dox tries to recruit the strange Gil'dishpan (last seen in Invasion! invading the Earth) to his side against Starro, only to run afoul of their xenophobia. He also goes after his son Lyrl, last seen as the villain in the previous R.E.B.E.L.S. series, but now a harmless teenager. (I was glad to see that writer Tony Bedard ignored the idea Tom Peyer introduced in his run on R.E.B.E.L.S., that after Stealth raped Dox and bore his son they fell in love-- their relationship here is referred to in purely biological terms.) Meanwhile, the Omega Men are recruited by one of their old enemies, the Psions, and Dox adds Captain Comet and Adam Strange to his team. A nice, big space adventure is unfolding; it's just that three issues means it doesn't get to unfold very much.

The highlight of this book so far is the big, weird team Dox has assembled:

Smiling Kanjar Ro is so amazing.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #9 (art by Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna)

That's Garv and Strata (silicon-based ex-L.E.G.I.O.N. cops) and their son Rocky; Wildstar (a Native American from outer space transformed into an energy being); Ciji (a shapeshifting Durlan in the form of a Khund child); Bounder (ex-L.E.G.I.O.N. cop who can transform into a stone ball); Amon Hakk (a Khund bounty hunter considered a failure by his people for his time in L.E.G.I.O.N. as a R.E.C.R.U.I.T.); Kanjar Ro (former alien dictator and long-time foe of the Justice League); Dox himself (son of Superman foe Brainiac); Captain Comet (evolutionary throw-forward from Earth who was once head of L.E.G.I.O.N. himself as well as an independent P.I. on Hardcore Station); and Adam Strange (human protector of the planet New Rann). Not pictured is the former Dominator Fleet Admiral of the Xylon Expanse, who has rededicated the R.E.B.E.L.S. as his caste. It's a mismatched group of misfits, which is exactly the sort of groups I like reading space adventure comics about. Hopefully Tony Bedard can manage the sprawling cast size!

I dunno why I find it creepy... but I really do.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual #1 (art by Kalman Andrasofszky)

The annual featuring the backstory of Starro and his minions was decent. There are some quite complicated backstories for minions who I suspect won't amount to much; what was nice was finally understanding how the humanoid Starro in R.E.B.E.L.S. relates to the giant starfish form we've seen menace the Justice League time and again. The giant starfish versions creep me out a lot. I'm a little disappointed they're not the "real" Starro. Supposedly star conquerors have attacked the Earth three times before; I wonder which specific Starro stories Bedard is counting in continuity? The references are very vague. The only one I've read is the Grant Morrison JLA story where the Justice League needs help from Dream of the Endless to defeat Starro.

Review: R.E.B.E.L.S.: The Coming of Starro by Tony Bedard, Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin, and Scott Hanna

Over the past week, my reviews of Big Finish's final two novel-to-audio Doctor Who adaptations appeared at Unreality SF: Original Sin and Cold Fusion, both featuring the seventh Doctor, Chris, and Roz, and the latter adding in the fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan for good measure.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2010 (contents: 2009) 
Acquired April 2010
Previously read June 2010
Reread September 2016

R.E.B.E.L.S.: The Coming of Starro

​

Writer: Tony Bedard

Artists: Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna
Colorist: Jose Villarrubia
Letterers: Travis Lanham, Steve Wands

I read this book over six years ago; it would have been, like, my fifth DC universe space comic. Now I'm rereading it in preparation for finally reading the three follow-up volumes, and these days I've read twice that many space trade paperbacks, plus tons of uncollected space comics like The Omega Men, L.E.G.I.O.N., the original R.E.B.E.L.S., and more. I really enjoyed it the first time around, when it was part of my introduction to the larger world of DC space; I still really enjoyed it now that it I'm familiar with that larger world. There's even a tie-in to Tony Bedard's run on Legion of Super-Heroes, which I coincidentally read shortly before this reread, so I got more out of that this time, too.*

The only thing better than one Brainiac is two Brainiacs. Later in the series, they'll get up to three Brainiacs at once; sadly, they never bring in all four at once. (Or five? Who is Brainiac 4, anyway?)
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #2 (art by Andy Clarke)

Obviously this follows up on the events of L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S. from the 1980s and '90s, as well as more recent space series. Adam Strange: Planet Heist and Omega Men showed that Vril Dox had reassumed command of a computer-controlled L.E.G.I.O.N.; now that computer has been taken over by Starro, L.E.G.I.O.N. robots are turning on their client worlds, and Vril Dox is on the run and has to build a team to reassert control over L.E.G.I.O.N. and defeat Starro. So far, the team includes old L.E.G.I.O.N. favorites Strata and Amon Hakk, plus some new characters too. Bedard has Vril Dox's voice pegged perfectly: he is the superintelligent master manipulator of old, even when he's on the run.

