REVIEW: Birds of Prey, #13

[CBR News]

Duane Swierczynski and Romano Molenaar welcome back readers to "Birds of Prey" #13 with a strong jumping on point as Katana's past comes back to haunt her.


Full review here.

[ArnoldoAAD]

3.5!

ignoring the fact that once again a new story has began when the last had no real conclusion

When "Birds of Prey" #13 opens, one of the big cliffhangers -- the still lingering poisoning of the team by traitor Poison Ivy -- has already been resolved and the team moves forward with their lives.

resolved =/= concluded

what happen to Ivy? who was the guy in her lab?
Batman just appeared out of nowhere off-panel to cure the birds

this issue had mostly nothing to do with Katana
yeah the plot is that her sword was stolen and she is trying to recover it but thats it, we dont get any new or important information from her

Readers learn about Katana's past

what did he read?
there was othing that we didnt knew already, that the husband was dead, the only extra thing is that he was killed by a clan of ninjas who might as well been taken from Marvel' the hand
where did she got the sword? how did her husband's soul ended in the katana?
there many things that could had been done here

and the Condor was pretty much detrimental for the story, we know really nothing of him and yet spend too much time with him which could had been used for Tatsu

[Stevonicus]

3.5!
and the Condor was pretty much detrimental for the story, we know really nothing of him and yet spend too much time with him which could had been used for Tatsu

He did appear in Hawk and Dove and I think he was a major antagonist in that series so I guess we are expected to know all about him from there. The fact that I only read a single issue of the series means I don't actually know a thing about him. SO it is possible he has clear, well defined motivations but the fact that Liefeld created him makes me believe otherwise.

[ArnoldoAAD]

He did appear in Hawk and Dove and I think he was a major antagonist in that series so I guess we are expected to know all about him from there. The fact that I only read a single issue of the series means I don't actually know a thing about him. SO it is possible he has clear, well defined motivations but the fact that Liefeld created him makes me believe otherwise.

Its not the same Condor

[Shimarenda]

This review has convinced me to give this title the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the #0 issue did cause this bizarre bump in the narrative. I recall similar problem in Gail Simone's run with "War Games" and "One Year Later" screwing up the new supporting cast and long range narrative plans she had made. But this arc had better have an ending!

[ArnoldoAAD]

This review has convinced me to give this title the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the #0 issue did cause this bizarre bump in the narrative. I recall similar problem in Gail Simone's run with "War Games" and "One Year Later" screwing up the new supporting cast and long range narrative plans she had made.

I really dont see how this would be a problem here
besides
this didnt had the same problem with the Choke arc which also didnt have an ending

But this arc had better have an ending!

here is how i picture the ending

Katana will recover her sword, we will learn practically no new information on her at all and then she will leave completely offpanel cause she was approached by Steve Trevor, also offpanel, to join the JLA
and in the middle of all that, the next arc will kick in

[HeroxMatt2.0]

This was actually very enjoyable for me. Sterling's "Konichiwa b*****" was awesome.

Also, like it was said in the review, I liked the art as well.

[DebkoX]

This review is getting me excited now!

[SJNeal]

I'd never heard of Romano Molenaar when I saw his name on the solicit for #0, but I was pleasantly surprised. Glad to see it wasn't just a one-off fill in.

If Travel Foreman isn't coming back, I'm ok with that as Molenaar is a better fit for this book, imo.

[Bookem Danno]

This was actually very enjoyable for me. Sterling's "Konichiwa b*****" was awesome.

Also, like it was said in the review, I liked the art as well.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc...sfu0o1_250.png
(I don't know how to attach this bigger than 100mb file.)

OMG! That line was awesome! Visceral quote of the month! (Felt the same instant rush of true grit fighting spirit as when Lashina shouted "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" back in Ostrander's SS fight.)
Heck, it made Panel of the Week here:
http://www.gothamspoilers.com/2012/1...-10182012.html
I'm really growing to like Starling. 'Course I wouldn't want to keep any secrets from her. Yeesh! I wonder how a date with her and classic Guy Gardner would have went.

Anyways, despite the horrible prologue and segue from the last arc this was a very well done, well paced action adventure to enjoy. Loved the fact that 4 against 400 were odds to retreat from. I could just see (regrettfully) DD, Punisher, Cage and Fist mopping the floor with that many ninjas and not batting an eye.

Actually I thought Condor's introduction was pretty good. Sure, there wasn't too much but we're just meeting the guy. Is it his new52 intro too? I did NOT like the horrible lacking backstory details on Katana though. Also, an unexplained different costume for Batgirl was annoying for a young newUniverse trying to show a new consistency. Forgive me if I'm wrong but is her costume new here?

I liked the art too! All the birds looked great.