Futures End #0 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Why’s everyone so surprised that people are so hooked to technology in the future?

The Review: Of all the ways a publisher can use a Free Comic Book Day issue, I think this is one of the best ways: offering a prelude/prologue to one of your upcoming big series. The fact that the series in question will be released next week makes the choice even smarter.* The only question remaining is whether this issue makes Futures End seem like the must-read title DC desperately needs and wants it to be. In a few words: not really.

Let’s consider for a moment all of DC’s other weekly series: the acclaimed 52, the disastrous Countdown, and the tepid Trinity. What accounted for their respective successes and failures? A lot of factors, obviously, but the standout has to be the choice of writer(s). 52, the clear best of the group, had a powerhouse team behind it: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka, each superstars, each at the peak of their powers, each with special talents that complemented the others’. Now, compare to the team in charge of Futures End: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen. That’s a decidedly less impressive roster, and this issue reflects that.**

Arrow S02E05 – Review

By: Jake Coburn & Drew Z. Greenberg (story)

The Story: When assassins come calling, calm yourself with Chinese food.

The Review: As much as I happen to love WCBR’s letter-grading system, it does lead me into some tricky quandaries, not the least of which is the separation between an X-, X, or X+.  It’s easy enough to get a sense of what letter-grade something deserves, but justifying those tweaks, slight as they are, is a more difficult task.  I didn’t start out this review with the intention of making insights into my grading rubric, but I think this episode is a good sample for just that.

Last week, I gave “Crucible” a B.  Today, I’m giving “League of Assassins” a B+.  But why?  What did last night’s episode do just ever so much better than its predecessor that gives it that edge?  What did it not do to creep over into A territory?  Does Minhquan really have any objective criteria for this kind of distinction or is he just an arbitrary critic who also apparently likes to refer to himself in the third person?

Arrow S02E04 – Review

By: Andrew Kreisberg & Wendy Mericle (story)

Spoilers ahead.  From the moment it was announced a Canary would be appearing on the show, speculation ran rampant as to her identity.  Quite a lot of people immediately insisted that it had to be Sarah, the younger Lance sister who ran away with Ollie, only to meet her watery death.  I, always hoping that a story won’t be tempted to take such an obvious route, thought there was at least a possibility not-Canary would turn out to someone no one expected.

Once again, however, I find my hopes ruthlessly dashed.  From the moment that Felicity and Ollie hypothesize that not-Canary has been following Dinah, not Ollie, all along, it pretty much clinches the Sarah theory.  I’ll say this for Arrow, though: it doesn’t tend to dance around the obvious.  Rather than spend an entire episode delaying the inevitable reveal, the show gets it all over with in the cold open, leaving us free to enjoy the fallout.

Arrow S02E01 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim (story)

The Story: Nothing like a good island getaway to relieve the stress of a devastated hometown.

The Review: Even though the first season of Arrow came with all the growing pains every new show experiences as it settles on its voice, it built a lot of confidence with viewers like me because it not only knew exactly what kind of story and tone it wanted, but it also had the humility to make changes as needed.  That makes Arrow’s second season job much easier, when the goal is to capitalize on early strengths while rejiggering the things that didn’t quite work.

The cold open does both tasks at once and thus sets a good for the rest of the episode.  No matter how poignant Ollie’s interactions with his family or intriguing his romance with Dinah, the relationship that truly drives the show is the dynamic between Ollie, Diggle, and Felicity.  Kicking off the season with Diggle and Felicity (now promoted to series regular), skydiving towards Lian Yu and barely escaping death by land mine thanks to a grappling-line rescue by Ollie, makes for a very good start indeed.

Young Justice S02E11 – Review

By: Nicole Dubuc (story)

The Story: Once again, Young Justice proves that it is not their fate to have an HQ.

The Review: Well, it’s been a long, strange hiatus, but we made it.  I must say, it’s not easy being a Young Justice fan with this unpredictable air schedule they’ve got going, but I suppose we can live with it as long we get something worth waiting for.  While some of you may have started the year with last week’s episode, some of us managed to catch that episode last year, making this week’s showing our first real foray back into serious YJ business.

