Broken Frontier

The need for change often times is a signal that the subject is currently experiencing misdirection. However, that’s never a sure sign that the new direction will fix the problems inherent in the existing one. Let’s face it, how many times has a quote-unquote Bold New Direction taken a wrong turn at the corner of Mediocre Street and Boredom Avenue to drive a comic series straight down Cancellation Boulevard? Way too many times has a new direction been the precursor to the demise of a series. I mean, if it weren’t broken, why would the powers that be feel the need to fix things in the first place? The answer: they wouldn’t, unless they had more ideas than common sense.

Last year saw a lot of changes across the comic landscape, many worked out for the best, but many did not. There was the canceling of Young Justice and Titans that led to the re-birth of Teen Titans and Outsiders (great move!) and then there was the alteration to Green Lantern’s creative team that has yet to get the accolades awarded to the previous team (not so great move).

While Jim Lee and Jeff Loeb’s run on Batman was the major success story of the year for DC in the change department, more great changes were floating on the direct currents, as evidenced by the success of Geoff John’s Teen Titans.

One thing’s for sure, Birds of Prey had its fair share of broken pieces. Gone was the creative rudder manned by Chuck Dixon and the fans were leaving as well. The characters were losing the edge they had in the earlier issues and in the wake of the TV show’s cancellation the ship was meandering aimlessly across a vast sea of nothingness leaving little hope for the fine feathered femme fatales.

What was DC to do with this book? It had too much potential to cancel and the body of the TV show was still warm while its spirit made its way into the television afterlife known as syndication. So, the powers that be at DC put their minds together and came up with an idea that just might save this book from the chopping block. What happened next is one of the greatest things to happen in comics in 2003.

With the announcement of Gail Simone and Ed Benes as the newest creative team for Birds of Prey, the buzz began and before long it went from low level buzz to a full blown roar. Preliminary tidbits were strategically leaked to the comic press and by the time issue 56 hit the stands, DC had an instant hit on their hands.

From the ranks of the DC faithful to those less interested in the goings on of the members of the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans they came. From the legions of Marvel fans to Image, Dark Horse, CrossGen and more, the fans came to see what was going on. What they saw was amazing.

From issue #56, Gail Simone has taken equal parts of her soul and poured them into the three ladies who make up the Birds of Prey. The characterization given to Oracle, Black Canary and the Huntress takes these characters further into the realm of realism than ever before. Every emotion that ran across the face of Barbara Gordon elicited a response from the readers. Every curl of Black Canary’s lip to every angry stare launched from the eyes of the Huntress, we believed. With that belief came a caring for these characters that transcends the ink and paper that carries the stories from the creators to us.

Simone wasn’t alone in her rejuvenation of this story. On came the fantastic imagery of Ed Benes. Not only does he create some of the best action sequences of any DC pencil pusher, his facial expressions overflow with emotion and his female forms are enough to drip sex appeal from every page. Whether it’s Babs and Dinah having a close moment shared between friends or Helena laying the smack down on the bad guy of the month, Ed Benes makes us believe. Never in the course of the book does his art do anything other than seep into your brain and mesh perfectly with the gateways of your imagination to propel you into the world of the Birds of Prey.

Many books succeed on the strength of the writer or the penciler alone. Other books are carried by a great combination of writer and penciler, each helping to move the story on their individual steam. The truly great books are propelled by a team of writer and artists who come together and truly become greater than the sum of their combined skill. That’s exactly what’s going on in the pages of Birds of Prey every month. Simone and Benes are truly birds of a feather. This book is one part super hero story, one part heartfelt drama, one part gut-wrenching intrigue and one hundred percent excellence.

- Mike Bullock