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Birds of Prey #1
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Art/Cover: Ed Benes
Variant Cover: Cliff Chiang
Pages: 32
Price: US $2.99
Release: May 12, 2010

***CAUTION: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!***

Iceland.  Black Canary and Lady Blackhawk reclaim a young girl who has been kidnapped.  They handle it in stunning fashion with a stealth helicopter and a Canary Cry.  The phone rings.  It’s Oracle.

Gotham.  Huntress is doing what Huntress does best.  She’s beating up on thugs who ride crotch rockets.  The phone rings.  It’s Oracle.

Another side of Gotham.  The newly resurrected Hawk and the Black-Lantern-ass-kickin’ Dove, are cracking the heads of a…cheerleader gang?  Hawk almost gets too violent.  Dove calms him down.  Hawk is convinced that he has returned because God wants a soldier.  A little while later, they’re chillin’ in a bar.  Hank (Hawk) is drinkin’ beer and listenin’ to an old man go on and on.  Dawn (Dove) is sippin’ tea.  Lady Blackhawk shows up and hands Dawn a business card.  It’s Oracle’s.

Somebody has the goods on every costumed hero and criminal and by goods, I mean everything:  shoe size, bed partners, even the specs on the people who come into contact with their civilian identities.  Whoever it is wants to deal specifically with Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress. Whoever it is, says they are going to start killing one of the names on the list every hour until the ladies stop him.  It they don’t play his game, all of the files will be released online.  Oh, they’ll play.  Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress doing things just like how they used to!  They’ve got Lady Blackhawk for support and backup in Hawk and Dove.

It won’t be an easy task.  Whoever it is, is highly skilled in the martial arts and they’ve decided to start playing the game and the Penguin is target number one.

It begins right here!  The Birds of Prey are back!  Gail Simone and Ed Benes are back!  This first issue contains beautiful, kick ass ladies drawn with beautiful, kick ass art!  Gail Simone is in the driver’s seat on this one and she’s got her foot on the gas pedal and it’s mashed to the floor.  It is every bit as exciting as when Simone and Benes took over the book’s previous volume in 2003 with Birds of Prey #56.  The book soared to popular heights then, and this creative team is back in charge and they will no doubt have this relaunch on everybody’s must-read list each month!

Whether you’re a DC fan, a Gotham fan, just a Bat fan, or a fan of awesome, you’re definitely going to want to give this title a try if you haven’t already.  If you didn’t pick it up, go to your LCS right this second and hope you can still get it as this first issue has been selling out in comic shops across the nation.  You should also get it added to your pull list so you know for sure you won’t be missing out on any more of the fun.

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net