In retrospect, the tenth episode was probably the better one to start off with.  It showcased nearly every member of the group, tied together a number of important plotlines, and packed in a ton of action to boot.  It was in almost every way an ideal example of the show’s appeal.  That’s not to demean this episode in any way, but by comparison, it’s much more straightforward and reserved than the one preceding.

A good chunk involves wrapping up ends left loose from the team’s encounter with the Reach under the sea.  Black Canary merely confirms what we’ve long known about the aliens’ agenda on Earth: manipulating the potential of the human meta-gene for their own ends.  Jaime actually does surprise you with his decision to reveal some fairly big secrets, some of which are not his own, but the impact of this remains to be seen.

Another chunk of the episode involves the seething tension between the remaining League and the Reach, who manage to gain the favor of public opinion in a surprisingly short amount of time, helped by the nigh-hysterical commentary of G. Godfrey*.  Still, you got to give props to the noseless invaders for their utter smoothness.  Simultaneously revealing the League’s intergalactic criminal status and showing them up in full public view are two pretty slick moves, frustrating Captain Atom’s attempts to call their credibility into question.  It’s pretty clear that the public of Earth-16 will have to go through a painful “I told you so” moment down the line.

It’s pretty amazing how many continuity details you can forget in three months.  Like the destruction of YJ’s base or the increasingly obvious problems in Mal and Karen’s relationship or even Miss Martian’s traumatic psychic attack on Aqualad.  This episode neatly brings all these issues to the forefront, a reminder of the show’s excellent long-term plotting, and even more impressively weaves them into the thick of the action.

Personally, I don’t care too much about M’gann’s switch from aggression to timidity where her telepathic powers are concerned, but it may be the very thing to jumpstart the explosion waiting to happen when everyone discovers Nightwing’s subterfuge.  Honestly, I’m more impressed by Mal’s big role in this episode.  He probably would’ve been content playing second banana to Karen forever had she given him any attention whatsoever, but since that’s not happening, his confrontation with Despero feels distinctly like an attempt to reclaim some self-respect.  More on this, please.

Conclusion: After the big high of last episode, this one doesn’t have quite as much pizzazz, but it’s a worthy sample of the show nevertheless.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * Whom I’m just itching to punch every time I see him.  Doesn’t he just remind you of some of the most hypocritical, showboating pundits in our own media?

– Oh, yeah, Billy Batson’s grown up some, now.  No wonder he seems a little less jolly and a lot more raring for action than before.  Nice detail, YJ writers.

– I appreciate that Black Lightning’s lightning is actually black in this show.  It lends some doubt as to whether his name is actually inherently racist.

– Let’s be honest here.  It’s L-Ron who really has all the power in the relationship; Despero’s just his trophy “master.”

Team Seven #2 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (story), Ron Frenz (breakdowns), Julius Gopez (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Nathan Eyring (colors)

The Story: It’s hard to tell if everyone’s gone crazy because of a Jekyll serum or severe jet lag.

The Review: Even though Jordan gets to work with some pretty recognizable characters, it’s apparent that some intensive work needs to be done to make them stand out in people’s minds. Team Seven ostensibly works within a much more realistic framework of conflicts than, say, the Justice League, and so they tend to come across a little more realistically than their superheroic peers.  However, the closer characters get to reality, the harder it is to make them memorable.

After all, you’re dealing with a whole group of people who are pretty darn smart, intellectually, street, or otherwise.  Not only that, but they are all of them professionals in their field.  Smart, professional people tend to react reasonably in crisis situations, and so has Team Seven.  In such circumstances, there’s no meaningful opportunity to show off your colorful personality.  So even though there are obvious differences between Amanda Waller and Cole Cash, you don’t read this issue and instantly recognize a totally Waller or Cash “moment.”

