Review: Birds of Prey #15
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Art: Sami Basri
Colors: Adriano Lucas
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd
Summary
Cassandra Cain finds herself alone and captive of the Ninth Day while the rest of the team sits on their hands and talks. No really, they talk- a lot.
Positives
With Birds of Prey #14 and #15, Kelly Thompson finally shows she understands that she knows what a Birds of Prey story should be like. We finally get a covert, espionage, undercover style mission that is the team’s forte. Cassandra gets some good action bits that show her capabilities. Basri’s art is solid he holds things together with the more subtle personal moments and the action bits.
Barbara Gordon in her role as Oracle finally feels right in this book. This is reflected on the cover by Leonardo Romero. It’s a classic Babs as Oracle shot that stirs the emotions for a good Birds of Prey series. It’s a case of the cover being better than the interior like the entirety of the current Power Girl comic. Thompson completely misused her in the first arc and underused her in the second one.
Negatives
Thompson has struggled with the characters since issue #1 and this issue is no different. She’s got everything sort of switched around in a way that demonstrates her lack of understanding of DC characters. Cassandra, while getting some cool moments is completely out of place as the covert operative. It’s definitely not in her skill set. Instead of letting Dinah do her thing as she always has with the Birds of Prey, Thompson is just writing Cass as Dinah. These are not interchangeable characters. They are very different personality wise and have similar, but still unique skill sets. It’s so odd it almost takes one out of the story completely. Had Dinah just been the one undercover, this issue would’ve been leaps and bounds better.
Thompson has too large a cast if half of them can only sit around spouting stupid dialogue and spar. Onyx (barely remember her name) and the redhead (have no idea what her name is) contribute nothing to the issue or the overall story. They are the definition of excess baggage. Barda is almost in the same position, but she has a stronger emotional connection to Cassandra and it works just well enough.
Sin also seems to have no role, despite Dinah trying to reassure her. The whole Megeara inhabiting Sin was a bad idea form the start and Thompson now seems to be struggling with how to use her. This “homefront” aspect is not altogether a bad idea, it’s just used poorly and in fact overused in Birds of Prey #15. A smaller cast would allow for more meaningful commentary and angst from Dinah, Sin, Barda and Babs. They have the interpersonal connections. Thompson has too many characters so she feels compelled to use them for something even if it’s just sitting around talking and wringing their hands. The interesting part is with Cassandra, even if it is out of character.
Verdict
Overall, Birds of Prey #15 isn’t that it’s bad, it’s just not that good. It’s uneven with positives and negatives that balance each other. While Thompson gets some things right with type of story and some quality covert action, characterization is way off and the story is cluttered with pointless characters. Issues #14-16 could easily be condensed to two issues (this is doable despite not having read #16 yet!) if all the chaff were separated out. This would solve one of the problems with the story. There’s probably no hope for the characterization.
