Birds of Prey: The Kill Bill of Comics?
By Hervé St-Louis
October 20, 2013 - 13:35
In Kill Bill, a movie inspired from a film adaptation of a manga series called Lady Snowblood, a lone blonde woman called “Mommy” and sometimes “The Bride” fights several martial artists in a revenge bid after having been injured and rendered comatose four years earlier. In the course of her journey, we revisit her training and old Chinese sensei who trained several of the opponents she would meet and systematically defeat. At several points in the movies, it’s mentioned that The Bride may be the world’s best martial artist.
The improvement of Black Canary’s skills as a martial artist was one of the main themes pursued by Simone during her two Birds of Prey run. Part of it was motivated by a desire to erase the helpless blonde in distress that had been depowered, subdued and beaten in the Green Arrow miniseries The Long Bow Hunters by Mike Grell. Something similar happened in Kill Bill where the Bride was savagely attacked by the Deadly Viper squad of assassins and left for dead. Part of redemption was to get revenge on her opponents. While Black Canary would seek continual improvement in her skills, she did not seek revenge on the men that had attacked her. Instead, she did not panic when she was equally put in a situation of helplessness by her opponent Savant as she had in the past. Just like the Bride who was buried under ground, she fought back and escaped her tormentors.
Simone’s second run in the Birds of Prey series pitted Black Canary against the White Canary, a superior opponent who sought revenge for how Black Canary had defeated her brothers in a contest of martial artists in the previous volume of the series. White Canary would prove more lethal and dangerous to Black Canary and the other Birds of Prey and almost a match for Lady Shiva.
The quest for martial arts perfection is currently missing from the New 52 version of the Birds of Prey and may explain why that series seems to languish without any direction, although it features characters well-liked by comic book audiences.
Related Articles:
Birds of Prey the Movie
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #22
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #21
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #20
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #19
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #18
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #17
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #16
Review: Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #14
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #15