babbling_bookends

• Comic Series: Birds of Prey


• Issue Number: 07


• Title: Undercover Animals (Part 1 of 2)


• Writer(s): Kelly Thompson


• Artist(s): Javier Pina


• Colorist(s): Jordie Bellaire


• Letterer(s): Clayton Cowles

We had a different artist on this issue, and Javier Pina’s lineart with Bellaire’s colors combined to create a dreamy, technicolor look that I really enjoyed. With the departure of Harley Quinn and Zannah (Zealot) last issue, in this issue we had two new characters joining the roster to replace them, Barbara Gordon (Batgirl & Oracle) and Mari McCabe (Vixen). I read all 12 issues of Matthew Rosenberg’s 2022 WildC.A.T.s series and enjoyed Zannah in it, so while it was fun to see her here, she didn’t really fit with the team. I felt the same about Harley. I think it was probably smart to have Harley for the first arc, because she brings a certain star power to the series that the other characters don’t have, just because of how much DC has promoted her in the past few years. I’m excited for Mari, though I haven’t read any comics with her in them, and of course it was nice to have Barbara. It just wasn’t Birds of Prey without both her and Dinah.

I was a little worried that adding Barbara to the team would mean that we would end up with two Batgirls, since Cassandra Cain is also Batgirl, but at least for this arc it looks like Barbara will be acting as Oracle. Covers that don’t match the story content strikes again! We really only need one Batgirl, so I’m happy with how Barbara is being used.

Here’s my complaint for this story, though: it’s lacking depth. I just think there’s more that could be explored! Thompson has a lot of fun characters with interesting backstories and I think she could be using that more. With that said, the first arc was entertaining enough, and I am a firm believer that comics should be given time to develop and grow.

Why You Should Read This: Because March is Women’s History Month and this is a team of women! ;-)