Hello and welcome. It would appear that Birds of Prey #2 did not make it to the West coast this week and as a result has left me with only one issue to review. I assure you this will likely never happen again.
Minor spoilers ahead!
Brightest Day #4
Writer(s): Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi
Artist(s): Ivan Reis, Pat Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, and Joe Prado
Cover Artist: David Finch
Publisher: DC
With every issue this series seems to be getting better. This issue starts off with the lovers Hawkman and Hawkgirl debating their next course of action. Hath-Set had gathered the bones of their previous bodies and created a gate into an unknown world. The two decide, or rather Hawkman decided and Hawkgirl lovingly agreed, to enter the portal and go after Hath-Set. One of the coolest parts of their portion of the issue was the great two page spread that depicted many of the duo’s previous incarnations as they were being murdered.
Elsewhere, as the mysterious voice continues its attempt to interact with Ronnie, he is visited by a table salt apparition of the late Gehenna. This issue also gives us a brief introduction to the new Aqualad. If this is news to you, my apologies, but where have you been? In other water based news, while Aquaman and Mera were nowhere to be seen, a group of soldiers that appear to be related to Mera have arrived and are looking for blood. With Martian Manhunter also missing this week, the rest of the issue focused on Boston Brand, formerly Deadman. Brand finds himself being transported to Dove’s bedroom in the middle of the night, naughty ring, but even more surprising is that Dove can see him whereas previously Brand had been invisible to other humans. After a brief scuffle with Hawk, the three of them decide to test Brand’s newfound ability to grant life…
I thought that this was a great issue. Maybe not as action packed as previous chapters, but who needs that in every issue? While I’ve had minor problems in the past with the way this series is set up, like having multiple story lines in each issue, I feel that by this point we’ve been given enough content on each individual story that it no longer feels choppy. I did miss Aquaman and Mera but didn’t mind not having an appearance by Martian Manhunter. 4/5
Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
I’m going to respectfully disagree about it not feeling choppy. I think I’d rather each issue just focused on two of the characters (or a similar set-up) so that I could get more meat out of one story rather than having to string along two months worth of books just to get things straightened out.
I do not think that was a properly written sentence. My problem is just that I think in an effort to move the story along, we just get glimpses, and while they add up nicely, its’ very frustrating issue to issue. It’s the type of move that pays off very well in a Trade, to be sure, which makes me a little hesitant about purchasing this week to week.
I thought this issue was great, and the ending has me excited to see where that plot line is going with Deadman, Hawk, and Dove!
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I was having the same discussion with a friend of mine Mattie and he’s waiting for the trade because he feels the stories are just too small to be satisfying on a month to month basis.
I do very much agree that this will probably read much better as a collected series. But when I read it this week it didn’t feel too choppy, for me. It sorta feels like a tv show that has a huge supporting cast.