The Birds are in over their heads, and they need help. It’s (almost) every hands on deck in this issue – at least for the female cast members of the Bat Family. Sure, Bruce makes a brief appearance, but otherwise, it’s an all estrogen, all the time.

Lots of writers talk big about crafting a strong female character, but if that writer is a guy, credibility is immediately suspect, and I think of the Jack Nicholson quote from As Good As It Gets (1997): “I think of a man, and I take away reason, and accountability.” Funny, perhaps, but not necessarily accurate.

So kudos to DC Comics for doing the obvious: assigning female writers to create a female-centric book. Some might argue you could easily replace the female characters with males, with no difference, but I disagree. Based on this first issue I’ve read, the dialogue, the action and the overall narrative would read and play out much differently. I think it has a great deal of legitimacy as is.

The artwork is fine. It’s easy for some artists to fall into the trap of rendering the “perfect” female form every time, but to his credit, Antonio avoids the cliché. He draws his women as they might appear in real life, with a variety of body types, offering veritas to his figure drawing.

My only grievance – and it’s not a very strong one – is the cover by Yanick Paquette. Each character on the cover is frozen in mid-pose, as if taken from individual snapshots that were later assembled via Photoshop. I realize the merits of Photoshop, I use it myself. But part of using any tool effectively (in my opinion) is to make it appear you’re not using it.