Sunshrike
and Nightingale are super-hero birds of a feather, much like Nightwing and
Flamebird, or ElectroWoman and DynaGirl. And they are on the trail of
Poppinjay, who has kidnapped a child to use as leverage against her scientist
father. But interfering with their investigation is s stray cat Nightingale has
named Kittyhawk, despite Sunshrike insisting she is NOT part of the team.
But
there is more to this cat than meets the eye, as she displays some abilities
that are every cat lover’s nightmare. Yet at the same time, she displays
remarkable intelligence in tracking down Poppinjay’s lair and freeing the
captive girl (with the assistance of Rocket Dog).
It’s
a simple story that fans of the old Batman series will enjoy. It’s not high
camp, like Batman or ElectroWoman, but it has that old-fashioned style of a
hero and sidekick tracking down a criminal mastermind. Good old-fashioned crime
fighting, without being all dark and gritty.
The
art by Rick Leonardi and Ande Parks is terrific. I’m used to seeing Parks
inking Phil Hester’s work. As much as his inks compliment Hester’s work, it’s
clear here that he is not beholden to any one penciler. Park’s inks make
anybody’s pencils look better, without obscuring what makes them unique.
Rating:
10/10