Meet Gotham’s covert ops team, the….wait….did they even tell us their name?
What They Say:
One is wanted for a murder she didn’t commit. The other is on the run because she knows too much. They are Dinah Laurel Lance and Ev Crawford–Black Canary and Starling–and together, as Gotham City’s covert ops team, they’re taking down the villains other heroes can’t touch!
The Review:
The first issue of the new Birds of Prey jumps straight into the action and maintains it throughout the length of the book. Any exposition we are given is told through the use of flashbacks during the fight. To start off the story we are shown a reporter name Mr. Keen in a church talking with his ‘source’. This source is the one who told him that the super criminals Black Canary and Starling are part of a black ops team. Just before Keen is killed our heroines burst into the church and begin tearing up the place…and the bad guys.
The artwork in this book is on par with the other Batman related series, particularly Batgirl. It’s nothing groundbreaking but it isn’t too generic, which is nice to keep ones attention. The issue treats the story as a true first issue where we meet the team and start finding out what’s going on. The bad thing is….we don’t find out squat! In fact, according to the timeline presented in the book, Canary and Starling only met about 2 – 3 weeks prior. Barbara Gordon makes a brief appearance, and Katana is mentioned. The team is really just starting out so it is kind of weird to have this reporter all obsessed with them and a shadow organization already trying to eliminate them.
The whole thing really feels disjointed to me. The characters are not really likable and we are never given anything to really bite down on that would influence us to continue reading. The action choreography is done well but…man, I could just care less. The book isn’t exactly boring but it isn’t “not boring” either. The issue ends with a lead into something that could be very interesting, but it’s too early for that. You can’t ratchet up suspense and intrigue without telling readers what it is we’re dealing with on a character level. There is no motivation or premise present in this first issue and we are supposed to be intrigued by the last panel’s developments? I call mulligan on this one.
In Summary:
Every week there always seems to be one title I check out that is completely underwhelming. Birds of Prey isn’t actively bad but it just doesn’t get it right. I understand the desire to get straight into the action but this is a team oriented series, we need to know the basics first. They attempt to fill us in a little bit but the flashbacks are awkward and haphazardly thrown in amongst the action. Not a great way to start of the series and maybe it will shape up over time…but it doesn’t make a great first impression.
Grade: C
