Author: Gail
Simone
Number of pages: 128 (32 per issue)
What I’m watching: TV: Bones, South Park, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
What I’m playing: Marble Blast Ultra, Fallout: New Vegas
I
know I selected Plato in hopes of getting rid of it, but it was so bad that I
wanted a quick and easy pick me up. I thought what better than comics? Birds of Prey: Brightest Day is a little
four-issue series, and, lucky me, I’ve got all four.
ISSUE #1
The
story opens up with a hostage situation on top of an isolated Icelandic
mountain. Dinah Lance is trying to stop some asshole who is holding a gun to a
little girl’s head. With the comic book medium, I get to follow Dinah’s inner
monologue. While talking to Chasco (the asshole (almost rhymes)), she thinks,
“I know what it’s like to lose a child, even if Sin wasn’t really my daughter”
(3). Damn, how can it be the first issue and I’m already missing important
backstory? Nothing should come before 1! I was hoping for a self-contained
story within the four comic books, but I guess that was too much to ask for. At
first, I was hoping this was all some in
media res technique, but no. Turns out there is a much larger context built
from I don’t know how many other comic book series. I’ll just have to move on,
not knowing who Sin is. Luckily, the comic gives a little help to new readers
by introducing all the Birds of Prey members.
I
did know a small amount about the Birds of Prey before reading this. I heard of
it because of my interest in Batman. All I knew was that Barbara Gordon joins
it some time after becoming Oracle. I knew there was someone named Black
Canary, though I knew absolutely nothing about her. So, my Birds of Prey
knowledge was equal to about one minute’s worth of Wikipedia reading.
Soon,
Oracle makes her appearance, as well as Lady Blackhawk, a WWII fighter pilot
who somehow is not old or dead, and a vigilante named Huntress:
Hey! She’s the one from Knightfall I
didn’t recognize – how about that! Well, I finally know who she is, or at
least, what her name is. And her poses and outfit still look like something
fitting the Hawkeye Initiative.
I
get the feeling I’m missing information during Oracle’s inner monologue as well.
She’s working at the Batcomputer and thinks, “It’s possible Dick or Alfred
decided to make the Batcave wheelchair-friendly. But I bet it was Bruce. Always
a lot more caring than he ever let on. Like someone else whose name I won’t
mention” (12). Who else is there? And come on Barbara, you’re thinking to
yourself and you can’t mention the name to yourself, in your head?
Then,
I’m introduced to the final two members of the Birds of Prey: Hawk, Avatar of
War and Dove, Avatar of Peace:
Are they some kind of yin-yang duo? I
think that’d be a pretty cool concept. I really like Dove’s design, though I
don’t understand how “she is the conscience of the superhero community” (15).
What does that even mean? I’m also confused about Hawk. He died but is alive
again somehow? I’m pretty lost with the story so far. Yet, there’s lots of
action, superheroes beating up criminals, which is easy enough to follow.
Okay,
maybe Hawk and Dove aren’t members yet, because they only first meet Black
Canary this issue. I don’t know. The larger story starts arcing when Oracle is
sent a package of files detailing secret identities, addresses, and more of
both superheroes and villains, including the Birds of Prey. The package also
comes with a threat to go public with the information and that people on the
list will start dying if the Birds of Prey “refuse to play” (21). I’m not sure
what the game is.
They
get summoned รก la a Bird version of the Bat-signal, believing the mysterious
file-sender behind it. They’re right. The mystery person is there but obscured
by the bright signal light, along with the Penguin. Black Canary can make out
that the mystery person is a woman, and thinks it may be Shiva. Alright,
Penguin and Shiva – it feels good to finally recognize a couple more names. She
kicks their asses and shoves an arrow in Penguin’s throat.
I guess whatever agreement she and
Penguin had made is off now. The story ends this issue by finally revealing
what she looks like.
White Canary, huh? Interesting. Don’t
know her either, though. She did hint at knowing Black Canary personally. Cool.
I’m enjoying the read, although I’m stumbling through a little blind of
context.
Issue
#1 also includes a little preview of a Green
Arrow: Brightest Day comic. There’s not much to it. A bunch of armed thugs
chase a young woman through a forest. It seems like they’re going to rape her,
which makes me hate them. They catch her, but then Green Arrow shows up and
starts shooting them (with arrows, of course!). And since they were about to
rape someone, I don’t feel too sorry for them.
ISSUE #2
The
action picks up right where #1 left off. The Birds of Prey get a second wind,
only to get their asses handed to them again. They do manage a couple good
hits, though. Oracle hears on the news that Chasco the Asshole died and the
media is blaming Black Canary. Police show up to arrest the Birds of Prey, and
White Canary disappears, again threatening to kill each of them, one by one.
