Review: Birds of Prey #10
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Art: Robbi Rodriguez and Gavin Guidry
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
The group lands in another “world” and get a huge information dump from Cela one of its only inhabitants. They suddenly have learned everything they need to know about the plot to kill Barbara Gordon.
Positives
The outfits of the team change as the enter this new world. It’s a clever bit that they have 1950’s styling. The idea is cool, but there are missed opportunities here. Firstly, they 50’s styling isn’t that apparent at first glance, perhaps Cassandra and Barbara come off best. For some reason Dinah isn’t in her actual 1950’s costume, and neither Cass or Babs wear the Bette Kane Bat-Girl costume which first appeared in 1961. Though not strictly 50’s, the reference would’ve hit perfectly and clearly indicated that these costumes were from a different time.
The fact that the group learns exactly what’s going on is a nice step forward. Within this discovery is the interesting idea of Cela and her sisters. The idea of seven sister named after the Pleiades constellation is a cool idea. It comes across that this is Thompson’s real passion. There’s a sense that this is what Thompson wants to be writing. There’s a lot of potential in this idea and it seems to fit better in the story than the erstwhile Birds of Prey themselves.
Robbi Rodriguez and Gavin Guidry provide a textured look to the issue. It serves the story well enough and is not so dissimilar from previous artists on the series Jonathan Case and Leonardo Romero. Give Jordie Bellaire a pat on the back for the use of color to tell the story as she wisely injects pinks into the mostly gray world the group is in.
Negatives
The information dump by Cela in Birds of Prey #10 throws the pacing completely off. While the content of the info dump is intriguing, it’s presented in a way that induces a glazing over of the eyes. Thompson isn’t able to slow down the plot effectively in order to deliver Cela’s story. Instead of the the conflict with Barda’s “infection” the issue would’ve been put to better use with a longer version of Cela’s story in order to maximize the potential and draw in the reader more effectively.
Much of this issue feels like it’s only there to get Cela’s story and the rest feels like a waste, which is a repeat of last issue. While the 50’s costumes is a neat idea, there’s a “cutesy” element to it that is neither humorous or endearing, just forced. Vixen’s comment about it on the first page is superfluous and appears only to be there so she has something to say.
As the tone and genre of this series strays further and further from the core concept of the Birds of Prey, it’s harder and harder to take this adventure seriously. It’s wildly incongruous with the grounded nature of the team and Thompson’s passion is much stronger with Cela’s backstory.
Megeara is about to seem relevant on the final page, but again it comes across like she’s only part of Sin so she can be here to fulfill a role in the plot. That’s the way Thompson has selected this grouping. It’s easy to tell, because when they don’t have anything specific for the plot to do they just sort of stand around doing nothing, which is why Vixen seems pointless so far.
Verdict
Birds of Prey #10, outside of Cela’s information dump is just so much nonsense. Barely more happens than last issue, but what does is meaningless. The very thin plot doesn’t serve the characters that well, and the characters themselves feel secondary, which is again the opposite of the Birds of Prey concept. The plot itself has a lot of contrivance and the REASON Cela’s sister is after Barbara couldn’t be a more overused idea and underwhelming idea.
