The Good and the Bad: Birds of Prey #6

This is part two of “2 Nights In Bangkok” and the final issue of the current story arc.   First thing first:  When it comes to Birds of Prey, Gail Simone can write her ass off.  Ever since this volume of the book started, it has been non-stop action and she is continuing to delve into the psyches of the heroes and moves them past the two dimensional portrayals they get when they appear in other books.

In this issue, Black Canary has gone to Bangkok with White Canary and the Huntress and Lady Blackhawk follow her there to bring her home.  The reason for Dinah going there is because Sin and her foster parents were kidnapped and if Dinah does not participate in a fight to the death, they will die.

And the person she will be fighting is none other than the best martial artist in the DC Universe:  Lady Shiva.

First, the good.  

While it seems Black Canary will be the main protagonist, Gail pulls a twist and the focus changes to the Huntress.  She selflessly takes Dinah’s place because Canary has people who love her while she did not.  Now we all know the Huntress doesn’t stand a chance.  In fact, we’d see a snowball fight in Hell before we saw her win this fight.  She knows she’s nowhere near the fighter Shiva is, so just when you think the Huntress is about to get killed, she does the unexpected and pulls a Batman, i.e. she cheats and fights dirty.  In the end, Sin is rescued and the Huntress had earned the respect of Shiva, who now calls her “Iron Owl”.

Also worth mentioning, is the cover art by Alina Urusov.  Yes, it looks good, but for once Shiva looks like she’s Oriental instead of the “whitening” other artists give her.

Now the bad.  

The cover art is great, but what’s inside is damn near atrocious.  Two artists are listed as doing the interior art but there is no indication as to who did what pages.  For starters, the facial expressions and the hairdos of the various characters are just bad.  Very bad.  I almost wanted to stop reading the book because it was hard on the eyes.  My next bone of contention is with Hawk.  Yes, he gains a few inches to his height when Hank transforms into Hawk, but he is usually of average height when he’s in his civilian form.  Somehow, the artist thinks Hank is a 7 foot tall giant all the time and it just looks silly when he stands next to Dove.

Grade:  A-. Simply because the story is so good that it overcomes the bad art.