Unrelated
to the story, there’s an ad for an Aquaman comic. He’s definitely not high on
my list of favorite superheroes, but I have to admit, he looks awesome in the
picture.
The
Birds of Prey resist arrest and run, heading for Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge,
which he says is safe. I don’t know why they’re so trusting of Penguin. And
speaking of Penguin, for a guy who’s supposed to be dying, he still manages to
act like a perv.
He’s staring right at her boobs! No
shame.
The
story cuts to Oracle, who is sent a video transmission by a guy named Creote.
Creote tells her that another guy named Savant was killed by White Canary
because of his association with Oracle. Creote “tried to keep his heart beating
with [his] hands” (20). That’s pretty intense. Then Creote shoots himself in
the head. That’s pretty intense too. It’s probably a really big deal that these
two characters died, but I’ve never heard of them before, so I don’t know.
It
cuts back to Penguin, calling Dove “the dear, lovely child with the softly
pillowy bosom” (21). I called it! Penguin’s being a total pervert. He’s boob-mad!
Issue #2 ends with the media destroying Black Canary’s reputation, Oracle
pissed at White Canary, and the rest of the Birds of Prey heading to the
Iceberg Lounge with an injured and horny Penguin in tow.
This
issue previews a Jonah Hex comic, with him acting like his usual Wild West-ish,
morally gray, Jonah Hex-y self.
ISSUE #3
Part
3 opens with Black Canary, Lady Blackhawk, Huntress, Hawk, Dove, and Penguin
all at the Iceberg Lounge. I thought Penguin’s lust was bad in Issue #2, but
it’s nothing compared to the opening of #3. In his blood loss, he imagines all
the women posing, undressing, and making out with him. I feel a little dirty watching Penguin's horny thoughts.
There's another advertisement that I notice. It's for hair dye. The brand is Splat, and its draw is "Rebellious Colors." But reading the names of the colors, it's not about rebelling: it's about sex. Come on, "Lusty Lavender," "Blue Envy," "Luscious Raspberries," "Pink Fetish"? This ad just weirds me out.
Meanwhile,
Oracle’s got her own shit going on. That’s pretty much how it’s been this whole
time, with her staying in the Batcave alone lending support. Though now Savant
and Creote show up in the Batcave, perfectly alive and healthy, and kidnap
Oracle. From what I can infer, Savant is a bad guy-turned good-turned bad
again, and Creote is his lackey. They staged their death (Why? I don’t know.
Just to mess with her?), and now they want her to reveal her identity to the
public.
Back
at the battle at Iceberg Lounge, White Canary appears and fatally wounds Hawk.
Apparently, just being able to injure Hawk at all is supposed to be difficult,
so White Canary must be pretty formidable. Black Canary goes after her, and
Huntress tells her to kill White Canary. Black Canary and White Canary fight on
a rooftop for a bit, and White Canary taunts her, saying “I will void my
bladder on [the] broken corpses [of your families]” (30). Who says “void my
bladder”? Just say piss!2 Black Canary realizes who White Canary is,
but it isn’t revealed to the reader yet. Issue #3 ends with White Canary
hinting that Penguin is leading the others to their death as they leave the
lounge.
No
little bonus preview at the end of this issue. So far, it’s an intriguing
story, but there’s too much backstory for each of the characters that I don’t
know, making it hard to understand everything that’s happening. Turns out I
can’t even follow Barbara Gordon’s story that well because these Savant and
Creote guys are unknown to me.
ISSUE #4
Part
4 of 4 opens with White Canary’s birth. Nineteen years ago, she was born during
a storm in China. The mother died due to complications including not being at a
hospital. The father was expecting a son and wanted the baby killed after he
heard it was a girl. However, lightning struck the man sent to kill the baby.
The father saw it as an omen and decided to keep her and train her with her
older brothers.
I
also get a little more backstory of Black Canary. Turns out one of her uncles
was a Green Lantern. That’s cool. She had a second superhero uncle that I
didn’t recognize. Wow. “It’s a whole family of supers!”
The
two canaries fight some more, and Black Canary calls White Canary “Silk Sister”
(6). Some more backstory that I didn’t know: I guess Black Canary beat all
dozen of Silk Sister’s brothers. So this makes the whole story a simple albeit
fierce revenge. I enjoyed a moment during the fight when Black Canary was
running out of strategies and thought, “there’s one thing left that I’m really
good at. And that’s &^%$ with people’s heads” (6).3 Ha!
