Birds of Prey #1

Birds of Prey #1: Writer: Gail Simone. Pencils: Ed Benes.

Review: This issue kicks off in Iceland where Black Canary is trying to rescue the daughter of an ambassador who was being held by some crazy terrorists. BC meets up with the head terrorist, who is holding a gun to the little girl's head. Realizing that this guy appeared to want to kill the girl for the publicity it would garner him, BC gives a sign and Lady Blackhawk and her helicopter arrives on the scene and starts to shoot at the other terrorists in the area, leaving BC alone to deal with the leader. Dinah then unleashes a RIGHTEOUS beatdown on the terrorist, leaving him laying in the snow a bloody mess. BC then goes to mop up the rest of the terrorists, but the head guy attempts to toss the girl off of the glacier they were on, but BC manages to snag the girl and in one motion grab a hold of Lady Blackhawk's helicopter, leaving the terrorists to fall from the glacier. Afterwards, Blackhawk and BC take the girl to the hospital and are ready to head away when Oracle contacts them on their old Birds of Prey frequency, asking them to return to Gotham post-haste, which the women agree to do. Next Oracle gets in touch with Huntress, who was busting some heads in Gotham and asks her to meet up with her as well. The scene then shifts to Hawk and Dove who are also working out of Gotham and are beating up some criminals, although Hawk is a bit too exuberant in his beatings for Dove's approval. Afterwards Hawk and Dove head to a bar where Hawk drinks and Dove watches him unhappily. Lady Blackhawk arrives in the bar and gives Dove one of Oracle's cards, telling her that Oracle would like to work with her and Hawk. From there we head to the Birds reunion with Huntress, BC and Oracle meeting on a Gotham City rooftop to discuss why Oracle had contacted them. Oracle reveals that somebody had sent her files that had an insane amount of knowledge on several heroes, addresses, secret identities, social security numbers, who they've slept with, EVERYTHING! This mystery villain has demanded a meeting with the Birds, or else they promised to release all of the information they had gathered on-line. While the woman decide what to do, a Birds of Prey symbol(ala the bat-symbol)is shone in the air, telling the women the villain was ready to meet with them. BC and Huntress head to the location and find the Penguin and a woman shrouded in shadows standing there. The Penguin seems afraid of the woman, so BC and Huntress tell the Penguin to get away from her, which he does. The mystery woman then launches an attack on the two Birds and SOUNDLY defeats them both, while also managing to stab the Penguin in the neck with one of Huntress's arrows, which automatically makes this comic EVEN better for me! This issue ends with the woman, who is dressed in a white Black Canary outfit, telling BC to come and save the Penguin before he bleeds out, if she can.

What I Thought: Ah how I missed my Birds of Prey!!! As always, Gail had an amazing grasp of these characters. She is probably the ONLY writer who should EVER write this series. Seriously. As for the story, I can't say I'm overly pleased to see Hawk and Dove joining the team(I mean come on, they scream their names to change into their costumes!!!), but I trust Gail's judgment, so I'm willing to see what comes of them joining up. White Canary is an interesting case. In this issue she refers to Dinah as “siu jerk jai” or little bird. The only two people I can ever recall calling Dinah by that name are her dead sensei and Shiva... That could mean nothing, or it could be a huge hint... I guess we'll find out next issue.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.How wonderful it is to see Dinah back to her awesome ass-kicking ways again!!