Five Birds, One Crime: Reviewing ‘Birds Of Prey’ #7

There’s nothing like finding out someone from the future has an axe to grind with you and your closest friend.

With their first mission (questionably) successful, Black Canary and her new team must turn their focus to something even closer to home in Birds Of Prey #7. This brand-new arc comes from Kelly Thompson, Javier Pina, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles.

Gosh, it’s just a delight to see Oracle and Black Canary riding together once more.

That’s it. I’m a happy little fan.

Oh, I guess there is more to the review than that. But it’s at the top of my list, so now it’s out there. Fans were worried that Oracle/Babs was being left out of the series but it turns out (shockingly) that Thompson’s plans for the characters were bigger than we knew.

For these two issues, the book gets a bit of a slight visual alteration. Changing artists is just part of modern comics, giving main artists time to get ahead or recuperate. Often those changes are baked into the book, finding someone who has the right style for a tonal or story change. Other times it’s about finding the best fit to keep a flavor going.

We’re right in the middle of the second option here.

Pina and Leonardo Romero are different but also pretty dang similar. Place pages from the last issue and this one together and one can tell the difference. At the same time, they’ll be struck by how similar they approached this book.

Characters are rendered beautifully and so realistically here, their emotions and movements crackling with energy. A classic meets modern vibe has been at the forefront of this series, and it keeps going here. Part of that is the fact that Bellaire is still on colors and employing the same neon vibrant-hued qualities over the very Ben Day Dot-inspired pencils.

I mean those dots are even incorporated into the title lettering in the credits.

A heavier feeling comes from both sides of the artwork, employing some toned-down or washed-out color choices. Along with a lot of shadows and gray tones that seep into things, the pencils are a bit heavier. It gives everything a solid weight.

Gosh, Barda and Bargirl (Cass) are the greatest pairing I never knew we needed. How they turn a game of laser tag with the new combined Sin/Megaera into an all-out battle of champions is amazing. It’s similar to but very different from the very familiar and fun way that Canary and Oracle bounce off each other. Thompson is a master at character writing and just understands the voices and personalities of these characters implicitly.

Cowles is still nailing bringing those voices from the script into being on the page. Letting the balloons change shape or style for emphasis, as the font expands or decreases accurately to convey tonal shifts. Barda can go from boisterous bold double-sized text to softer almost fading-out text in the blink of an eye.

Throwing Vixen into the mix, both as an expert on the Red (the opposite of Swamp Things the Green) and a team member and mission giver is great. We don’t ever see enough of Mari McCabe, and we need to rectify that. Our characters having to take the stage for a lingerie show as part of their mission is wild but on brand. Especially since the story revolves around someone using Vixen’s fashion line to control people into committing crimes.

That’s just the wild comic book-type stuff I gobble up.

Birds Of Prey #7 is now available from DC Comics.