Birds of Prey #1

[thebigapricot]

Getting the band back together

Canary and Zinda, while on assignment as seen in the preview, get a call from Babs. (Sorry for the quality of the scans. Massive hardware failures going on Chez Apricot)

Huntress also gets a call from Babs while at work. And Babs will now be known as "Spooky"

And so they are together for the first time in awhile. And the scene just captures the awkwardness, the unspoken feelings and their personalities so well. This is why I love Gail's work on BoP.


I like that it is Helena who ends up getting the most emotional. I've enjoyed Rucka's Helena in the Question, but Gail really gets the character's mix of toughness and vulnerability. Marshmallow center indeed.
So why are they back together? Somebody has info on every superhero including their relatives and their associates (like Helena's students). Sin and Charlie, both apparently with foster parents, are named checked here. Their unknown adversary threatens to kill one person on the list each hour unless the Birds play along.
That's all I'm posting to keep to limits. But Hawk and Dove are in here and there's a final page reveal that's very intriguing. I am happy to have them back. The plot doesn't wow me, the "files on every superhero" seems overused. But Gail's good at taking an overused plot and turning it inside out. I find Benes' art to be the same distraction it as always was -- ass shots and porny lips aplenty. What did everybody think?

char: black canary/dinah lance,creator: gail simone, publisher: dc comics, title: birds of prey,char: huntress/helena bertinelli, char:lady blackhawke/zinda blake, creator: ed benes

Comments

[gypsydavy]

The story set up isn't fantastically originial, so I wasn't OMGSQUEE with this issue, but I'm sure Gail will rock my socks in issues to come. I am definitely looking forward to where this could go.

Ugh, porny art, good God. I really hate this Huntress costume so so much and can't wait until it is switched to something more reasonable again. All the definition given to Babs' chest despite the fact that she is wearing a freaking sweater also threw me to the point of it being distracting. I just kept noticing all the shading and little details involved soley in showing off her rack and my mind sputtered something like,

"What..but...boobs don't... and why would you...it took so much time to make this look so stupid...UGH!"

[cmdr_zoom]

I find the cheesecake art extremely distracting. And not in a "can't take my eyes off them" way, quite the opposite - it's like someone's doing a pole dance in front of the screen while I'm trying to watch TV.

[bluejaybirdie]

Motto. I love the story, and that the Birds are back together, but the art's a bit of an eyesore. Still, at least Benes is doing backgrounds again, and it's a bit of an improvement on his JLA stuff.

[shadowpsykie]

hey he gave Zinda pants :)

[foxhack]

BLASPHEMY!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Indeed. Zinda is one of the few female characters who should NEVER have pants as part of their uniform - that miniskirt of hers is just too... HER to have anything else work properly.

[lieut_kettch]

What you say?

Zinda has pants and Helena has none? What is this world coming to?

[darkknightjrk]

"it's like someone's doing a pole dance in front of the screen while I'm trying to watch TV."

Heheheheheheheh. That's probably the best metaphor I've seen all day--I love cheesecake as much as the next guy, but YEEEEESH.

[bluefall]

Sin and Charlie, both apparently with foster parents

Eeeeeeeeh. You can read that line as "Charlie's info" (like where she's living with Helena and what school she's at, etc) rather than "Charlie's foster parents' info," if you try, which I did. Because while Babs dumping Charlie the way she did was flat-out unforgivable, period - she crossed the Tony Stark Event Horizon with that one - the mere concept of leaving her with Helena is not in itself unworkable. It's basically "go live with your uncle for a bit," which can be done without Babs abdicating her responsibility. But sending her to strangers, removing her from the family entirely? No. There's no way that could ever be okay once Babs agreed to take care of her.

I find Benes' art to be the same distraction it as always was

I think it's the coloring, but it doesn't look as Benes-y to me as Benes usually does - the monoface in particular. And I'd put the ass shots and thong lines at mid-late BoP!Benes rather than JLA!Benes, which is subdued enough to be tolerable for me. My unhealthily intense loathing for the fail!costume hasn't diminished one iota, though, and it kicked me out of the story at least once a page.

As for the rest... I'll agree that the story's nothing to get excited about, but the character work is just lovely. Zinda being funny and just going with the flow and being on the prowl for large aggressive men, Dinah dictating her behavior entirely around Barbara's comfort, Babs assuming the whole world is at her beck and call, Helena being back with her family and that being absolutely everything to her.

I'm with Hel. It's good to be home.

[shadowpsykie]

I LOVED that she asked Dawn if he was FANCY last pretty boy she crushed on was Creote.

loved helena choking up.

hmmm no mention of the three way yet...

[darkknightjrk]

"I think it's the coloring, but it doesn't look as Benes-y to me as Benes usually does - the monoface in particular."

I think that and the inking is part of it too--even in the preview pages the art looked a bit...murky. I won't say for certain (haven't gotten to my shop yet AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGH), but between the preview and the scan, it looks like Benes has toned himself down a bit here.

[bluefall]

Yeah, "murky" is definitely the word for it. It's not good, or even dynamic and super-easy to look at (which Benes' earliest BoP work at least had going for it), but it does soften and obscure some of the standard Benes weaknesses.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Of course, we don't know yet just who those foster parents ARE. They might be people connected with the superhero community somehow, which would allow Helena to visit every now and then with relative ease, etc., etc. (Of course, we don't have any evidence that this IS the case yet; I'm just sayin' it MIGHT be.)

