BIRDS OF PREY #7

[superfangirl1]

Comments

[eyz]

---this new Birds of Prey doesn't sound that bad after the initial "shock".
I mean, I kinda warmed up to the stories, the roster and these characters

[mrstatham]

I think it's solid. It's probably less fun than Simone's run, but I like how it's a little more serious and yet still has some humour going. I think the shake-up really, really helped it.

[junipepper]

"Less fun" pretty much sums up the DCnU for me.

[mrstatham]

I don't think I've ever found that many superhero comics particularly 'fun' in some ways, but still, my point stands. I think Simone's second BOP run was pretty miserable, personally.

[q99]

Yea.

Considering that most of the other female titles have issues of one sort or another (evil Amazons, constant Killing Joke references, gratuitous sex), I'm definitely giving this book another chance.

[lascoden]

Which one has the gratuitous sex? Catwoman? Has their been a lot more outside the first issue, I haven't really been paying attention to it.
Also, Supergirl is pretty good, in my opinion.

[q99]

Catwoman's first issue, and Starfire's whole thing are what I was thinking of.

Oh yea, Supergirl. So SG, Birds, and Batwoman are what I'd consider the good books with female leads.

[lascoden]

Ah, Red Hood and the Outlaws. I've been reading that, and I think it's getting better. Don't get me wrong, there are still quite a few problems, but I think it has the potential to resolve its issues.

[q99]

It still amazes me that DC has so little awareness that they didn't think on how they'd come off with those openings.

[mrstatham]

In the case of Catwoman, I don't think the art helps much. Every panel seems to be just weirdly constructed for maximum sexiness, or what March thinks is sexy.

[darkknightjrk]

Yeah--I think it definitely has one of the key things that made Gail's run really solid, in that it had strong characterization and gives the Birds good character moments with each other (the scene where Dinah and Katanna were sparring was pure Gail), while creating a really intriguing, compelling plot, which I honestly don't think Gail's run on BOP never really had.

[mrstatham]

I'm really enjoying the mystery behind Choke. When Snyder has basically played his hand in Batman and Detective Comics is surprisingly void of any really detective work, it's nice to have a genuine mystery.

This is easily the best the book's been since Simone's first run, way back when. Shame it took the reboot to do it.

[icon_uk]

Given the sheer quantity of freaky shit that goes down in the DCU, why is Dinah doubting that Tatsu could have a magic soul-capturing sword if she says she has?

[jlbarnett]

it's a newer DCU. There's less faith in the supernatural, it's all super science that may as well be magic

[icon_uk]

So if she'd just superglued a couple of circuit-boards onto the hilt of the sword and added an LED or two, they'd just accept it? :)

[sharky_chan]

Only if she also added an accelerometer to make light sabre noises when she swings it...

[lieut_kettch]

Blame it on the DCnU. This Dinah never had Kent Nelson and Alan Scott for uncles.

[jlbarnett]

I knew Starling was screwed up

[mrstatham]

Actually, I think it's Canary who's meant to be screwy. Her perspective seems to be all over the place here.

[kamino_neko]

Yep.

The whole team is fucked, right now, and it's Dinah and Babs who are really showing it the worst. The fact that they know that Starling's been compromised by the mind-controlling villain, and don't ever stop to think the rest of the team might be is a pretty clear indicator that they're both not in their right heads. (As is the the fighting they're doing.)

[jlbarnett]

well Babs is barely on the team, is she?

[mrstatham]

I don't think she was meant to be, but she's definitely a part of it permanently, now. I think the writer (apologies to him because I can't spell his name) has decided just to include her as a member since her entry back in #4, I think?

[aeka]

Yup. I'm pretty sure it was confirmed on one of the solicitations a while back that Batgirl would be joining the Birds permanently.

[mrstatham]

Given she's still on the covers with issue 9 or 10, I think, when Travel Foreman comes over from Animal Man, I think that pretty much seals the deal, given the Clench storyline is done by that point.

[kamino_neko]

Her joining late (she's been a major active member for the last couple issues) is rather beside the point.

She knows they're dealing with a mind controller. She knows (or should know) he's already gotten Dinah at least once - and the guy who supposedly fixed her after that is known by the point of this conversation to have been either Choke, an ally of Choke, or one of Choke's puppets. That, right there, should be enough to go from 'one of us is compromised' to 'the rest of us might be, too'.

Add in that her first mission with them included everybody losing a significant amount of time - and different amounts, so that there were multiple conversations about what one person remembered, and the other didn't (Ivy and Ev about Ev's broken hand, Dinah and Babs about Babs even being WITH the team that night) - and, if they were in their right minds (ie: Choke hadn't included a clause to not make the connection), that should lead rather inevitably to the conclusion Choke's still in their heads.

[maxisanacorn]

I think the whole mystery will culminate to a great reveal, it's actually rather exciting.


You know even though that wasn't Choke...he was still doing mind control through that guy. And it looked like there was no way of snapping him out of it. He had Starling trying to shoot the girls and Poison Ivy was compromised.

Tatsu probably did the best thing...even if it meant killing him.

I mean they could have knocked him out...took him to Batman...

[aeka]

Yeah, I suspected from the get-go that Cahill was playing a hand in the whole mind control thing since he knew the anecdote to Dinah's brain bomb. I suspected he was Choke at first but since the last issue I've been leaning more towards Choke being a member of the Court of Owls.

I am wondering though who Black Canary's husband was in this DCU. Can't be Oliver Queen since he's still alive...I want to say Larry Lance but that's her father...unless this DCnU Black Canary is Mama Canary (Dinah Drake) and she simply acquired the Canary Cry? So many questions. ._.

[kamino_neko]

I'm guessing it's Larry, since Dinah's mother as a hero doesn't fit in the current continuity, it's not out of the question that they've recombined the two into one.

[aeka]

I'll admit, I'll be sad if they go with the latter since I liked that Dinah Jr. took over the mantle from Dinah Sr., but with the JSA back on Earth-2 and main DCU Dinah is apparently the first Canary to appear...it looks highly unlikely she's still a generational heroine at this point. Unless they go back to the fact that Dinah Sr. started on Earth-2 and Dinah Jr. moved to Earth-1 following Larry's death, but given the current premise for Earth-2 right now, I'd have to go back to highly unlikely.

[darkknightjrk]

"I've been leaning more towards Choke being a member of the Court of Owls."

I've had that suspicion since they got into Choke's lair that was inside a secret 13th floor.

[aeka]

Good catch!

[tsunamiwombat]

At least they brought back the most important part: Barbara and Dinah slash.

[silverzeo]

Funny how members of the Supes and Bat family are the only ones who don't kill... Jason being the exception of course...

[md84]

So Choke was mindcontrolling a guy to mindcontrol other people. Was the writer a fan of Mass Effect 2?

Now I'm imagining Choke saying "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL" every time he activates an agent.

[icon_uk]

Frankly, if I had mind control powers I could remote into one of my meat-puppets, then that's precisely how I'd operate. I'd never make myself known, or even be in the same city as my agents unless I had a proper reason for being there. After all, why should I if I don't have to?

[tauruschick12]

I have to admit, I've loving the hell out of Ev.

[lieut_kettch]

"Ev's the only one I do trust, Barbara."

Ouch. Just OUCH.

[pyrrhocorax]

Oh noooo, Dinah's got a new girlfriend and it's awkward and sad :'(