Broken Frontier

With Birds of Prey #3, writer Gail Simone may have hit the wall for some readers in her debut arc that feels stretched a little thin in parts.  Assisted in this by the inconsistent artwork between pencillers Ed Benes and Adriana Melo, Birds of Prey #3 fails to live up to what Simone and the artists have crafted with the first two installments.

Opening with Simone's trademark twisted humor as an unconscious Penguin engages in erotic sexual fantasies concerning the Birds, the story begins strong as the team must regroup after the onslaught of the White Canary and the Gotham police in the prior issue.  From here, readers gain a greater insight into Barbara Gordon's investigations into the mysterious assaults as well as into Black Canary's past with both Savant and Creote.  Yet, it is at this point that the story begins to drag as Simone falls back on endless action at the expense of advancing a strong, narrative thrust.  Although issue #2 succeeded in this same endeavor of promoting action at the expense of story, Simone was able to interweave significant plot threads into the ensuing violence and combat.  Here, in issue #3, she is not so successful.  Once again, the Birds must fight off rogue Gotham police officers, while Barbara Gordon sits dumbfounded at how this could have transpired without her knowledge.  Sadly, Gordon is tremendously underappreciated and underused by Simone thus far in the series as the majority of the focus has been on the field agents.

Even the "surprise" return of certain characters does little to rejuvenate this book as new readers unaccustomed to Simone's previous run on the title have little to no connections to them or why they would be important to the Birds.  Additionally, the Penguin sex-dream shtick only goes so far and dragging it back out midway through the story dampens the atmosphere and sense of danger Simone is attempting to construct.  That is one of the central problems with Birds of Prey #3—the threat, apart from the White Canary's continued dismantling of the Birds, never materializes or even when the source is hinted at, fails to deliver.

Adding to this disconnect is the transition in art from Benes to Melo and it is quite noticeable, particularly in the close-up facial expressions of the characters.  This disjointing effect does little to help move the story along and is so distracting that some readers may simply succumb to the mindless action sequences that fill out the story.  It is not that Melo's work is bad; in fact, it is far from it.  No, her style is simply different and after building a Benes-driven Birds environment, the drastic shift in style is just awkward at this point in the series.

Unfortunately, whatever ground Simone gained by tying issue #2 into the larger Brightest Day theme is squandered here as Hawk's ability to be injured is exploited once again with little to no connection to the greater meaning of the resurrections.  Of course, Simone cannot be expected to reveal the White Light's power over Hawk this early or at all in this book; however, unlike some of the other associated comics under the Brightest Day banner, Birds of Prey's ties to the event are wearing thin.  And, while this is not necessarily a drawback to the book, fans who are reading it because of the connection may feel their investment is not paying off.