DCU Comic Book Reviews

BIRDS OF PREY #97

Headhunt Part Two:  The Piper Must Be Paid

October 2006

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Paulo Sequeira

Inks by Robin Riggs

Cover by Jerry Ordway

Synopsis

In Dayton Ohio, the Birds Of Prey are mixed in a battle with the Society led by Talia Al Ghul for Lori Zechlin (aka Black Alice).  The Society has come to recruit her while the Birds of Prey are coming to save her.  Lori trusts neither of them and, at the urging of her father, she runs away.  Thanks to Felix Faust the Scoeity can follow her magical trail while Black Canary gets Lori’s father to help find her  Meanwhile, in Gotham, the police question a couple who swear the saw the return of the original Batgirl.  In Dayton, the Society reaches her first.  They tell her if she comes with them she will earn from the greatest magic users.  Black Alice knows they are evil and left her father’s house because of what she is going to do to them.  Just then, Black Canary arrives, but is besieged by creatures from a Felix Faust spell.  Meanwhile, in return for coming with them, Talia offers Black Alice the return of her mother, who died years ago.  Lori’s father wants her away, claiming that is not her mother.  Talia disagrees; the Society made a bargain with Nero.  It is Lori’s mother.  Lori makes a decision; she banishes both the Birds of Prey and Society out of Dayton with a warning to never come back and then walks back home with her father and mother.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“But to me, unimpressed by her lineage and hetero to the bone, she’s just another witch in a push-up bra.”

This two-part story feels like a huge set-up for something bigger and judging by what’s coming in the next issue, it doesn’t seem to be in Birds of Prey.  There was no resolution to the story, just an abrupt end as the status quo changed, but the feeling I got is that this too big of a status quo to largely ignore.  Or at least too large for other characters too ignore and I am thinking about Shadowpact specifically.  Wouldn’t you think that the team would want to investigate what happened or want to know why Black Alice has a warning plastered all over the welcome to Dayton signs?  But there are also the ramifications of Cheetah within the pages of Wonder Woman.  Did I read the ending correctly that indicates they lost their powers?  Or is that temporary?  I suppose temporary; that would make the most sense.  And what about the Society’s relationship with Nero?  Isn’t he one of the New Gods?  Is this a throwaway plot point or does this mean something more?    

One of the great aspects of Black Alice’s character is how confused and uncertain she is about life and what she is going to do with her life.  This seems like it would be a wonderful character to write and to explore in terms of doing what is right and what is wrong, the difference between god and evil.  Yet, in this two-part story, this balancing act is rushed, forced under a gun so to speak, as the Society and Birds square off against each other.  As a result, it seems much more like the adults are fighting for Black Alice rather than Black Alice making a decision for herself.  Reading the big fight scene at the beginning, I was reminded yet again that too often superhero comics resort to fisticuffs or big action scenes at times when they are not really needed.  And this is the case, I think, in this issue.  I think the conversation with Talia and Dinah would have worked a lot better if we didn’t have guns and lassos mucking up the mix.  But that may just be me.

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