Barbara is putting the gang back together again. Finally! But to be honest, they never really went away. Barbara is still Oracle, afterall. So she's constantly in contact with them . . in one form or another. They just haven't 'officially' been a group . . for a while. But now something has come up and she's calling all the hens back to the coop. Of course Dinah, Helena and Zindy are there to back Babs up, but this time she also calls in Hawk & Dove . . Hank Hall and Dawn Granger. We don't really get the reason for their inclusion, but . . I kind of think that Babs thinks that she needs to keep an eye on them. I'm not sure why she feels that it's her responsibility, but . . whatever. What would comics be without a few leaps in logic. Right? Hank seems to be right back to his overbearing self. He and Dove take out a group of young 'wannabe' gangsters,
the Sick Cheerleaders, and at one point Hawk is holding one of the girls over the edge of the building. Afterwards when Dove asks him about it, he replys . .'I was dead. You understand that? And I know why I'm back. It's the only thing that makes any sense. God wants a soldier.' So . . I wish Babs good luck with those two. She's gonna need it. Anyways, the reason she's calling everybody back together . . 'I received a dozen thick files, good guys and bad guys both. Each file contained a terrifying amount of data, this is just the harmless stuff, and . . even I don't keep files like these. It's names, addresses, secret identities . . secret everything. If any of these got out . . that's it. It's over for that person. They'd be dead or in jail in hours. Whoever did this wanted us involved. And yes, there's a file for each of us. He knows more about us than we do. He says he's going to make us pay. S
ays he's going to kill one of the names on these files every hour until we stop him. He says if we refuse to play, all the files go online immediately. Starting at midnight.' Anyways, Babs tells them that Zindy is support and that she's also brought in back-up. Is that what Hawk & Dove are? But then she makes a few guesses as to who might be behind this . . Blockbuster, Spy Smasher and Savant. Really? She went with these 3, and not Ra's, the Calculator or the Riddler? But it's all moot because shortly after they find out who the real culprit is . . the White Canary. Although . . I'm not really sure who she is. But she does seem formidable. She calls out the girls while confronting her first target . . the Penguin. She confronts Cobblepot before Dinah and Helena can show up. And when they do . . she stabs him in the neck. 'The fat one is dying, from her weapon . . come save him. If you can'. It's never good when a villainess refers to herself in the third person. I really enjoyed this issue. The villainess kind of reminds me of Shiva. Except, you know . . in a white costume. Hence the name. But she's got that Asian, ass-kicking kind of vibe going. I'm glad that Gail Simone is back on the scripts. I really enjoyed her last 60 or so issues of the previous series. But the icing on the cake this time is that Ed Benes is doing the art. At least for the foreseeable future. The art in this issue looks fantastic. This was always one of my favorite team books, and I think it's going to be right back at the top of my list very shortly.
'The Birds are Back in Town!'
Barbara is putting the gang back together again. Finally! But to be honest, they never really went away. Barbara is still Oracle, afterall. So she's constantly in contact with them . . in one form or another. They just haven't 'officially' been a group . . for a while. But now something has come up and she's calling all the hens back to the coop. Of course Dinah, Helena and Zindy are there to back Babs up, but this time she also calls in Hawk & Dove . . Hank Hall and Dawn Granger. We don't really get the reason for their inclusion, but . . I kind of think that Babs thinks that she needs to keep an eye on them. I'm not sure why she feels that it's her responsibility, but . . whatever. What would comics be without a few leaps in logic. Right? Hank seems to be right back to his overbearing self. He and Dove take out a group of young 'wannabe' gangsters, the Sick Cheerleaders, and at one point Hawk is holding one of the girls over the edge of the building. Afterwards when Dove asks him about it, he replys . .'I was dead. You understand that? And I know why I'm back. It's the only thing that makes any sense. God wants a soldier.' So . . I wish Babs good luck with those two. She's gonna need it. Anyways, the reason she's calling everybody back together . . 'I received a dozen thick files, good guys and bad guys both. Each file contained a terrifying amount of data, this is just the harmless stuff, and . . even I don't keep files like these. It's names, addresses, secret identities . . secret everything. If any of these got out . . that's it. It's over for that person. They'd be dead or in jail in hours. Whoever did this wanted us involved. And yes, there's a file for each of us. He knows more about us than we do. He says he's going to make us pay. S
ays he's going to kill one of the names on these files every hour until we stop him. He says if we refuse to play, all the files go online immediately. Starting at midnight.' Anyways, Babs tells them that Zindy is support and that she's also brought in back-up. Is that what Hawk & Dove are? But then she makes a few guesses as to who might be behind this . . Blockbuster, Spy Smasher and Savant. Really? She went with these 3, and not Ra's, the Calculator or the Riddler? But it's all moot because shortly after they find out who the real culprit is . . the White Canary. Although . . I'm not really sure who she is. But she does seem formidable. She calls out the girls while confronting her first target . . the Penguin. She confronts Cobblepot before Dinah and Helena can show up. And when they do . . she stabs him in the neck. 'The fat one is dying, from her weapon . . come save him. If you can'. It's never good when a villainess refers to herself in the third person. I really enjoyed this issue. The villainess kind of reminds me of Shiva. Except, you know . . in a white costume. Hence the name. But she's got that Asian, ass-kicking kind of vibe going. I'm glad that Gail Simone is back on the scripts. I really enjoyed her last 60 or so issues of the previous series. But the icing on the cake this time is that Ed Benes is doing the art. At least for the foreseeable future. The art in this issue looks fantastic. This was always one of my favorite team books, and I think it's going to be right back at the top of my list very shortly. 'The Birds are Back in Town!'
I really didn't like including Hawk in the Birds of Prey. I'm convinced the only reason Simone put him on the team is because a Hawk is a bird of prey. I think it would have been interesting to have the Dove and not the Hawk. I know they're a team, but I think it would make for some interesting issues. Plus I don't like his character that much. He is like the Punisher just dressed in a white and red costume, and every where I see him (Brightest Day, Birds of Prey) it seems like the writers are trying to hard to make him edgy.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I agree with you. But . . it is what it is. Their involvment this issue was pretty minimal. We see them up on the roof with the 'cheerleaders', and then later in a bar when Zindy recruits them. But that was about it. I assume this is just a way to get them back involved in the DC Universe, after Hank was brought back. I much prefer the 'girls' group. But . . we'll see.
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