Friday, November 28, 2003

Birds of Prey # 60

Writer: Gail Simone
Art: Ed Benes
published by DC Comics

I love Gail Simone. Really. I do. She's one of the best writers in comics, and she's a chick. Plus, she's smart enough to be the brain behind Women in Refrigerators, one of the smartest criticisms of modern comics I've ever read.
Still, I'm not quite savvy with her run on Birds of Prey. Black Canary gets tortured by a guy hunting for Oracle...written by the woman who wrote the book on the rampant mistreatment of woman characters in comics. There's a story about loyalty in there, sure...but it always came back to the fact that Canary was getting tortured. Maybe it's unfair to think that Simone wouldn't use a plot device like that. Maybe I'm just spoiled by her fantastic runs on Deadpool and Agent X.
Issue 60 picks up with Canary on the mend and the Huntress disguising herself as Black Canary to meet with a senator who has some agenda against Canary's partner, Oracle. Things don't go well at the meet, and by the end of the book things look downright dismal for the girls.
Solid characterization seems to be the rule of thumb on this book. These women have history and it shows. There is a bit of humor in the book...but not as off the wall wacky as Simone's previous work for Marvel. It's a good read, but I still don't have a tack on whether or not I'm going to get this book regularly.