Birds of Prey has been a contentious comic run for me, combining fantastic art and a favorite writer of mine with a premise that just isn’t hitting the points I would like it to. Issue #4 adds some exciting new elements, but many of the problems with the book still remain.
The “Birds of Prey” on Themyscira is still a really puzzling plot point to see play out not because of the story itself, but because I can’t quite figure out why any of these characters are acting like this. Why is Themyscira suddenly like this? And why couldn’t Dinah simply contact Diana and ask her for help in getting Sin back? It feels like something Diana would absolutely do but she can’t because of plot convenience. The Amazons are just acting strange to me and it feels like for no reason aside from the book needing them to.
DC Comics
Leonardo Romero is a wonderful talent and his pencils always look flawless. Few artists are as consistent as he is and the attention to detail always pays off. Birds of Prey is a beautiful book and it’s been a visual gift for the last four issues. The coloring is a little off this time, swapping the vibrancy of previous issues for what feels like a greenish-yellow filter. The colors just don’t pop like they did before quite as well.
I don’t really know how Diana saw Dinah’s team and knew they were the Birds of Prey. To my knowledge, the last Birds of Prey team Diana would have seen was the Helena, Dinah, Barbara rendition — and quite frankly, I also wish that were the team in this book just as much as Diana seems to. If I saw this group of women anywhere the last thing I would assume is that they were Birds of Prey.
The most interesting part is the book’s final pages, which set up a really interesting fight with Megaera. The design of the character reminds me a lot of the way Jenova looked in the original Final Fantasy VII, and the creepy touch makes for a really visually unique and imposing threat.
Birds of Prey has yet to capture the charm of a Birds of Prey book but hopefully, Kelly Thompson can pull it off by the arc’s end.
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