Cut
to Oracle. Turns out that two years ago Savant had been tortured for two days
because of his association with Oracle. He is still upset at Oracle because he
has no concept of time, so for him the torture is still fresh in his mind and
those two days seemed like forever. So, is he called Savant because he actually
has a form of autism? That’s pretty tacky. What would Marvel’s version be
named? Autismo? The Aspurglar? Of course it’s totally fine that a character has
autism in the story, but the name Savant works as a label for him, defining him
by his mental disorder. His autism is his identity. I just see that as poor
taste.
Back
to Penguin and the other Birds of Prey. He stabs Lady Blackhawk and holds her
hostage with his umbrella sword. He reveals to them how Savant was responsible
for obtaining the files. He believes his deal with Silk Sister is intact. His
injury was a part of the plan, even though it’s worse than he expected. He
wants the files for himself.
Black
Canary and Silk Sister fight more. They sure have fought a lot over this story
arc. The action’s been decent all throughout the comics, but there hasn’t
really been anything that stood out as memorable. Black Canary recalls more of
her encounter with Silk Sister’s brothers. Even with help from others, Black
Canary only met a stalemate with them. Silk Sister said that the stalemate
shamed her family’s honor, so she beat all her brothers to death. I’m going to
go ahead and say she’s mental.
Back
again to Oracle. Savant admits that he’s not there to kill Barbara. He came to kill
himself to end his suffering. He steps off a ledge but Oracle jumps out of her
chair to catch him. That’s right. She’s paralyzed below the waist but she’s
“practiced this move many times. Forceful ejection from the chair without the
use of [her] legs. It’s always painful” (23). Damn, Barbara Gordon is pretty
badass. Creote doesn’t help lift them up because he knows Savant wants to die.
After Savant and Oracle struggle awhile, Creote decides to help. Savant did not
want help, but Oracle tells him Creote acted out of love (30). So, I guess it’s
a happy resolution for them?
Hawk
is dying. He tells Dove that he hopes to stay dead this time. It’s unclear if
he actually dies or just loses consciousness. Dove loses her temper and knocks
out Penguin with a punch to his face, breaking a few of his teeth. It is pretty
gratifying to see after Penguin’s been such an asshole. And to have Dove be the
one who does it is also very satisfying, because she’s always been the calm and
patient one. But I guess if we were to follow the yin-yang interpretation of
Hawk and Dove, with Hawk’s apparent death, the yang side is gone, throwing off
the balance that existed with both of them. Also, the symbol depicts both yin
and yang containing a small aspect of the other. Arguably, though Dove’s role
is the yin half, she does have her own inner yang. It’s just a thought.
Black
Canary and Silk Sister are still going at it. Black Canary tackles Silk Sister,
sending them both out a window. They fall far and land hard on the back of a
van. Black Canary fights passing out long enough to handcuff Silk Sister. The
issue ends with Silk Sister revealing to Black Canary that it was Shiva who
killed Chasco in order to frame Black Canary. Silk Sister offers to work with
Black Canary to kill Shiva together.
So
much for this four-issue series being a self-contained story. I was behind on
important backstory before I started. I was lost a lot during the action in the
middle. And even with White Canary apprehended, the story doesn’t really end.
But that’s the nature of comics, to always lead forward to something new and
exciting. I had hoped for a straightforward story with a clear beginning and
end, but I didn’t really expect it. Instead, reading these comics would be like only watching the Battle of Hoth but not knowing a thing about Star Wars. It's entertaining, but without the surrounding context, the viewer would be lost and confused. May the Fourth be with you.
Verdict (Is the book staying or going?): Going. I read it. It was fun, but I
didn’t understand half of it and I don’t think I’ll read it again.
Notes
1. Or in Latin: in medias res.
2. I think that was Nancy Reagan’s
lesser known anti-drugs campaign.
3. I realize that as I type out the
comic book curse, it is [Shift] + 7654. $#@! is 4321. I wonder how many comic
book curses are based on sequential shifting.
Works
Cited
Simone, Gail (w) and Ed Benes (a). “Endrun:
Without Breaking a Few Eggs.”
Birds of Prey: Brightest Day #1. DC
Comics: July 2010. Print.
Simone, Gail (w), Ed Benes and Adriana
Melo (p), and Ed Benes and Mariah
Benes (i). “Endrun: The Rage of the White
Canary.” Birds of Prey:
Brightest Day #2. DC Comics: Aug 2010. Print.
---. “Endrun: Whistling Past the
Gravestones.” Birds of Prey: Brightest Day #3.
DC Comics: Sep 2010.
Print.
Simone, Gail (w), Ed Benes and Adriana Melo (p), and
Ed Benes and J.P. Mayer (i). “Endrun: Impact Fracture.” Birds of Prey: Brightest Day #4. DC
Comics: Oct 2010. Print.
