Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part VI: Between Dark & Dawn

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2006 (contents: 2004)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2013

Birds of Prey: Between Dark & Dawn

Writer: Gail Simone
Pencillers: Ed Benes, Ron Adrian, Jim Fern, Eduardo Barreto, Eric Battle
Inkers: Ed Benes, Rob Lea, Steve Bird, Andrew Pepoy, Rodney Ramos
Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Ken Lopez

This time, the Huntress is the agent of the Oracle out in the field doing crazy things, and it's a nice contrast to what Dinah is normally tasked with; we get to dig into the head of the Gotham vigilante too hardcore for even Batman. Meanwhile, Dinah has to stop Barbara from snapping. There's even a Superman cameo, though it perhaps raises too many questions in the long run. Oracle is given an opponent worthy of her skill, and there's some disturbing visions within her own mind.  On the whole a competent storyline, though perhaps the least interesting one since Simone took over the Birds of Prey title.

A couple single-issue stories finish out the volume. The first features Black Canary and the Huntress beating up some henchmen, and then Black Canary laying the smackdown on Savant, who tortured her back in Of Like Minds; this was an okay story, let down by stiff and difficult artwork.

The last story is just confusing. All of a sudden, Barbara's clocktower and the Birds' base has been blown up! I guess this happening in a Batman story running at the same time, but it seems off that an event of such importance to Birds of Prey would happen in a completely different title, and with us barely getting a glimpse of it. What would bring Barbara to do this? I'll never know, or at least not for a while. This paves the way for a new setup, with Lady Blackhawk joining the team as they move to a mobile aerial base. I was really surprised by this, as it means that the ostensibly classic setup of Simone writing (and Benes usually drawing) Black Canary, Oracle, and Huntress on the team while in Gotham lasts a mere three collections. Given what an impact the series had in this form, I had expected it to last longer.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part IV: Of Like Minds

Comic trade paperback, 143 pages
Published 2004 (contents: 2003-04)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2013

Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds

Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Ed Benes
Inkers: Alex Lei with Rob Lea
Letterers: John E. Workman, Rob Leigh, Jared K. Fletcher

The cover of this one made me feel a little skeevy when I picked it up from the library-- only one button, Oracle? a "belly window," Huntress?-- but this is the start of Gail Simone's celebrated run on Birds of Prey. For most of the story, Black Canary is captured and seemingly under threat of torture, an interesting contrast to what happened to her at the beginning of Mike Grell's Green Arrow run in The Longbow Hunters. That torture removed her sonic cry, destroyed her ability to have children, and caused her to largely abandon her crime-fighting career. And, of course, she was utterly dependent on Green Arrow to rescue her. (Though what's not often mentioned is that in the prelude to The Black Arrow Saga a couple years later, Green Arrow was just as badly tortured, and rescued by Black Canary in an amazing example of sheer ass-kicking.) The torture her serves as a rebirth of sorts for Black Canary: she remasters her sonic cry, and she's rescued not by her boyfriend, but by her new best friends, Oracle and the Huntress, working together as they've never done before-- not to mention Canary's own quick thinking. It's an effective way to signal the beginning of a new era.

Otherwise, this is a serviceable but unremarkable superhero story, involving captures, double-bluffs, escapes, and lots of fighting. The best part of it is Simone's grasp of the characters; she ably picks up the ball from Chuck Dixon and carries on the development of Dinah and Barbara, adding Helena into the mix as well. There are a lot of great moments: Helena saving a baby, Dinah having to cope with a wheelchair of her own, Barbara's battle of wits with Savant.

If only Ed Benes didn't feel compelled to show off all the female characters' butts and boobs at every opportunity. Are you fifteen, dude? What is this supposed to be in aid of? I also miss the Black Canary costume introduced at the beginning of Dixon's run; I'm not sure where it went in the gap between Old Friends, New Enemies and this story. Benes also draws Dinah a little too young; especially with that haircut, she looks like she's 20 years old, when in fact she's a few years older than Barbara. On the other hand, I think he gets Barbara down perfectly, and he's pretty adept with facial expressions, which is important when you have a largely immobile character!