Gail Simone Pens Another Winner! | Birds of Prey Vol. 3: Between Dark & Dawn

Graphic SF Reader | Birds of Prey Vol. 3: Between Dark & Dawn | Gail Simone

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	• Birds of Prey Vol. 3: Between Dark & Dawn Gail Simone DC Comics, 2006 - 176 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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I liked it

I liked it! The dialog was mostly smart and mature.... unlike in the short-lived TV series by the same name. I remember thinking to myself while watching, I could find smarter dialog on an episode of KIM POSSIBLE! I liked the bit when Black Canary and Huntress were waiting on a stakeout and the one mentions to the other how many gargoyles there are in Gotham City. Huntress explains that technically real gargoyles have waterspouts and that the statute in question is a grotesquery. Then Black Canary imitates the grotesquery, as a way of poking fun at Batman -- although the name's never mentioned in the conversation. Huntress laughs but says, "Stop! He'll HEAR you!" He's nowhere near the place, but the idea is, he seems to hear and see and know everything in Gotham City. Not all the dialog is clever, though, to wit:
Oracle: "Can you please not sit your rear on my scanner? I don't know where that thing's been."
Black Canary: "Just keepin' it warm. You should try it."

Arg.

But the series -- or at lest, this volume which collects issues 69-75 -- is better than that. Characterization is solid, pacing is good... the art is, too.

In feminist film studies, there's something called "the male gaze". The casual viewer tends to think that the camera just shows what the viewer would see in person, but it doesn't. A close-up on a women's shapely legs, for example, positions the viewer as a heterosexual male who's enjoying that sight. Comics, a primarily visual medium, has a similar structure and the depiction of the women in these stories is certainly aimed at a male audience.

Oddly, the last story, which introduces the beautiful Lady Blackhawk to the story, addresses the issue of her being exploited for her looks in the past, and adding, "Please, tell me that's not all I have to offer, even now". Still, the story itself is very much exploiting her looks, even as all the Birds of Prey are better than average looking women. Or at least they would be, if they were real. Certainly the stories don't depict any of them MERELY as sex objects. It's like, OK, we'll give you depictions of strong and mature female characters -- as long as we can still make them look like pin-up girls while we're doing it. It kind of perpetuates the bias of the media in general that the most important thing about women is to look terrific.

Despite these criticisms, as I said, I did enjoy the stories and I do recommend them.

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Gail Simone Pens Another Winner!

Chuck Dixon created the mold when he delivered the first BIRDS OF PREY mini-series that later spawned a comic series that's about to pass 100 issues, and a short-lived television series that never quite found its wings. But I really think Gail Simone is the shining star of the series. She has the women's rap down, and she tech-savvy and seems to enjoy world-building, military hardware, politics, and history. All things that I gravitate to in storytelling. Simone is an absolute gem when it comes to creating captivating characterization.

In this last offering of issues rendered as a graphic novel, the Birds come into their own in many ways. Instead of the group just being Black Canary operating undercover with Barbara Gordon (Oracle) as backup, Huntress has been added in, as well as Lady Blackhawk. They work well as a group, and all of them are individuals with different triggers and goals.

This graphic novel concerns itself with a religious cult that has a surprise villain that I truly didn't see coming until X was on the page. Yet, X really fit. That's the magic that Simone brings to her work -- it's all a logical outgrowth of characters and situations. The later section of the book deals with the aftermath of the GANG WAR storyline that ran through the Bat books and ended in the loss of a major Robin-centric character that I still haven't agreed with.

As always, Ed Benes's artwork is lush and almost pure cheesecake -- except that he does action and body language and backgrounds so darn well. He's the perfect artist for a book like BIRDS OF PREY, and I hope he stays with the series forever.

If you haven't checked out a BIRDS OF PREY comic book/graphic novel and only have the television series to judge from, I'd suggest picking up any of Simone's graphic novels. Or any of Chuck Dixon's. But if you're wanting the deep emotion and women in turmoil, Gail Simone has definitely carved out territory of her own. I'm looking forward to more.

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Graphic SF Reader

This Birds of Prey trade contains stories that are a bit weaker than those that have come before, I think, and don't gel as well.

There is the undercover Huntress part, where she runs into Vixen. That is ok. Out of nowhere though, we have Brainiac interacting with Oracle, among other things.

It is still ok, just not as good as the rest.

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The Ret-Con begins

This is another complicated and finely woven story by author Gail Simone. This story involves BoP issues 68-75. And can be broken into four parts.

Part 1. involves the Birds investigating the disappearance of a bunch of kids. Oracle sends Huntress undercover to a cult in the woods of Oregon to investigate. While there she meets up with another undercover operative by the name of Vixen who is there to help her. Once again my biggest problem with this book comes down to Gail Simone's portrayal of Huntress. I am not certain whether Gail did her homework on Huntress or simply decided to arbitrarily ignore all the ground work laid out by other others such as Greg Rucka, Chuck Dixon and even Jeph Loeb did with her. But whatever the case, this is not the same Huntress. It's as if the character has been twisted and changed in order to suit the story the author wants to tell.

In the last book, Sensei & Student we saw Huntress--- a character who had previously portrayed as somewhat aloof proud and uptight---now reduced to a wanton who was predisposed to having sex with a man who just treated her abominably.

Now in this story we see a character,who had previously been portrayed as such a devout Catholic. That she incorporated the cross into her costume and took the time to pray for six slaughtered men. Now professing her discomfort with Churches, And who claims that she doesn't know the distinction between cults and churches! And Huntress' anger throughout the entire story is a real turn off. Gail Simone has made no secret of being an atheist and it's as if she's taken her own prejudices and foisted it onto the character.

Part 2. A subplot involving Oracle being taken over by Braniac, which is very interesting.

Part 3. A surprising stand alone story involving Canary finally confronting Savant, the man who kidnapped and humiliated her in the TPB `Of Like Minds'. I actually liked this story and consider it probably the best story that Gail has written. Because Canary is actually portrayed as a bit more human, and less `Pollyanaish' than she usually is. The story showed a woman who was suffered anger and resentment. Which would not be out of the norm considering what Savant had done to her.

Part 4. Involves a turning point for the Birds. Where after her clock tower being blown up and a fight with Batman. Oracle decides to re-locate to Metropolis. There is also a formal invitation for Huntress to join the team. And the introduction of a new character.

That being said. This probably is my favourite BoP arc, because of the darkness and intrigue.

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Huntress goes undercover to infiltrate a religious cult with a dangerous secret and a hidden operative, while Black Canary and Oracle uncover the true nature of Sovereign Brusaw?s organization. It all leads to the Huntress?s battle against former Justice League member Vixen! Finally, the Birds must face the aftermath of the Gotham Gang War, leading to a decision that changes the team?s fate forever!