Team Seven #1 – Review

By: Justin Jordan (story), Ron Frenz (breakdowns), Jesús Merino (pencils), Marlo Alquiza, Drew Geraci, José Marzan Jr. (inks), Nathan Eyring (colors)

The Story: Everyone takes a fall sometimes, but only a few do it from five miles up.

The Review: Ever since T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Blackhawks got canned, I haven’t felt a DC title that projected the same kind of panache Nick Spencer and Mike Costa brought to their respective series, a quality you might describe as “smart.”  Unlike Scott Snyder’s literary intelligence and Grant Morrison’s conceptual genius, Spencer and Costa had a knack for plots and characters that can confront the mechanics of the real world and deal with them practically.

Jordan has a similar talent, and Team Seven certainly feels like the spiritual successor to both those titles.  Set in a world with a nascent superhuman population, the story plays into every conspiracy theory you’ve ever had about big government.  Lynch lays out the team’s mission with a motivation so nationalistic and ruthless that it can only be credible:

Birds of Prey #0 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Romano Molenaar (pencils), Vicente Cifuentes (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: Birds in their little nest don’t always agree.

The Review: By all rights, I should’ve dropped this series last month.  While Swierczynski’s always treated the characters with respect, he has disservice them with a meandering plot that has resulted in few high-stakes moments for them.  In terms of standing in the DC community, they’re almost exactly where they started—only lower.  They’ve proven unorganized, without a clear mission statement, and deprived of any notable achievements.

There is one unanswered question I’m still curious about, and which I expected this #0 to address, namely how the Birds came together in the first place.  We started this series with Black Canary and Starling already having a working relationship, as well as an association with Batgirl.  But as Swierczynski began revealing their backgrounds, it became more and more mysterious how such divergent characters managed to find common ground.

Birds of Prey #12 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Cliff Richards (art), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Greenpeace won’t be too happy about the Birds stealing their thunder.

The Review: As someone who likes to support women, particularly in the comics biz, I’ve always had a great deal of respect for Birds of Prey.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but do you realize that at 127 issues during its first run, 13 issues during its second, and now a dozen issues post-relaunch, this is the longest-running superhero series starring primarily women?  Certainly a far cry from Marvel Divas, no?

Furthermore, this title also has the distinction of starring women who spend the vast majority of their time doing and discussing things that have nothing to do with finding/dating/marrying a guy.  For those reasons, I’ve stuck by Birds of Prey even when it doesn’t hit a very high bar of quality.  And that may explain why, despite a string of underwhelming issues, it still has a place on my pull list when titles like The Flash or Justice League International fell off the radar.

Birds of Prey #11 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Travel Foreman & Timothy Green II (pencils), Jeff Huet & Joseph Silver (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Poison Ivy’s killer course on how to save the planet.

The Review: Look, none of us are naïve here.  We all know that there are some people in this world who can stand a little killing.  And I’m not talking about the ones who are clearly disturbed, like serial killers or child rapists.  I’m referring to the jags who see you waiting-signaling for a parking space and zip into it anyway, the corporate honchos who do everything short of snatching cash from your hands, the guy who leaves his pee all over the toilet, etc.

But horrible as these folks are, you don’t actually believe they deserve death (at least, I hope not because otherwise I suggest you seek counseling).  It just goes to show that our valuation of human life outweigh a whole slew of awful human behavior.  At the same time, most of us acknowledge somewhat hypocritically that there are things far more important than us.  It’s only when we have to practice that idea that we begin reconsidering our priorities.

Birds of Prey #10 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Travel Foreman (art), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: Didn’t you know nearly all Birds in the Amazon are endangered?

The Review: Fiction writers follow hardly any rules but loose ones, and one of the loosest and most followed rules goes something like this: don’t always stick to your guns.  Big ideas are important, and if you bring some to the table right from go…great!  But don’t be afraid to traipse off the well-trodden path to pursue a plot thread or develop a character you never once thought about.  A lot of times, these wind up replacing your original plans as the real meat of the story.

