It’s In The Game — Reviewing ‘Birds Of Prey’ #25

Twenty-five issues has always been a milestone in comic books, especially in the modern era of constant reboots and relaunches. Hitting that “quarter century” mark means a book has been received well enough to keep trucking on where others were not so fortunate.

It’s time for the Birdies to celebrate as Birds Of Prey #25 picks up the trail of the team’s newest team of enemies. Things take a wild turn under the care of Kelly Thompson, Cliff Richards, Sami Basri, Adriano Lucas, and Clayton Cowles.

I have to admit, this one left me split.

The first half is a pretty solid straightforward affair. Inque has broken ranks from the Shadow Army that has been plaguing, and almost defeated, the Birds. The team goes back and forth about believing her, Barda is pissed since Inque hijacked her body, and we get Inque’s story- How she came from the future to hide and make money, and “fell into” the Shadow Army.

There’s some intriguing back and forth between the Birds. Thompson enjoys writing them all and their dynamic, making things humorous even when there are some really strong serious matters that the characters are dealing with. Barda alone has the zingers for any moment, and she’s dead serious about them. We love a character who is funny because they are deadpan and earnest in their delivery.

I wasn’t certain if I had come across Richards’ artwork before. A quick glance at his credits shows that I most definitely have, including in previous volumes featuring the Birds. That’s good to know.

There’s a rough kind of grainy touch to the overall imagery, giving the characters a very different sort of look than the previous issues. There’s still plenty of depth and detail in every panel, just with a bit of a heavier sort of overall feeling involved. They still move through the pages with graceful kinetic energy, giving it all the right feeling of true movement, especially since Richards handles the overall action and real world sequences of the issue.

It’s got different flavoring than what we see from Basri near the end, picking up a few pages after handling fuller issues previously. Fittingly the pages handled are those of the illusion tech gameworld sequences, giving the two spaces their own unique overall aesthetic. This is a style that is slicker and smoother in many ways, soaking up the colors in a different way. Really homing in on that superhero kind of atmospheric feeling.

Lucas builds and supports the bridge between the two artistic styles. Bringing a color palette that is similar yet subtly unique for each style. Choosing a lot of heavier vibrant colors that keep things colorful and heroic. In the first pages though those colors are weightier with a lot of darker tones mixed in. Those colors are rougher which matches the style of the artwork. Whereas in the end, the palette takes on a slicker smoother feeling that pops in a different way.

All the voices are usually very on-point in their delivery and tone. Cowles makes sure to really pull every bit of emotional energy to the forefront in whatever words are on the page. He gives them the little push that they require, shifting the fonts, bubbles, and more around to hit those little highs and really highlight what we should be hearing.

Back to the overall story line though, the part I wasn’t as certain on.

The idea of the Birds going into a virtual reality situation is a fun bit, especially with their little back and forth about what they want to look like in this world. Where it failed for me was that I had no clue at all why they were doing this, and whether they were still in the real world at some points (like the cliffhanger ending) or if everyone was in the virtual world. There was some confusion that was really heavy in these points.

I’m sure that the next issue will flesh things out better, I trust Thompson. Just in this case the second half of the issue left me a bit waver-y on everything.

Birds Of Prey #25 is now available from DC Comics.