[thebigapricot]

But foster family doesn't have to mean strangers. It could mean friends of Babs' dad or the family that ran the Italian restaurant she lived near. Doesn't mean Hel and Babs weren't keeping in contact. The idea that Helena has been taking care of Charlie all this time is somewhat problematic for me as she's been shown being out of Gotham on the road with Renee for awhile. Who has been taking care of Charlie with her out of town? If it were my choice, I would have had Zinda be the one taking care of Charlie since she's been MIA since BoP ended. It would be funny to have Charlie show up using slang from the 40s and sporting a love of Big Band music from hanging around with Zinda.

But since Gail has confirmed that Misfit will be seen in the book, we'll find out soon enough what's been going on.

[bluefall]

The idea that Helena has been taking care of Charlie all this time is somewhat problematic for me as she's been shown being out of Gotham on the road with Renee for awhile.

Yeah, but that's just standard handwavable comics - who was hanging out with Carol and Max while Young Justice was stuck on Apokolips? Who was wearing a white Super-suit when Clark was fighting Zod over Braniac? Who's training Robin when Bruce is dead and Dick's leading the Obsidian League? For the most part you can assume people are where they need to be when they need to be for a story to make sense, regardless of whether that appears to conflict with another story in a different title.

It would be funny to have Charlie show up using slang from the 40s and sporting a love of Big Band music from hanging around with Zinda.

On the other hand, this would be epic.

[lyraeinne]

Man, how sad is it that I missed out on 98% of the original BOP and still teared up for Helena, right there?

But yeah. Other than that, not an overwhelmingly awesome first issue, but I'm optimistic. And excited. Annoying man-service art and all.

[book-of-daniel.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Ed's art work but I'm also a confirmed 'mo so I don't notice the cheesecake as much.

[shadowpsykie]

me too

i do however notice the beef cake.... mmmm creote and savant... hank looked pretty too

[northstarfan]

This. I usually don't notice the beefcake but DAMN was Savant pretty.

I also liked the little nod that he's (mostly) reformed. ;)

[shadowpsykie]

the real question

Who is the White Canary?!?!?!

[sethgray]

My guess is it's someone with some connection with Lady Shiva, aiming for the birds so she can defeat Canary and claim the "New Shiva" title from her. It would be a nice way to bridge the old and new volumes, but I have no idea. That's just my guess.

[digicom]

My theory?

Bethany Thorne, last seen in BoP being recruited by Shiva. Plus, her costume, minus the martial arts elements, is very (Crime) Doctorish.

[ladymirth]

Ooh, nice one!

[ninjapeps]

Helena was wearing a sensible costume in the Question backups. why is she back in this idiotic costume?

[sethgray]

Rucka has more clout than Simone? -_-

[darkknightjrk]

Benes likes drawing that one more?

[big_daddy_d]

Too bad DC couldn't think to make this work while Dinah was still with Oliver. Now, I got that out of the way (what? I know others were thinking it) glad to see these ladies back and kicking ass. They will own the Angels any day of the week. Take that Charlie!!

[shale]

I cannot WAIT to see how Hank reacts to being the team's token Y chromosome.

[promethea4]

Ok, there are things I could quibble with, but really, right now I am so damn happy to have BOP with Gail back that I just don't care. <3

[janegray]

So it wasn't bad enough that Helena was showing her belly, now she is wearing a thong too?

[greenmask]

Do we really need all the crotch-seams? Dinah's especially, I worry she's gonna zip her lips.

[dimwit90]

I gotta say when I was reading the part where it was hinted it the figure they were fighting was Cass, I had to keep reading with my fingers over my eyes >>

[ladymirth]

My gut-rupturing OMGGAILBIIIIIRDS Squee is somewhat harshed by my dismay by Dinah's ginormous wedgie. It makes my own lady parts itch in sympathy.

OMG, we finally get evidence that we didn't just dream Misfit and Sin into existence while tripping on magic mushrooms!! Bring them back, Gail! I anyone can do it, you can!

Also, NEVER EVER EVER EVER LEAVE!!

P.S: Benes, the cheesecake, it is baaad. Get your shit together, dude.

[jaybee3]

Cassandra Cain is actually mentioned by name in the first issue as well - which is more than the Batgirl title has done in the last 7 issues. And not only are Charlie and Sin brought up but Green Arrow is NOT. I don't know if it Gail did it on purposes to tweak those who have made "her girls" OOC but it worked for me all the same.

[crabby_lioness]

Dear PTB that read scans_daily on the sly,

I know it's a lot to ask, but my daughters would like another all-girl superhero team in addition to this one. The second team's book would have less gore, so Mommy would actually let them read it.

Thank you.

CrabbyLioness, writing for her cubs.

[hush_pretty_bird]

you know why I love Huntress?

she kicks high.

lol jk but seriously, THE ART...it's not working for me at all. christ. I feel like we're going to be seeing some goddamn camel toe soo :I

[pyrotwilight]

I'm calling it now...White Canary is grown up Sin.

[ladymirth]

Don't even go there! D: