Swierczynski Looks Towards The Future Of "Birds Of Prey"

[CBR News]

"Birds Of Prey" writer Duane Swierczynski spoke with CBR about his plans for DC Comics' all-female super team, working with artist Travel Foreman once again and the evolving relationships at the heart of the book.



Full article here.

[FHIZ]

Ah, the rare Swierczynski interview, I look forward to reading this.

EDIT 1: Alright, first line of the interview "Now that you've wrapped up Choke" ...when was that wrapped up? Last I heard (read) that was pretty much the opposite of what happened.

EDIT 2: Okay, i'm glad that point was addressed.

[batGRRRl4ever]

....in the coming months we're going to see basically how Black Canary and Batgirl first met, their first encounter with each other. It'll make more clear why they've been so standoffish, why Batgirl is standoffish....
Beyond that stuff, there is a big personal reason for the tension between Black Canary and Batgirl. There's also a reason why they bonded as friends. It's a hard bond to break.

OK NOW I'm intrigued!! It is SO obvious the old BoP Hx is out the window now, why DC ever wanted to say it was a "soft" reboot when it's so obvious it isn't. I"m back in until this reveal comes forth at least, as this will also have to tie into the overall history of Batgirl and maybe affect her over in her primary title, which is my #1 monthly read.

Ditto though on the Choke storyline not even remotely being wrapped up....

[Mundungus]

I read the first four issues and thought it was decent. I dropped it until the Night of the Owls crossover and Travel Foreman as artist. I like Swiercynzki but for right now Foreman is keeping me engaged. I loved his art in the most recent issue.

[Rakzo]

I'm glad that he has a planned direction for the team and I'm enjoying all the characters and interactions, but I would like it even more if he could make more concise arcs and a better connection between issues.

[I_Captain Blanco]

Has anybody heard why Saiz is off the book? His art was one of the things that kept me coming back, month after month, and while I'll most likely keep getting the book, Travel Foreman's art just doesn't do it for me as much as Saiz' did.

[Stopu]

Uncle Earl!! :D

Ah, the rare Swierczynski interview, I look forward to reading this.

EDIT 1: Alright, first line of the interview "Now that you've wrapped up Choke" ...when was that wrapped up? Last I heard (read) that was pretty much the opposite of what happened.

EDIT 2: Okay, i'm glad that point was addressed.

It seems the problem is that we believe in Katana too much. :P

[Rakzo]

Has anybody heard why Saiz is off the book? His art was one of the things that kept me coming back, month after month, and while I'll most likely keep getting the book, Travel Foreman's art just doesn't do it for me as much as Saiz' did.

I suppose it was because Duane had a good dynamic with Foreman since they both worked in other projects before and DC wanted to give Resurrection Man a push so they put Saiz there.

[ArnoldoAAD]

Similarly, are we going to see if Katana is right about Choke being alive after Night of the Owls? Is he a villain who might be resurfacing?

You can take the ending as two ways: one that Katana is actually a little crazy, her husband's not in the sword and she has no idea whether that was the real Choke or not -- and it really was, story over. Or, if she's right, the threat is still out there. I kind of like the idea that the threat is maybe out there, still. Maybe! When I was trying to come up with a good villain for "Birds Of Prey," I didn't want someone to be shelved in two or three issues, I wanted a big uber-villain that never quite goes away; the Joker to Batman, the villain who isn't put in jail or easily wrapped up. I think Choke might be back in the future -- or, you know, you'll find out if Katana's crazy! Either way it's fun!

I was thinking something like this, that he wanted to make Choke into a recurring villain
but the way that he did it was very bad

no wonder why everyone thought it wasnt over

I dont think anyone here even consider the possibility that Katana is wrong and that was Choke
any way you see it is just a bad twist ending

[FHIZ]

Uncle Earl!! :D

I'm waiting for that issue so freaking much. It was first mentioned MONTHS ago, and at the time, I believe George Perez had already drawn it. Sounds like they may get someone else to draw it by the way Duane just mentions it as a script in the interview.

[CagedLeo730]

Has anybody heard why Saiz is off the book? His art was one of the things that kept me coming back, month after month, and while I'll most likely keep getting the book, Travel Foreman's art just doesn't do it for me as much as Saiz' did.

Saiz just wanted to do something different. He jumped at the idea of doing Resurrection Man. So BOP was open and Foreman wanted to do something different as well. It was a voluntary switch including Dagnino moving to Suicide Squad.

[FHIZ]

Saiz just wanted to do something different. He jumped at the idea of doing Resurrection Man.

More specifically he really wanted to do something on the Dark line.

I did find it weird that he only did like six pages or something ridiculous like that on his first issue of Resurrection Man :/

[Man-Thing]

So I'm really on the fence about this book. I'm a really big Ivy fan and I'm excited that the next arc is focusing on her, but given the statements made in this interview, he really doesn't know Ivy at all. He seems to think it's a novel concept tying Ivy to the Green, which he said wasn't the case before, but that's been her backstory since Gaimen's Secret Origins issue in the early 80's. Seriously. She may not interact with them much but her origins are heavily tied up with Floronic Man, Swamp Thing, and Black Orchid. I'm now a bit worried that he's going to be cutting all those ties and doing something new just because he hasn't done his research on the character. :/

[Little MY]

As a Black Canary fan who’s so accustomed to how Gail has written her I’m skeptical about what Duane is doing, I don’t have a problem with him giving us his own unique spin on the character but currently we have her somewhere in-between her old and new DC personas with the writer unable to make up his mind on what direction he wants to take her.

Also he tends to abuse the use of her Canary Cry, something that she’s rarely used in her previous incarnation unless circumstances were extreme like taking on a Major DCU Villain, this makes it lose its stature and makes it more of a gimmick.

I don’t know I was on the boat when it started but I’m slowly shifting on a plank now, I understand they want to move Black canary in a new "Super Spy" direction and it most likely will involve new covert spies such as Kurt Lance and organizations run by Amanda Waller but this whole creating it as we move forward is really leaving a lot of cracks carelessly in her background and diminishing whatever goodwill the character had built in her previous incarnation.

But I'll labor on with the ride I have no choice, where else will I get Black Canary from?

[Jared]

I liked Canary and Batgirl's first meeting in BG Year 1, though I guess that doesn't work with the reboots to JLA history and their ages being closer.