On the other hand, let’s not get so excited about exploring new directions that we get totally mixed up about where we’re going—and forget how to get back to the trail to the picnic area.  I don’t think we’re at a point where Swierczynski can’t lead us back to where we laid out our blankets and lunch, but those sandwiches are feeling further away all the time, and we’re feeling a bit peckish, to say the least.  (The extended, completely ridiculous metaphor ends here.)

Birds of Prey #9 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Travel Foreman (pencils), Jeff Huet (inks), Gabe Eltaeb (colors)

The Story: We have a serial killer and a group of pretty women—who’ll come out on top?

The Review: Another “Night of the Owls” tie-in.  Huzzah.  In all seriousness, though, it’s not like I think Batman-spawned plot is terrible—I haven’t even read it, after all—but it just doesn’t feel like any of these titles which have crossed over with the storyline really needed to.  The formula is simple: enter an undefeatable Talon; hero of the hour struggles against it for a while; hero finds some method (clever or no) to subdue it; fade out.

Lo and behold, that is exactly how this issue pans out.  Swierczynski makes an attempt to give Henry Ballard, the Talon in question, a bit of character, but like the Talons of Batgirl and Batman and Robin, the haste in which the issue wraps makes it impossible for you to develop any sentiment toward him whatsoever.  He has a whole shtick about the unchangeable nature of history (“Gotham’s streets are the same.  The blood flows in the gutters just the same.  The crimes, the wicked acts, the atrocities…all the same.”), but Swierczynski doesn’t explore that theme enough to make it worth your attention.

Young Justice S02E04 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Roy, we’re your friends, but we feel like we’re losing you.  Come back to us, man!

The Review: Although the finale offered a pretty good wrap-up of the first season’s major storylines, it also left a couple open.  The biggie, of course, is the truth of what happened to the “16 hour” Leaguers while under the Light’s possession, which will undoubtedly form the basis of much of the coming season’s conflicts.  But we also have the issue of Red Arrow being a clone of the original Speedy (who remains MIA), which the show put on the back-burner.

Weisman uses this episode to follow up on that particularly volatile plotline, showing us that in the interim five years, clone-Roy has fallen on hard times, a sad twist for the ex-sidekick who first earned League membership.  Weisman clearly gets his inspiration from the infamous “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” storyline in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86, which depicted (the original) Roy as secretly addicted to heroin, a problem he overcame with Black Canary’s help.

Young Justice Episode 26 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Now is the time for the students to become the masters…too cheesy?

The Review: If you ask me, last episode was really the big, team-centered climax of the season.  Once all the secrets came out and the group became just that much tighter for it, that’s when you really saw YJ as the complete package for the first time.  From now on, they’ll have moments of growth, possibly life-changing ones, even ones that will alter the group dynamic completely, but nothing really compares to that first moment when they all truly come together for the first time.

For that reason, this episode feels a bit more like clean up, an opportunity for the team to wrap up loose ends and show what this new team is made of.  But what an opportunity it is: taking on the entire League, who both grossly outnumbers and out-powers them on pretty much every level.

Birds of Prey #8 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (story), Jesus Saiz (pencils), Javier Pina (inks), June Chung (colors)

The Story: Starling proves threatening a man’s privates is on par with threatening anyone else’s life.

The Review: Even though this series has been consistently enjoyable since it debuted, it still hasn’t really achieved that special quality which makes a title a must-read.  Last month, I pointed out the slightly lacking group chemistry among the Birds; while each has her unique attraction, they don’t have much in the way of common ground or a mutual agenda.  Another missing element, one which may prove even more important, is a clear direction for the series.

Swierczynski likes the in medias res style of opening, throwing us right into the boiling point of the action from the start, and letting us figure out the context as the issue goes on.  He’s managed to make it work before, but this time, the jump between where we left off last time and where we pick up now leaves us helplessly confused.

Young Justice Episode 25 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (writer)

The Story: Feel free to get real with each other, kids—Young Justice is a safe place.

The Review: I’ve spoken critically about this point a few times over the course of the season, but twenty-odd episodes later, I still don’t feel a genuine group chemistry from Young Justice.  While certain pairings have developed among various members, the vibe you get when they’re all together is a friendly coworker dynamic rather than true friendship.  Besides very rare instances, we hardly ever see them interact in non-mission related circumstances.

