Birds of Prey #7 – Kelly Thompson, Writer; Javier Pina, Artist; Jordie Bellaire, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The battle against Megeara has been won—sort of—and the Birds are back in their hometown, but the crisis is far from over. With Javier Pina taking over on art for this arc, the title also brings in something that many people thought should have been here in the first place—Barbara Gordon, the founding member of the team. Kelly Thompson created a great explanation for why she wasn’t there in the last issue, with Meridian (a time-displaced Maps Mizoguchi) revealing that every scenario of the team with Barbara on it for the mission to rescue Sin saw Barbara die. Barbara is in on the secret now, but things are still a bit tense with her best friend and the rest of the team. While they investigate and try to get more information out of Meridian in between her return to the team, Zealot and Harley Quinn have departed—leaving the team with some vacancies to fill.
One of those vacancies may have already been filled, as Sin is back and training with the team—in particular, with Cass and Barda, who continue to be the funniest team in the book and have a fantastic banter. Their game of cat-and-mouse with Sin this issue is the best scene of the issue, but I was intrigued by the other main subplot as well. Barbara and Dinah seek help from Mari McCabe, aka Vixen, whose powers give her access to the Red. But Vixen is dealing with her own crisis at the moment—a strange rash of robberies completed by people wearing her clothes, all of whom don’t remember committing the crime. Even Vixen herself nearly fell prey to this trap, and she wants the Birds’ help. This is a very good issue, if very busy and lower-stakes than the first arc, but that might be a good move. After the chaotic supernatural thriller of the first arc, this team’s biggest strength is its characters and I’m excited to see how it evolves.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
Ray Goldfield
Ray Goldfield is a comics superfan going back almost thirty years. When he's not reading way too many comics a week, he is working on his own writing. The first installment in his young adult fantasy-adventure, "Alex Actonn, Son of Two Seas", is available in Amazon now.
