You can follow the movement well enough, but there's a distinct lack of fluidity during the fast-motion panels.

It's clear Romero feels uncomfortable with action choreography because the fights look downright clunky. In fairness, Romero's style is clean, but it's flat and stiff. How's the art? If you have no misgivings about the team roster, the second challenge you'll have is with the art by Leonardo Romero. There's no reason for Harley to be on this team. Thompson received online pushback for putting Harley on the team, and that pushback appears to have been justified. Ridiculous! This is yet another example of DC force-fitting Harley into places where she doesn't belong by elevating her to absurd levels that don't make any sense for the character's nature. Cass suggests adding Harley is a wild card by recounting a story where Harley almost beat Cass during a chance encounter. Regarding Harley Quinn, this one is a head-scratcher. Dinah painstakingly acts as if she's selecting team members to provide a certain set of skills, but chooses a fighter less good than Cass. Thompson goes out of her way to build Cass up (rightfully so) as the best fighter around, so there's no need to bring on a second ninja-esque fighter.

Regarding Zealot, Dinah already selected Cass Cain to be on the team. After reading the issue, Barda is the breakout character, so kudos to Thompson on that choice, but Zealot and Harley Quinn turned out to be downers. What's not so great about Birds of Prey#1? When Kelly Thompson slowly revealed the team members online over the course of a few days, some members seemed like interesting gets, Barda seemed like an odd choice, and the rest didn't make any sense. With just a few words and well-placed emotional expressions, you get why Dinah is on her mission and can relate to her emotional drive.įurther, Thompson does a respectable job of nailing the respective voices of the characters, particularly Big Barda, in the quest to form an eclectic team. What's great about Birds of Prey #1? Dinah's quest to find her sister, despite the lack of setup or motivation surrounding Sin's predicament, is carried off well. Technically, all the right check boxes get checked, but it's the devil in the details of the creative choices where the issue flounders. In terms of basic writing execution, the premise is solid, Thompson maintains energetic pacing, and the dialog reads organic throughout. No details are given as to how and why Sin is in trouble, except for a mild tease on the last page, but Dinah's mission is designed to put a team together with a mix designed to, as Ollie says, 'make people $%^& their pants when they see them.' Kelly Thompson's script centers on Dinah Lance, aka Black Canary, secretly assembling a team behind Oracle's back for a mission to save her younger sister, Sin. Whether or not you like this comic depends on which parts are more important to you than others. Some parts work, others don't, and the rest fall somewhere in between. Just make sure nobody tells Oracle what's happening. Cover art by: Leonardo Romero, Jordie Bellaireīirds of Prey #1 brings a new team together under Black Canary's watchful eye to save Sin from a fate worse than death.

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