So even though this episode offers a feel-good plot and conclusion, with all kinds of big emotional moments and characters reaching new understanding of each other, it doesn’t project a spirit of kinship so much as it does a satisfaction from a job well done.  It’s significant that rather than dwelling on the deeper level of trust they’ve achieved, they simply marvel at having yet again averted disaster.

At any rate, this is a very minor criticism, the equivalent of saying the soup tastes good, but not like ma’s.  After all, you get some major character growth in this episode, particularly from the three “outsiders” of the group.  Kudos for the choice of having Superboy, of his own accord, be the first to come clean about his secrets, without any pressure from the plot.  When you consider the rage-ridden, aloof, and stubborn clone he started this series as, this is a huge step for him, proof positive that he’s become his own person.

Young Justice Episode 22 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (writer)

The Story: Joining the League is not unlike joining the Plastics in Mean Girls.

The Review: To the show’s credit, the writers have done a careful job focusing on the young team itself, despite the constant temptation of the Justice League appearing tantalizingly on the fringes of stories.  Still, we’re constantly reminded the League is the real aspiration here.  Sure, the YJers have tackled every mission before them with as much energy and professionalism as you could hope, but their eyes especially light up at anything to do with the big boys and girls.

This may be the first episode where we get a real in-depth glimpse into the actual workings of the League, and the timing can’t be better since now is the time they’ve chosen to reconsider their roster.  Among the many illustrious candidates for membership are our very own YJ kids—exciting, no doubt, though a bit odd considering it wasn’t all that long ago (in the time frame of the show) that full indoctrination was a no-no for these eager, teenaged heroes.

But the episode also informs us that bigger stakes motivate this sudden recruitment process.  We’ve seen the villains have become more organized and collaborative, and so the League must be pitch-perfect to handle that.  Hopps thus does an excellent job spelling out the thought process of evaluating each potential Leaguer.

Some of these discussions are just there for humorous effect.  Flash’s suggestion of Guy Gardner as a useful powerhouse receives a resounding chorus from fellow Lanterns Hal and John: “No!”  “But we could really—”  “No!”  Other issues receive more serious treatment, especially when they concern shake-ups within the current roster.  Now that Zatara has taken on the mantle of Dr. Fate, no one how wise it is to retain such an unpredictable force on the team, even if only to keep “a close watch on us,” as Zatara/Nabu claims.  Then, too, there is the recent discovery of Captain Marvel’s true age; though he insists he never lied, Wonder Woman accurately points out his omission was still a deception, proving that despite having the wisdom of Solomon, there’s still a kid’s brain in that big, brawny hero.

Birds of Prey #7 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Jesus Saiz (artist), June Chung (colorist)

The Story: Black Canary, there’s a reason why we call ‘em “frienemies.”

The Review: Another reason the Birds of Prey—and here I’m talking about the pre-relaunch version of the team—were so appealing was they acted not only as a highly effective team, they were a group of women bound together as much by friendship as necessity.  As much fun as it was to see them take names and kick butt, the moments where they bantered, poured their hearts out, or gave each other emotional support were even more enjoyable.

That’s probably the one thing this current version of the team lacks so far.  Swierczynski has given the Birds grit for days, what with a ninja, an agent of the Green, a master spy, one of the finest martial artists on the planet, and Batgirl banding up together.  But since Canary gathered many of these ladies more for the sake of their special abilities than anything else, the bonds among them were tenuous at best, always susceptible to snapping, given enough tension.

You don’t stress out the team spirit any more effectively than shooting upon your teammates.  Frankly, it surprises me none of the Birds thought something like this might happen, considering Choke obviously messed with their heads all the way back in #4.  In fact, I’ve been waiting for a mind-controlled betrayal to happen for a while, and since Starling has gotten the most brutal after-effects of all the ladies, it was almost inevitable she’d be the one to turn on them all.

