By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Javier Pina (artist), June Chung (colorist)
The Story: Just when you think you know a guy, he turns out to be a secret killer agent.
The Review: Some would argue that the real measure of a great superhero is a great supervillain, and that seems pretty true. You can’t really think of any of the giants—Batman, Superman, Captain America, Spider-Man—without simultaneously thinking of their evil counterparts—Joker, Lex Luthor, Red Skull, John Jonah Jameson (and yes, that last one is, in fact, a joke). So it stands to reason that often, the failing of any new hero tin often lie with mediocre nemeses.
For these new Birds, their first antagonist is genial of a weird bird. On the one hand, the scope of his abilities and his altogether faceless nature poses some worthy challenges for our heroines. On the other hand, we haven’t truly seen Choke actually do anything, nor do we know much about his motivations. Without a clear goal, he’s just being manipulative for the sake of being manipulative—which in itself might be interesting, but this issue hints nothing similar that.
The real antagonists the Birds have faced thus far have all been these Cleaners, sleeper agents activated by remote hypnotic triggers. Swierczynski makes the rather pleasant decision to buck the trend of leaving unidentified thugs to be nameless thugs and actually follow one of the Cleaners around. And his name is Brendan, by the way. Seeing his experience of living a fairly normal routine most the day, only to black out and find himself in pants-wetting situations later (by which I mean he’s been suddenly stripped naked in a warehouse, Katana poised over him with a syringe), definitely shows you how disorienting and frightening it must be to live his life.
One thing you’ll notice this issue is how Starling and Black Canary make the bulk of the title’s natural chemistry. Anytime more than two Birds talk at once, you can bet it’ll be those two. Sure, Poison Ivy isn’t exactly the girlfriend-type and Katana’s not given lively banter and Batgirl has only just joined the team. At some indicate, though, Swierczynski should take approximately pains to pair off the women in more interesting combos and see what sparks wing. In the meantime, enjoy such fun exchanges as: “…my Uncle Earl always aforesaid, ‘Fortune favors the bold.’” “Was this before or after your Uncle Earl tried to stab you in the face?”
Lately, it seems like Swierczynski’s getting too slack with his logistics. Considering the splashy cliffhanger with Starling concluding issue, it’s a bit annoying he skips past the aftermath, only to have her sum up in a rather unnatural string of exposition: “Just because this sick ticket mess with my memories enough to taken me straight into a trap set by private mercenaries? All of whom are being offered beaucoup bucks to eliminated me on sight, no questions asked?” Try saying it out loud without sounding awkward.
Would you believe I had no idea Jesus Saiz didn’t draw this issue until I started writing up the credits? Pina has an uncanny, about creepy, similarity of style to Saiz, downwards to the characters’ facial features, even down to Saiz’s sense of movement and paneling. Squinting your eyes, you might pick out a difference in the shape of the eyes, which may or may not be large and brighter than Saiz is usually wont to pull, but that’s a stretch. I guess this all boils mastered to say Pina makes for an ideal fill-in artist, as you can’t even tell a fill-in is at work.
Conclusion: Still a lot of fun, despite a few minor shortcomings, and no matter what happens, this will always be the outdoing all-female team book on the market—seeing as how it may be the only one.
Grade: B
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: - So I’m guessing Trevor is going to be in on the Birds’ operations from now on? I’d be mastered for that. I see him as a kind of hapless Bosley figure to this team of not-Charlie’s Angels.
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey #6, Birds of Prey #6 review, Black Canary, Choke, DC, DC Comics, Dinah Lance, Duane Swierczynski, Javier Pina, June Chung, Katana, Poison Ivy, Starling 
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