DC Comics
Birds of Prey #127
By Hervé St-Louis February 22, 2009 - 12:31
Publisher(s): DC Comics
Writer(s): Tony Bedard
Penciller(s): Claude St. Aubin
Inker(s): John Floyd
Colourist(s): Hi-Fi Designs
Letterer(s): Pat Brosseau
Cover Artist(s): Stephane Roux
$2.99 US
Series with female leads are not supposed to do well.
That’s the rule! That’s why I ask myself what Marvel Comics is thinking when
they shelve the Black Panther in favour of a female replacement. However, Birds
of Prey, a series first introduced as mini-series and specials by writer Chuck
Dixon broke the rule. Sure, featuring gorgeous women every issue did not hurt,
but it wasn’t the focus of the series. Women here were treated with respect and
were the brains of the operation. For that, Birds of Prey, garnered quite a
strong following with female readers. Guys, like me didn’t object either. This
issue is the last one, and I hope will mark a strong case studies proving that
comic books with female leads that don’t focus on their physical attributes,
can last.
Birds of Prey went through several cycles. Of course, it’s
foundation were the Dixon years, where the concept was tried as a series of
mini-series and special featuring a very simple formula that played to Dixon’s
strength as a pulp and action writer. Two character, one the brains of the
operation, the legs would go off in missions throughout the world and try to
save the world. It was a mix of super hero, spy thriller, and adventure with
locales and casts from the world over. Some of the weirder issues were those
where a powerless Black Canary was on Apocalypse.
For the formula to work Dixon needed two strong leads
that could carry the series. He stumbled upon Barbara Gordon, better known as
Oracle and Black Canary. Geoff Isherwood and John Ostrander had rebuilt oracle
as a credible force in the pages of the Suicide Squad. No longer just the
crippled former Batgirl, she was a computer hacker of the first order. When she
became a rising star of the Suicide Squad, the Batman group editors quickly
yanked her back from the rest of the DC Universe and used her in Batman series.
That they had totally abandoned the character and stopped believing in her
after Alan Moore’s Killing Joke comic book was not touched on. One of the
problems I had with the Batman staff using Oracle as Batman’s tech sidekick was
that in Suicide Squad, she had proven far more versatile and useful. I felt
they had reduced her potential putting her under Batman’s tutelage. With Birds
of Prey, she was able to shine, while having a tangential link to Batman’s
world.
The other half of the Birds of Prey was Black Canary.
Since Mike Grell’s Green Arrow mini-series, The Longbow Hunter, she had been
reduced as a character. She was nothing but Green Arrow’s sidekick. Even when
given her own series, in the 1990s, by Sarah von Byam, it was written as a spin
off from Green Arrow. Except for the exploitative version of Green Arrow, it
featured, nothing from that series stood up. Having lost her powers in Longbow
Hunter, Black Canary had been removed from the Justice League International
series where she would have become one of the most popular characters, had they
given her the chance. Just like with Oracle, the editors of her male
counterparts yanked back Black Canary by and reduced in power and stature. It
took the death of Green Arrow to free the character from the Green Arrow group
editors. But in Birds of Prey, written by a former Green Arrow writer, Black
Canary was allowed to shine and be her own woman.
Well, almost. The first few years of Birds of Prey, under
Dixon, focused mostly on Oracle. She was the star, and Black Canary provided
the action and the required sex overtones that a series with female leads must provide.
Even when she dated Ra’s Al Ghul, fans of the characters decried the misuse of
the character. However, Dixon showed that the character was still formidable,
as she did not have any powers before the Ra’s Al Ghul affair. Frequent guesses
appeared in the series. Power Girl and the Huntress, other broken female
characters became semi-regulars.
Terri Moore was recruited to continue the story of the
Birds of Prey, and the series might have floundered, if it wasn’t for the
recruitment of Gail Simone as the new writer. Simone was given a tough job, but
enough space to work things out. As the Batman group editors had repatriated
the series, it clearly was one of the lowest selling series. As such
experiments were allowed, but with a caveat. The series had to match the cast
of the television adaption of the Birds of Prey. That adaptation put much more
emphasis on Batman’s mythology, reintroducing the concept that the Huntress was
his daughter and that of Cat-woman. Thus, it was mandated that the Huntress return
to the Birds of Prey as an equal third partner to Oracle and Black Canary.
However, the years under Simone allowed her to tip back the scale towards Black
Canary and remove the focus on Oracle. Under Simone, Black Canary’s skillset
was improved and her character rebuild. She was thus a great character again
that could exist without being the sidekick of Green Arrow or even Batman.
Simone’s efforts were so great, that the character was a normal for the new
Justice League series and even allowed to be its chairman for the first time.
Simone also started to add other frequent broken female
characters, such as Katanna, Lady Shova, and of course the popular Lady
Blackhawk. This is when the series became less interesting for me. There were
too many characters and not enough time to focus on single ones. The series
really became a who’s who of unused female leads from the DC Universe and that
was not interesting to me. Following in the footsteps of writer Simone, Tony Bedard
tried to steer the series to success.
And this brings us to the last issue of the series. I
haven’t read it for a while and I know why. There are too many characters
running around with nothing exceptional. Here, the Calculator is staging a last
fight against Oracle, still not capable of figuring that she’s Barbara Gordon.
This is ridiculous as way back in the Suicide Squad, Oracle’s identity was
known to whoever walked by, including several villains.
The real reason for the series’ axing must have to do
with the rebooting of the Batman core series and finding no space for a series
about such a diverse cast. It’s also an attempt to claim back Oracle for the
Batman crew. The end of this series is quite weak and a departure from its best
years. In hindsight, it might be the best thing.
Visually, I find it interesting that all the principals
who worked on this series seem tom have Québécois origins. Bedard, St.Aubin and
cover artist Roux all have typical Canadian names. I’m not a fan of inker Floyd
and I think he’s the reason the artwork looks so generic. This series has been
graced with strong artists in the past, but it’s not going out with a bang
art-wise.