Birds of Prey‘s reign as one of the best team books on the stands continues on with the 25th issue, which in the current comic market is a landmark achievement, even if DC is treating it like just another issue. After rescuing Barda from the clutches of Daemon Prime and his Shadow Army, the Birds reconvene to plan, train, and learn just how much they can trust their new member: Inque.
Inque has a lot of work to do to convince the Birds she’s trustworthy – no one more than Barda, who is still processing being used as Inque’s puppet in Daemon’s plans. After a relatively quick info dump that also takes us into the future, the Birds learn how Inque got to the present day and, being desperate for quick cash, found a willing employer in Daemon. But once she learned of the next stage of his plan, Inque bailed and went to the Birds to help stop Daemon once and for all. Using a combination of tech and a new experimental drug, the Shadow Army wants to get a name for themselves on the streets with the “next big experience”, even though the untested combo could end up killing a lot of innocent people in the process by making their virtual crimes into real ones. After a quick heist of a Shadow Army base that allows Barda to get her revenge on Daemon and get her hero moment with Inque, the Birds are back at their temporary hideout to try out the new tech. After a fun, if strange, bit of character creation in the game, the Birds enter the test area and are given their exposure to the drug component…which immediately has the worst case scenario result for the team, as they immediately want to go to war with their other teammates.
While Birds of Prey‘s 25th issue has a lot of the hallmarks that I love about the series, I have to admit that the main plot point behind Daemon and the Shadow Army’s new phase of their plan seems a bit vague. While the idea of mixing a new street drug with a form of virtual reality tech is interesting, a lot of the “how it works”, and more importantly, “why this is dangerous”, is still being hidden from us. That may be part of writer Kelly Thompson’s plan, but to really sell Inque’s turn to the side of good (at least temporarily), I would have liked to get a little more about what it is about this plan that was so unappealing to her to make her turn against her employer.
Despite this, Thompson’s character work remains on point with the Birds cast. There’s not many writers out there who would devote the amount of pages Thompson does to having a superhero team talk out their plan, and even fewer who would do it as well as she does. These moments, and the extremely fun opening with Barda smashing rocks to get her aggression out (cheered on by construction workers no less), make for some of the best character work on the stands. These moments are so well done that they lift up the weaker elements of the issue.
DC
When I first saw that this issue was featuring both Cliff Richards and Sam Basri on art duties, I’ll admit to being a little concerned. Usually two artists is a sign of editorial stepping in to make sure a book hits deadlines, leading to a jarring reading experience. Thankfully that’s not the case here, as Richards and Basri’s artwork so well together that I honestly would not have known that there were two artists on this issue if the opening page didn’t let me know. While the two have slight differences, combined they still make for a really engaging experience that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the book at all. While Richards gets to have more of the action segments of the series, Basri gets to have a great time with the “character creator” segment as the Birds select their new outfits before entering the VR game.
While I could have used more information what makes Daemon’s latest plan so dangerous, this issue as a whole is such a great encapsulation of everything Birds of Prey does well as a team book that I still have to recommend this as a jumping on point for new readers. Now that the initial stakes are set up, I’m hoping we get more revelations behind Daemon’s plan to raise those stakes and the drama.
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