Written by Duane Swierczynski
Illustrated by Jesus SaizOne 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 — a.k.a. Black Canary and Starling — and together, as Gotham City’s covert ops team, they’re taking down the villains other heroes can’t touch. But now they’ve attracted the attention of a grizzled newspaper reporter who wants to expose them, as well as a creepy, chameleon-like strike team that’s out to kill them.
When we here at Multiversity decided that we wanted to cover every single new #1 that DC put out this month, we had intended to do so in a myriad of different ways. So for this relaunch of DC’s Femme Fatale Family the Birds of Prey, writers David Harper and Joshua Mocle have joined forces to comment on the relative strengths and weakness of this new beginning for some very notable DC heroines.
Joshua: Say David, doesn’t it seem like we JUST had one of these? And by one of these, I mean a new beginning for the Birds of Prey?
David: Oh god, but you can say that about every book from DCnU almost. Wonder Woman has had what….four restarts in the past four years? Or something like that?
Joshua: Something like that! Be that as it may, had you ever connected with this book in the past? I know I had a brief flirtation with it in the past, but never enough to really hold my interest.
David: I liked it in the Chuck Dixon days. I dug it when One Year Later started and Gail Simone was in full swing on it. It got canceled, and when it came back last time I dropped it because I just didn’t connect with it, and let me call a spade a spade, I don’t like Ed Benes’ art.
So yeah, I have. This is a book I have history with.
Joshua: Alright, so I guess I’m the neophyte here. I’m fine with that. What were some preconceived notions you had going into the book? I know from past conversations that neither of us were chomping at the bit to dive in.
David: No, I really didn’t have any. As far as the characters were concerned, I was counting on a total reboot, which it mostly was. As far as the creators, I like Swierczynski and love Jesus Saiz, and for the most part, they were who I thought they were. That was the extent of my expectations. I just don’t like reviewing it because I’ve reviewed it a lot in the past.
Joshua: Thats more investment that I had, personally. I liked Swierczynski’s work in the past, but as far as a concept goes, well, I read enough books month in and month out that feature Black Ops groups to really get my interest up very high. Even if this one is all about girl power.
Either way, we have two characters that really take center stage here, Black Canary and Starling. Now, near as I can tell Starling is a new character, or at least one I was not familiar with, whereas Black Canary is a character I am quite familiar with and is indeed one of my favorite DC Heroines. How well (or not) do you feel we were re/introduced to them?
David: That’s the thing about this book – I think it does a really good job introducing pretty much everything. I don’t want to overrate this book – it wasn’t one of my favorite of the month or even the week.
But as far as I am concerned, this book did what other books have failed at. Tell an engaging story. Introduce the characters in names, personality and action. Set us up for an arc. Have really quality art (I am a BIG fan of Saiz). I think this book is new reader friendly and it is good for old fans too, especially with the Babs/Dinah moment in there.
Continued belowStarling is new to me (not sure if she is overall), but I dig her. She’s sassy and fun. I think this book was a quality introduction.
Joshua: I felt the characterization was definitely spot on in terms of developing individual personalities for the two of them, but I couldn’t help but wonder why Batgirl wasn’t included on the team in the first place since to me it seemed like an inevitability. This curiosity was only made worse when she appeared in this issue and helped Dinah begin to form the team. I guess I just don’t buy the reasoning behind her non-inclusion.
Not like that really matters overall, just bugged me.
David: Wasn’t it essentially that she doesn’t approve of Dinah being possibly a murderer? Either way, the way I look at it is this: it is a completely fresh start. I think the book is strong enough without Babs, and I look forward to seeing what other characters Swierczynski may or may not bring in. I like the fact that it confronts the past and then moves forward. It makes the book stronger in my opinion – but different (Death)strokes for different folks I guess.
That said, I obviously dig it. What was your take on Swierczynski’s writing? Liked it overall? Thought it was okay? Burn it to the ground?
Joshua: Well, its tricky. Because it certainly wasn’t bad. In terms of storytelling etiquette and comic book form it did everything right. Characters were introduced and immediately dealt with as opposed to being left to hang. The action scenes had weight and momentum to them and seeds were definitely planted for further development. The problem here is that I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Like you said, some books click with different people for different reason, theres just nothing here that made me click enough to keep going.
David: Yeah, definitely. I totally understand that. Do you have any idea what didn’t click? Was it just because you don’t need a Fem Force 5 in your life?
Joshua: Honestly? I think its just the concept in general. “Oh look, a team of badasses doing seeeeeecret stuff!” I read at least three other books with an identical concept, and I think the book itself knows that. Its almost like the hook was that they were all supposed to be women, but for someone that doesn’t really put a lot of weight into the specific genders of his super heroes, it just seemed like something I’d read before.
David: Yeah, in Birds of Prey. This is a book that has existed for a LONG time. It’s just rebooting it. But I totally understand that.
That said, thoughts on Jesus Saiz? Clearly I’m a big fan. I dug his stuff like crazy on Brave and the Bold, and this is more of the same on this book.
Joshua: Now him I did like, his work seemed balanced and very carefully composed. His characters were expressive and worlds could be learned about them based entirely on their body language and facial expression. His action scenes, particularly the one involving a moving vehicle, had weight and movement to them that literally and figuratively propelled the story forward.
Overall though, it wasn’t really enough to bring me deeper into the story. To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember how it ends and I read it less than 24 hours ago.
David: SPOILER ALERT!!!!
The reporter blows up after his eyes bleed! Rock awesome!
Well, so overall, you’d say this is a solid introduction but it’s not your cup of tea so you wouldn’t buy. Correct?
Let’s do something different and you give a rating out of five, and I’ll give a rating out of five, and we’ll combine those to be some sort of Wonder Twins super score. Sound good?
Joshua: The Josh Personal Score is a Solid “meh”, however the Real Person Objective Score is a solid 3.5
David: Oh man, 3.5 has gotta be a buy! I think it’s funny though because I would give it a 3.5 too, and give it a “will carry on with this adventure.” To differentiate though, I’ll throw down a 4 because I did find both the writing and the art were really solid and it was a good introduction to the book.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy
