Entry tags:

char: batgirl/oracle/barbara gordon, char: black canary/dinah lance, char: huntress/helena bertinelli, char: lady blackhawk/zinda blake, char: lady shiva/sandra woosan, char: misfit/charlotte gage-radcliffe, char: spy smasher/katarina armstrong, creator: gail simone, title: birds of prey

Have I mentioned I love the Birds? Because I really, really do. Here are just a few reasons why.



Birds of Prey #60: Dinah is still recovering after being taken hostage by Savant, who used her to get to Oracle and left her with three fractured limbs, causing Babs to worry for her friend's safety in the field.






Birds of Prey #61: Barbara's not being particularly rational, as Dinah quickly realises - her fear of losing Dinah to one of Oracle's enemies is overriding everything else, and she's not handling it well. Still, Dinah's hurt by this apparent lack of faith in her, and it leaves her feeling as if she's got something to prove. Which leads to this great scene, in which Dinah, still wheelchair-bound, takes on a group of thugs single-handedly. (That's her canary cry destroying the car in the first panel.)








Birds of Prey #77: Just an ordinary night out on the town with Dinah, Helena and Zinda. Hideous artwork, and I'm not quite sure why Canary and Huntress chose to exit through the window, but I just love Zinda's reaction to the bar fight.








Birds of Prey #80: The scene that breaks my heart every time. Helena realises that Oracle has been manipulating her.









Birds of Prey #84: Barbara has been infected by a cybernetic virus, a remnant of Brainiac's attempted possession of her body. Realising that the cure may very well kill her, she wants to at least try to put things right between her and Huntress first.










Birds of Prey #88: A trip to the mall!




Birds of Prey #90: This. This. Helena's working an undercover operation in order to strike a blow at Gotham's mobs. Batman outright demands that Oracle shut her down, that what Helena's really angling at is getting the mobs to destroy each other, violently, by instigating gang warfare. And Babs, who's made the mistake of doubting Helena more than once, tells Batman he can shove it.






Helena doesn't disappoint. Her operation goes off without a hitch, and she comes away from it with a wealth of inside information which even Batman has never managed to get his hands on.




A stunned Batman congratulates Huntress on her excellent work, leading Canary to do this:



Bahahahaha, I love you, Zinda.

Birds of Prey #93: During Shiva's short stint on the team. Cracks me up every time. Also, Zinda is awesome.




Birds of Prey #99: Dinah leaves the team in order to devote herself to raising her adoptive daughter, Sin.








Birds of Prey #100: I just enjoy this little bit of banter between Zinda and Babs.


Birds of Prey #107: Spy Smasher, aka Katarina Armstrong, forces Oracle to work for her and takes over the Birds of Prey. Nobody takes particularly kindly to it, but it's Zinda who's the first to outright reject Kat's command. Have I mentioned Zinda is awesome?








Birds of Prey #108: Babs finally faces Spy Smasher head on.




This is the point at which Spy Smasher storms outside, only to be confronted with every single hero and antihero the Birds have ever worked with. Also, Dinah!





And THIS.


Babs can't join them because she's got something else she needs to take care of: Misfit, the relentlessly eager-to-please Batgirl wannabe who's been trying to buddy up to the Birds, and who it turns out has been doing it fairly tough behind her cheerful bravado.