Retro Review

As I mentioned on Sunday, I finally found Birds of Prey issue 42, one of he few issues of the series I was missing and actively hunting for. A prequel to the series, it is set after Barbara Gordon’s time with the Suicide Squad, but before the first time she contacted Black Canary, and it deals with events that have been referenced but never explained in other issues of the series. The readers know that Power Girl had gone on a mission, and things had ended so badly that she had sworn never to do any more work for Oracle. Even much later, in issue 100, when Power Girl receives an invitation to join the expanded roster of Oracle’s team, she simply says “When Hell freezes over,” and dumps the invitation. I was always curious as to the details of this mission gone wrong, imagining all sorts of scenarios, and now I´ve finally had a chance to read the story.

Unfortunately, Birds of Prey issue 42 does not live up to my expectations. It´s simply not dramatic enough, partly because of the problem that all prequels have (we know the outcome, we know that the major characters come out unscathed), and partly because Power Girl just doesn´t come across as an interesting character here. Great things have been done with her in other books, but here she just comes across as rather bland - a moral but directionless character, a powerhouse without enough fire. Even the parts of the story that weren’t revealed in other issues are unsurprising. The first part of the issue is a rehash of how Oracle recruited Black Canary in the first mini-series; the rest is taken up with an interesting but unengaging political assassination attempt with too little effort put into giving the issue an emotional heart. The emtional hook is far too obvious a choice, and the whole thing feels like a missed opportunity.

The issue also has nothing new to say about Barbara Gordon. She chooses to involve herself and her agent in a situation where they may be needed, but they are certainly not welcome, and she acts like she has all the answers, but doesn’t share as much as she should. The consequences of her and Power Girl’s involvement in the case are tragic, and there is some interest in analyzing whether their presence was not only ineffective in preventing the tragedy, but actually caused it.

The art is a rather murky job by Glenn Fabry, who suits the gritty tone of the story, but not the main character. Power Girl should come across as brighter, more powerful, more vibrant, but she just seems rather washed out. This could be intentional, since she certainly feels washed out at the beginning of the story, but there is something false about her portrayal, and that further weakens the story.

Birds of Prey issue 42, from DC Comics. A bland and uninspiring issue that could have been so much more. C.

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