Birds of Prey #118 - DC

Despite anything that happens in this issue . . the main thing to take away is . . this is really the first appearance, or mention, of the Dark Side Club. It seems to be a fight-club, of sorts, in Manhattan. It's lead by someone known only as Boss Dark Side. And, somehow, they obtain meta-powered people and get them to fight each other. The issue starts out with a fight between Livewire and Misfit. Apparently Misfit has been their prisoner for about a week now, and is the current 5-time champion. We don't know who else she's fought . . and really, it doesn't matter. Now, from the conversations between the people in the club . . the workers, I guess . . it seems as if these people may actually be some members of the Fourth World . . undercover. None of the characters look like them, but they make comments about Lashina, Steppenwulf, Granny Goodness and . . could Boss Dark Side actually be, Darkseid? I thought they were all dead? And if not, what are they all doing in disguise, in Manhattan, operating an under-ground fight-club? Luckily, one of their most recent abductees is Black Alice. And since she's not as sedated as Misfit, she can use Misfit's powers to help her find out what's going on here. Together they escape, but not before Black Alice finds out, truly, what happens when Misfit tries to transport another living being. Let's just say . . it's not pretty. In the end, Black Alice goes her own way, and Misfit gets back to the Birds, who were really starting to worry about her. Oh yeah! Another piece of startling information. During her excursion around the grounds, Black Alice overheard Granny and their chemist talking. It seems that she's discovered that Misfit and Black Alice are actually blood-relatives. We don't learn the full details yet. They could be cousins . . they could be sisters. What we do know is that there's an awful big mystery going on here. I thought Tony Bedard did a fantastic job with this story . . as usual. And I was equally impressed . . once again . . by Nicola Scott's pencils. I really think she's progressing nicely as an artist, and I love the feel she has for these characters. Oh, and Stephane Roux . . who's been doing the covers . . is equally as impressive. I thought it was a very good issue. And our first foray into the Dark Side Club.