Choke’s choice of Starling for his prime sleeper agent is brilliant for two reasons.  First, there’s definitely some kind of irony about the woman with an inbred sense of paranoia becoming an unwitting pawn for a mastermind, and refusing even to acknowledge that possibility.  Second, we know that of all the recruits to her team, Canary trusts only Starling, which she states outright to Batgirl.  Thus Choke’s turning of Starling seems to be a direct psychological attack against Dinah more than anyone else, indicating his agenda may be personal at heart.

Young Justice Episode 21 – Review

By: Nicole Dubuc

The Story: Well, this beats watching Sweet Valley High, I guess.

The Review: It’s a pretty old cliché that most people all go through some kind of identity crisis in their teenage years.  Not that there isn’t truth in the notion, but it doesn’t happen in one big, dramatic burst like in movies.  Very rarely does your average high school kid get stricken with a profound, revelation he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life.  More often than not, it’s a slow process of figuring out who he is, one that doesn’t even end once he leaves his teens.

But Young Justice, for all its attempts to rise above the pure entertainment standard for cartoons, remains a fiction.  And so you have about half the team going through the angsty, rage and anxiety driven pangs of ID confusion—literally, as these are superheroes we’re talking about.  Superboy has had one violent incident of inner conflict after another since the pilot; Artemis has a whole mess of a criminal background to worry about; and we’ve seen the whites of Robin’s eyes all of three times, maybe.

This episode reveals that of all the YJers, Miss Martian probably has the most deeply-rooted issues about dealing with who she really is.  Stands to reason; when you can alter your shape at will, you can avoid facing up with your actual face for as long as you want.  But her problems go quite a bit further than that, as she essentially assumed the persona of an Earthling sitcom character—and a rather irritating one at that—long before she ever arrived on Earth.  I imagine she must have caused quite a stir on Mars with that shtick.

In her defense, making herself out as a perky, preppy redhead with freckles probably did beat brooding in her true form.  Anyone with a smidge of familiarity of Martian Manhunter lore knows of the White Martians, but aside from M’gann hinting darkly that “Growing up on Mars was…not a happy time for me,” we don’t know what the exact relationship between the whites and the greens was.  If it was as grim as it is in the comics, then you have to wonder how M’gann developed her relationship with ol’ Uncle J’onn.  A pretense the two of them concocted together to protect her, or something she got him to believe using her superior telepathic powers?

Batgirl #7 – Review

By: Gail Simone (writer), Ardian Syaf & Alitha Martinez (pencillers), Vicente Cifuentes (inker), Ulises Arreola (colorist)

The Story: Somebody call an ambulance and get some popcorn—girl fight!

The Review: The more I read this series, the more I sense that Simone treats her writing here as much of a therapeutic outlet as Batgirl does herself.  We all know Simone loves the character, but we also know (from her own frank admissions) her ambivalence about the direction DC wanted to take the character during the relaunch.  This conflict between joy and anxiety has been channeled through our heroine since the title debuted, and it’s made for an inconsistent read.

Going meta in comics—or any medium, for that matter—is a fool’s errand nowadays.  Meta is nearly without exception used in two different ways: a) the characters become aware of their own fictional nature, begging some abstract questions about existence and creation, a tactic most famously used by Grant Morrison; or b) the writer uses the story to comment on perceptions about the story itself—using the story to talk back to the readers, in other words, which Geoff Johns does quite frequently.

It’s pretty clear Simone has been working the latter strategy.  All the anxieties and fears Batgirl has expressed to date have some metatextual dimensions, responding not only to her personal conflicts within the story, but also to the questions and uncertainty readers have had about her since her return to the cowl.  All this inner torture about why she regained her mobility, whether she deserves it, does she deserve the bat—it’s no coincidence these are the same issues of hot debate her fans and detractors are still tossing back and forth now.

