Birds of Prey #28 – Kelly Thompson, Writer; Sami Basri, Artist; Vicente Cifuentes, Inker; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Birds of Prey has been a joy since it launched over two years ago, bringing in one of the most chaotic teams of characters the DCU has ever seen, combining Birds stalwarts Black Canary and Oracle with new recruits like Big Barda and Cassandra Cain, and then adding in a constantly rotating team of agents ranging from Wildstorm refugee Zealot to Batman Beyond turncoat Inque. And now, the entire cast has come together to face off against one of their biggest threats yet. A twisted video game has been hijacked by the masked villain Daemon and his army of criminal associates. An entire city has been pulled in, Sin was shot which has led Megeara to fully take over her body and go rogue, and Inque has not-so-shockingly betrayed Oracle and is helping Daemon to get ahold of the Oracle data. It looks like all hope is lost – but a giant shadow is looming with a helping hand.
The entire team is excellent, but Barda has really stolen the show across this entire series. It feels like her rough-and-tumble, overly literal dialogue is perfect for the character, and her decision to try to make peace by becoming a literal kaiju to tower over the city is amazing. Another show-stealer is Megeara, the ancient Goddess bound to Sin. When the child she loves is truly endangered, something terrifying is unleashed. Inque’s betrayal becomes the crux for the series in more ways than one, as she makes one final decision that turns the tide. The action and character work is excellent, but unfortunately this story has to wrap up in what feels like a bit of a hurry. This is common with cancelled series, but it shows here – even as Kelly Thompson is still able to tie things up neatly, give every character a little epilogue, and send them off into new adventures. Easily the best Birds run since Gail Simone’s.
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