Birds of Prey #1

As mentioned in my previous post, I'll be at New York Comic Con all day Saturday, so expect some upcoming reviews of book that I pick up there to be mixed in with the remaining books from MICE and the DC New 52 titles. Eventually I'll get back to my backlog! Here's another DC book.

Title: Birds of Prey
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Colorist: Nei Ruffino
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Janelle Asselin
Cover: Jesus Saiz, Nei Ruffino

The cover features what I assume to be the full team of Black Canary, Sparrow, Katana (huh?) and Poison Ivy (!?!?). This issue is all Canary and Sparrow, although Barbara Gordon makes a guest appearance (to decline an offer of membership) and Katana gets a mention.

The story centers on a reporter who's been tipped off about the identities of the members of the Birds of Prey team. He's on his way to meet with his secret source unaware that 1) Canary and Sparrow are on to him, and 2) His source wants him dead.

And there are ninjas. Who might be clones, and who appear to be equipped with some pretty hardcore biological weaponry in addition to their usual (inadequate) ninja skilz.

Canary is written well. Nothing that's too much of a departure from the way she's been depicted in past versions of Birds of Prey. She's still got the sonic scream (which they refer to as the "canary cry", probably because someone finally informed them that all screams are, by definition, sonic).

I was a bit more dubious about Sparrow. Much of the action takes place in a church and Sparrow is apparently a somewhat lapsed Catholic who's got a good sense of humor about her situation, so she had some funny lines. But beyond that she seemed like a rather generic femme fatale.

The ending provided a bit of an interesting twist, but there just wasn't enough in this issue that felt original or creative. The storytelling was competent, but it lacked the kind of spark that past versions of this title had, the kind of spark that gets the reader caring about the characters.

Rating: 6/10