Birds of Prey #15 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (writer), Billy Tucci & Adriana Melo (pencillers), JP Mayer & Eber Ferreira (inkers), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: They just can’t get him out of their heads.

The Review: Simone brings such a strong, distinctive voice to her writing, and such a high level of craft, that you find it hard to swallow anyone else’s work once she departs from a project.  This seems especially true with the Birds of Prey, her first high-profile title for DC, one still making her reputation to this day.  Still, Andreyko seemed a good candidate for the job; he has plenty experience writing strong superheroines from his formidable Manhunter ongoing.

So why do the Birds sound so uncharacteristically fraught?  Oracle snaps, “I’m doing everything I can here, Manhunter!”  Kate’s professional response?  “Well then do something else!”  These women have gone through some pretty harrowing experiences (and in fact, the arc just before this had a particularly grisly one), so their testiness in this issue seems a tad forced.  Sure, two of their own are in danger, but again, nothing new there (the previous arc also had that plotline).

This may have nothing to do with the fact that Andreyko’s a man, but you feel more aware of the Birds’ gender this issue.  Their banter has an unnaturally flirty, Sex in the City quality that has almost nothing to do with their personalities or types: “Hey, big guy!  Can we play, too?”  “Oh, and a wordsmith, too?  Are you single?”  “S’OK, handsome.  I like it rough.”  These lines come in stark contrast to the textured, dimensional dialogue these ladies usually come equipped with.

Birds of Prey #14 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (writer), Billy Tucci & Adriana Melo (pencillers), Billy Tucci & JP Mayer (inker), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: These dames aren’t here to mess around—they’re out to kick Nazi butt!

The Review: One of DC’s greatest strengths is its long, incredible history, especially its rich beginnings.  Once you add up all the properties DC has assumed from other publishers over the years, you’re looking at a rather inspiring cast of legacy characters, some of whom continue to operate today, either in an elder statesman status like much of the Justice Society, or with younger generations taking up their names and icons.  Call me hopelessly sentimental, but I think that’s nothing short of marvelous.

Besides our usual flock of Birds (plus guest Manhunter), we also get to see in action Golden Age bombshells Dinah Drake (the original Black Canary) and Sandra Knight (the first Phantom Lady), with Lady Blackhawk an anachronistic link between the two generations.   Considering the tremendous credentials of all these ladies, we have evidence that from the start, DC has been a pretty good place for heroic women.

The story splits between the past and present, but the plot is nonetheless light and predictable: long-thought-finished antagonists rising again to haunt his former defeaters.  Andreyko goes for a jingoistic, rah-rah America tone (“Guns are fer [sic] grownups, Hitler youth!”) as he sends the pre-Nixon heroines into Argentina to recover a mad-scientist Nazi.  They encounter resistance in a swarm of blond-haired, blue-eyed adolescents, a kind of Aryan Children of the Corn.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #11 – Review

By: Main Story: Paul Dini (writer), Dustin Nguyen (pencils), Derek Fridolfs (inks), John Kalisz (colors) & Steve Wands (letters).  Manhunter back-up: Marc Andreyko (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), John Lucas (inks), Nick Filardi (colors) & Sal Cipriano (letters)

The Story: Damien and Abuse face off against Zsasz while the Manhunter looks for her lost kid.

What’s Good: I keep trying to drop this title on the grounds that I don’t need to get so many Bat-books, but it keeps being good enough to buy one more month.  Honestly, its been a better title than Batman has been for the last year.

I loved how we got to see Damien and Abuse settle Zsasz’s hash in this issue.  Dini has been building Zsasz up as the villain for nearly 8 months now, by having him build an arena for homeless kids to knife-fight to the death in.   So, it was good to see him get stopped by a couple of kids.

I’m also enjoying the growth of Damien over the last year into a heroic character, which comes to the forefront here as Damien is willing to sacrifice himself to let the other kid (Abuse) get away.  One of the big quandaries for the Bat-books is that all the Robins have stepped up (Dick, Tim & Damien) and I’m curious to see where they all end up once Bruce Wayne is back.

Dustin Nguyen is an acquired taste, I’ll say.  He probably isn’t my favorite artist just due to stylistic issues, but he does execute very well within his style on this issue.