Birds of Prey #2

Birds of Prey #2: Writer: Gail Simone. Pencils: Ed Benes & Adriana Melo.

Review: This issue begins with Black Canary and Huntress taking on White Canary, who had already trounced both women last issue. White Canary once again seems to get the upper hand in the fight until Huntress manages to catch White Canary from behind. This gives BC a few free shots on White Canary, and after a few good punches to the face, BC is stunned by the look of utter hatred White Canary shoots her. By this time, Lady Blackhawk, Dove and Hawk show up, which leads to White Canary getting free in the confusion and dishing out beatdowns on Huntress and Hawk. Oracle catches a news report framing BC for the death of the man she had saved last issue, and hears police reports that indicate several police cruisers were headed to BC's location. Oracle warns BC to get out of Dodge, but by the time BC gets the message the cops had arrived. Penguin, who was lying there the entire time after being stabbed in the neck last issue by White Canary, tells the women that if they take him back to his club he'd hide them from the cops, and with no real choice, BC and company flee the scene with the Penguin, which looks REALLY bad for BC's innocence. While the Birds are retreating from the cops, Oracle gets a transmission from Creote(an old enemy turned ally from the last Birds series)where he tells her that his partner Savant had been killed, and that White Canary was responsible. Creote blames Oracle for the death before blowing his brains out. The news continues to get worse, as Black Canary's secret identity is revealed to the news agencies, which leads Oracle to realize that whoever was behind these systematic attacks against her and her team was playing for keeps. This issue ends with the Birds on the run from the police, and Oracle deciding it was time to go on the offensive.

What I Thought: Well, whoever is behind the attacks on the Birds sure isn't playing games, are they? I'm not sure who the secret villain behind the scenes is yet, although I have to think it's a former ally of the Birds gone bad. As for White Canary, all signs seem to be pointing towards her being the girl BC nearly adopted, Sin. Even as a young girl Sin was a fighting dynamo, the only problem with that is Sin was a young girl, not a grown woman the last time she was around. I guess White Canary could also be the former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, which would make a bit more sense since she had insider information concerning Oracle and the Birds. Or of course it could be someone I'm not thinking about. But that's the fun thing about this series right now, trying to dig into the mystery to see who hates Oracle and her team SO much that they'd be willing to kill and ruin the lives of anybody who was ever associated with Oracle. I will say that I was extremely disappointed to see that Savant and Creote died here, as I kind of liked them... Especially Savant. He was a real nutjob! Well, I think I've rambled long enough about this comic, X out.

Score: 9 out of 10.That clump of hair should be the key to finding out who White Canary is.