I miss Strata, but I also miss when Strata wasn't so whiny (i.e., when Strata wasn't yet married).
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #3 (art by Andy Clarke)

The art is great, too: both art teams have realistic styles that provide details facial expressions, which is good for adding to the character in a team-based book like this. The book moves quickly, operates on a great cosmic scale (we see Maltus, the Dominators, Earth, Cairn, and the Vega system), and has some fun action-- this is everything a space-based superhero comic should be, if you ask me.

The only thing that makes a jerk worse is the jerk being right.
from R.E.B.E.L.S. #6 (art by Claude St. Aubin & Scott Hanna)

* Brainac 5 suggests his ancestor recruit a team based on the 31st-century Legion of Super-Heroes in order to take back L.E.G.I.O.N. Weirdly, this causes Vril Dox to recruit a new team member patterned on Dawnstar... who never appeared in the threeboot Legion that Brainiac 5 hails from!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XIV: Oracle: The Cure

Comic trade paperback, 126 pages
Published 2010 (contents: 2009)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2013

Oracle: The Cure

Writers: Tony Bedard, Kevin VanHook
Pencillers: Claude St. Aubin, Fernando Pasarin, Julian Lopez
Inkers: John Floyd, Matt Ryan, Bit, David Bryant, Norm Rapmund, Fernando Pasarin
Letterer: Steve Wands, Pat Brosseau

This collection bridges the gap between the first and second iterations of Birds of Prey, breaking up the original team and then showing us Barbara operating on her own. The Birds get their final showdown with the Calculator, who has been dogging them on-and-off since Perfect Pitch. I liked this, though it was obviously very rushed, and Barbara is forced to blow up yet another headquarters. Less convincing was Babs breaking up the Birds-- she just smashed the Joker in the face (and played a key role in the Final Crisis if I have my timeline right)! How could she be lacking in self-confidence now?

Mopey-for-no-reason Barbara drives the rest of this book, in a solo adventure where she tries to stop the Calculator from getting hold of the anti-life equation. Barbara has been written better, for sure-- characters always seem to be telling her tech-stuff here. There's a good idea here, but the story never really engages the reader. Except maybe with a good twist at the end... but then it's too late, and the staging is very awkward and sudden.

Also: gratuitous shower scene. What the hell? And Guillem March's covers are like 50% beautiful, 50% skeevy.

(Point of interest: as I usually do with comics, I acquired my copy of this book via interlibrary loan. The library my copy came from? That of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center.)

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part XIII: Platinum Flats

Comic trade paperback, 137 pages
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2013

Birds of Prey: Platinum Flats

Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencillers: Michael O'Hare, Nicola Scott, Claude St. Aubin
Inkers: John Floyd, Doug Hazlewood
Letterers: Sal Cipriano, Jared K. Fletcher, Pat Brosseau, Travis Lanham, Swands

Tony Bedard, writer of Club Kids, returns to Birds of Prey with this volume, and though his approach is more plot-driven and less character-focused than his last time out, he still demonstrates that he understands the characters of the Birds of Prey and sets up some strong scenarios for them. As this book opens, the Birds have just relocated to Platinum Flats, the Silicon Valley of the DC Universe, and it's a decent setting, fitting enough for Oracle, and indicative of a new direction the book will never get to carry out, as this is its last volume (in this incarnation). There are some definite cool parts to it, especially the potential of Misfit attending a high school where the Huntress is a teacher, that's a shame will never go anywhere.

The main plot of the book, picking up from what was set up in Metropolis or Dust, initially concerns the evil tech syndicate at the heart of Platinum Flats, but this is soon derailed by the arrival of the Joker. The tech folks are good villains in and of themselves, especially the half-dead Gizmo, and Bedard has done some good work with the Calculator, but the arrival of the Joker is what makes the book-- it's the first real rematch between Barbara and the Joker since the legendary events of The Killing Joke. Physically inferior to the Joker, Barbara has to rely on her wits and her determination in fighting him, and she shows what an awesome character she's become since she stopped being Batgirl in the course of this showdown-- especially its end, which is fantastic.

Also: I love Carface. Shame this guy never became a recurring villain.

Misfit is as fun as always in this volume-- I love it when she shows up with Huntress's bike-- and the appearance of Dinah was a little gratuitous, but welcome. On the other hand. Manhunter continues to feel like she's only on the periphery of this team, and Infinity is just kinda there.

The first issue here is, alas, the last of long-running art team Nicola Scott and Doug Hazlewood, who have definitely been the best to grace this title. No one draws Huntress quite so well, I think. But Michael O'Hare and Claude St. Aubin are both able replacements-- a little sketchier in style, but still quite good.

I don't really understand why Birds of Prey had to end, but if it did, this is a good way to go out.