I’ve accepted these monthly beats of doubt quite readily, recognizing this is a very natural thing Barbara (and Simone) have to work through.  But each time, I can’t help hoping it will finally, finally be the last one needed for Barbara to move on.  I had those same hopes when Black Canary sternly confronts Batgirl about all this uncharacteristic melancholy.  Unlike her redheaded friend, Canary has retained enough of her pre-relaunch substance for Simone to use almost like a voicebox from the past, telling Batgirl (and perhaps Simone herself as well) to get over herself and get her act together: “My friend Barbara Gordon was in a wheelchair, and I never once heard her talk like that.  Never once heard her lapse into maudlin self-hatred.  Don’t you dare do it now that you’re out.”

Birds of Prey #6 – Review

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 can often lie with mediocre nemeses.

For these new Birds, their first antagonist is kind 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 really 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 like 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 nameless 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.

Birds of Prey #5 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Jesus Saiz (penciller), Javier Pina (inker), June Chung (colorist)

The Story: I don’t suppose anyone thought to write down what we were doing on a Post-It?

The Review: The best part about a title that features a group of solely women is for once you get (when executed properly) the kind of variety among characters of a single gender that you’ve been getting with dude-focused titles for years now.  It’s remarkable how many comic book writers tend to approach scenes featuring more than two women as if their only experience of such interactions is from what their girlfriends made them watch of Sex and the City.

In sharp contrast to the sameness of females over on Justice League International, each Bird has an immediately recognizable and distinctive voice and bearing.  Poison Ivy is brusque and to the point; Starling is equal parts brash and sensitive; Katana, while cool and businesslike, reveals a sense of humor beneath a surprising shyness; and Black Canary, as the emotion center of the team, has a little bit of everything bubbling her cautious exterior.

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned anything of Batgirl yet.  The reason is simple: she doesn’t really get much of an appearance in this issue.  And the reason for that?  Well, it’s complicated.  As Canary very efficiently sums up, “Last thing I remember, we were on Choke’s secret floor fighting a dozen of those creepy ‘Cleaners’—and all five of us were kicking ass.”  Cut to the first page, and the Birds (minus Batgirl) are under military fire in the midst of a rubble, with no clue what’s gone on in the last few hours.

It’s not just that they’re missing time out of their lives.  None of them seem to have consistent memories of what’s happened (some remember Batgirl being there, others don’t).  Starling’s broken hand has mysteriously healed up.  More significantly, each of them comes away from the experience troubled and out of sorts, which they each deal with in their own way, revealing interesting bits of backstory along the way.

Ev can’t settle herself at the range, so she goes to visit a lady-acquaintance with whom she seems to have a complicated past (“I know what you said…but I really, really needed to see you.”).  Also intriguing is Ivy’s dealings with an unidentified businessman, which may bode ill for her loyalty to the Birds—or it may not; his question of, “You’ll still honor our arrangement?” could mean treachery, or it could mean he’s asking if she’ll keep up an earlier, unrelated bargain with him while having a go at “the hero thing.”

Birds of Prey #4 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Jesus Saiz (artist), June Chung (colorist)

The Story: I’m telling you—the 19^th floor exists!  It does!

The Review: After reading through this issue, it occurred to me that comics have conditioned us to expect supervillains in these kinds of stories, by which I mean crazy wackos with weird costumes, terrible codenames, and themed powers and weapons.  The side-effect is we tend to underestimate the more down-to-earth criminals, the ones who’ve got a plan and don’t need to show off to get it done.  These types see superheroes as obstacles, not nemeses.

I think that’s the situation we have with the big, unseen mastermind (with the name “Choke”—not a bad one, as these things tend to go) haunting the Birds at every turn in this story arc.  Sure, his “invisible” thugs (called “Cleaners”) don’t really pose much of a threat to our well-trained ladies, but you can’t deny how far the reach of his manipulations can go.  It’s not just the bombs he can secretly implant in your head; he can turn people into living microphones, transmitting to him all they see or hear—for what, we can only guess, but it’ll be big, that’s for sure.

