Birds of Prey #24 // Review
When the team started-up it was just Babs and Canary. Now things have gotten really, really complicated. There’s a whole lot of them now and they’re all up against...one of themselves. (And the one of them that they’re up against only happens to be a New God.) They’ve only got one chance to sest things straight in Birds of Prey #24. Writer Kelly Thompson concludes a story arc with penciler Sami Basri, inker Vicente Cifuentes and colorist Adriano Lucas. Thompson and company come to the conclusion of a big story that is leading to a much bigger story as the series ends its second year.
They’re up against Barda. She’s being controlled by something very dark and very ominous. It’s going to take all of them to defeat her, but it’s also going to take a very quick and decisive action...otherwise Barda’s going to gain momentum and completely destroy them. They might meet some level of victory against her, but those who were controlling her were only using her as a distractino for something that’s undoubtedly much bigger and more ominous than an out-of-control New God. Whatever THAT is could end up being much, much worse.
Thompson has a solid grasp on the history of that this particular group has been through. Not just in the last couple of years that she's been working with them but going back all the way. And so it's really nice to see a sense of overall continuity, feeding into the drama of what's being put to the page. It's really impressive stuff on the hole. And there's a lot of texture and intimacy within the interpersonal drama of the team itself. Thompson has a really solid sense of balance and momentum in and within the series, and everybody in the team seems to be getting a decent amount of space on the page.
Basri finds a really good way of framing all of that balance. The team is big and unlikely. This particular incarnation of the team happens to include a lot of people who aren't normally in it. So page and panel can be pretty heavy and pretty way down by everything that's going on. However, Basri does a really good job of making sure that there's a balance there. And that there's enough negative space to make it feel like what's going on on. The page is actually taking place in a space that is overwhelmed by it.
Thompson is doing a good job of showing that she's in the long haul with this series. Is a real sense of patience about delivering the story and all of its various elements. She is taking her time with the overall rhythm of it, which makes it feel like she's carving her own corner out of the DC universe. And that's really impressive. There's a strong sense of confidence in the entire creative team as they are moving forward with this particular serial. That confidence feels refreshing in the current state of things for the industry.
