Birds of Prey #16 – Kelly Thompson, Writer; Sami Basri/Vicente Cifuentes, Artists; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The first two arcs in Kelly Thompson’s Birds of Prey have been surprisingly cosmic, sending the Birds up against dark Gods and twisted timelines, respectively. This arc wisely pulls it back with a more down-to-earth plot that’s surprisingly intimate and emotionally intense, with Cass going deep undercover to take on a corrupt organization that has kidnapped Amazons for genetic experimentation – trying to create twisted super-soldiers out of them. Cass’ disguise a mysterious enforcer named Shen is holding, but she’s finding it harder and harder to pull off her cool exterior when she sees women being experimented on – and back at base, the extended deep-cover mission is wearing on the rest of the team as well, with Barda finding it hard to handle her “Small Bat” going dark for extended periods without communication, and the rest of the team struggling to find a new equilibrium.
This is probably the most intense issue of the series yet, as Cass works with “Bella”, the mutated guard-dog type being who nearly killed her previously, to find and infiltrate the inner sanctum where the women are being experimented on. But when she gets there, it’s not clear who’s actually been lured into an ambush. Was she ever truly undercover, or did the enemy have her exactly where they wanted her? Eventually, her distress signal gets through and the rest of the Birds are called into action – but it may be too late. The ending of this issue promises the most intense fight of the entire series so far is coming, and it’s likely to be brutal and also heartbreaking. Thompson has done an incredible job of getting us invested in these characters already, and that goes a very long way towards getting us invested in a story with plenty of original twists and tense cliffhangers.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