Beyond that Swierczynski (and can I just say, it takes me about a minute just to spell this guy’s name correctly every time—no offense) simply crafts a darn gripping plot, filled with all kinds of intriguing details that make Choke seem more impressive all the time.  As Starling explains, “They operate in the spaces between floors…phantom floors someone sneaked into the original design.  This building’s owners and tenants have no idea the creepy Cleaner is here.”  I don’t know if it’s really an original idea, but a fun one to think about, nonetheless.

Fun is really the underlying chord of this series.  Even in the most bombastic action sequence or sober string of exposition, Swierczynski manages to inject some humor.  Best of all, he doesn’t do it by dropping forced gags or strings of witty banter everywhere; he just stays true to the characters and lets them react naturally to the situation at hand.  For example, having Katana prelude her imminent bloodbath with, “My husband wishes to meet with you,” never gets old.

Birds of Prey #3 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Jesus Saiz (artist), June Chung (colorist)

The Story: The Birds discover the joys of flower power.

The Review: Like many Batman villains, Poison Ivy has become more complicated over the years, starting off as one of your typical deranged Gothamites and growing into an eco-terrorist of the first degree.  In the process, she’s transformed from villain to something of an anti-hero (with the occasional descent back into villainy).  Still, she’d never label herself as a “good girl,” and as seen in the now-kaput Gotham City Sirens, she likes to stick with other shady dames.

So it’s surprising Black Canary extends an invitation for Ivy to join her team—or it would be had we a different flock of Birds than we do now.  Starling won’t win awards for the pure of heart and Katana’s skill of plunging her sword into anything that moves won’t either.  Even Canary doesn’t have a stainless rep anymore.  So the real question is: what advantage does Ivy get out of joining when her only goal is to “prevent greedy individuals from despoiling the planet”?

We know what the Birds will get with the addition of “the talking salad” (Starling’s words, not mine): firepower.  Except for Dinah’s Canary Cry, the ladies’ talents all focus on espionage and sting ops skills.  Ivy offers a very different set of abilities.  As she demonstrates on one of the thugs they capture, her charm is as potent as ever, reducing him to a blithering puddle in the span of one page: “I’ll take you home you’ll like home let me take you home.”

Adding the semi-villainess to the Birds also adds some delightful new dimensions to the team dynamics.  Though Katana and Starling have just met and haven’t exactly taken to each other, both are immediately on the same page when it comes to their newest teammate.  When Canary asks what they think of Ivy, you have to love their silent exchange of glances seconds before they simultaneously draw their weapons.  Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Young Justice Episode 17 – Review

By: Andrew R. Robinson (writer)

The Story: Someone call the doctor, because this Black Canary’s a total quack!

The Review: If I took away one lesson from both my years as a teenager and my years teaching them, it’s that kids of that age tend to resist and resent counseling the most, yet they stand most to profit from it.  By the time you’ve reached adulthood, you’ll have (hopefully) realized that whatever issues you’re going through, you’re far from the first, and ninety-five percent of the time, it’ll work out alright in the end.  Teens don’t have that kind of helpful perspective.

And no one is better equipped to lend that perspective to YJ after last episode’s fiasco than Black Canary.  While a respected Leaguer, she doesn’t have an iconic aura that can turn people skittish around her, and so comes off very inclusive and approachable.  Her advice is practical, sensitive, salty, and wise; she never oversteps her bounds or coddles her charges.  As someone who’s done similar work with teens, I approve nearly all her responses to the team’s worries.

For example, when Aqualad expresses his feeling of inadequacy as leader and tries to resign, Canary does absolutely the right thing by asking him who he feels should replace him.  Also appropriate is her telling Miss Martian to stop feeling sorry and start amping up her training so her overwhelming powers become a non-issue.  Less convincing is her calling out of Wally and Artemis’ feelings for each other, which feels less like analysis and more like matchmaking.

One of the more revelatory sessions lies with Robin, who, contrary to his eagerness to lead in early episodes, talks about how rattled and disturbed he felt in that very role last episode.  As Batman’s protégé, he learned the art of leadership from the very best, and he certainly did right by his mentor when push came to shove.  But he also learned he has no intention of emulating his mentor’s tactical coldness, making this his first step to his future as Nightwing.