Johanna's DC Reviews: Birds of Prey, Lobo

Birds of Prey #61
Lobo Unbound #4


















Birds of Prey #61
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Ed Benes
Inker: Alex Lei
DC Comics, 40 color pages, $2.50

What a great issue with which to try the series again. There's some 
action, necessary for a superhero title, but mostly there's 
character-revealing interaction as Oracle tries to fire Black Canary out 
of concern for her propensity to get injured. 

Underneath the exploration of the risks a street-level superhero faces, 
there's meaningful consideration of how hard it can be for two people of 
different temperaments to be friends. Due to Canary's two broken legs, 
there's also another interesting perspective on being in a wheelchair. 

Ms. Simone reveals her terrific grasp of conversation in several 
restaurant scenes. Oracle finds herself talking with a waitress and her 
daughter as a sounding board for her worries. The dialogue flows 
naturally. There are wisecracks, as expected, but they fit the scene and 
the characters. The different voices are a pleasure to read when too 
many other books give everyone in sight the same tone of voice. 

Then the Huntress shows up with a mission... Let me digress for a 
minute. The Silver Age version was my favorite superhero, but I haven't 
cared for this character since Chuck Dixon revamped her a decade ago. 
For the first time in a long time, I'm really liking her again. Ms. 
Simone has kept the outsider aspect of the character while dropping her 
father fetish and pathetic attempts to win Batman's approval. Now she's 
operating on her own, but asking for help when she needs it from other 
competent women. She respects herself again. 

Then there are the detailed touches that show the creators are really 
thinking about their work. For example, I love Canary's new hairstyle. 
That's the kind of believable detail you get when a woman writes female 
characters. I also liked the Mr. Miracle mention. And thankfully, the 
pandering art is gone. 

Lobo Unbound #4
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artists: Alex Horley and Andy Kuhn
DC Comics, 40 color pages, $2.95

In an interlude from the ongoing story, whatever it was, we get the 
first new Ambush Bug story in way way too long. And it's funny! I 
worried that the madness couldn't be recaptured after so long a time, 
but the humor worked for me. 

It seems that the Bug has become a bounty hunter, and he's after Lobo, 
but he makes the mistake of saying the wrong thing (the Bug? No!) at a 
transit point staffed by Arab-looking aliens, and he winds up in jail. 

Wait, I still haven't gotten to the best part. In the cell next door is 
Moyl Man, and if you think that's weird, wait until you SEE him. There's 
this horrific pun that I don't want to spoil but kept me giggling. And 
then it gets much much worse. 

You know, it just occurred to me that guys might not find all this as 
hilarious as I do. I wonder how much of the audience crossed their legs 
during this section. Anyway, there's also sight gags, pop culture 
commentary, verbal gymnastics, and the just plain absurd -- all the 
things I hoped the Bug would bring back with him. Let's hope that the 
Bug is the next piece of history DC is willing to revisit in a 
miniseries.

-- 
Johanna Draper Carlson             
Reviews of Comics Worth Reading -- http://www.comicsworthreading.com
Newly updated: the very late November Previews.