DCU Comic Book Reviews

BIRDS OF PREY #107

Whitewater, Part Four:  A Heart Encased In Glass

August 2007

Written by Gail Simone

Pencils by Nicola Scott

Inks by Doug Hazelwood

Cover by Stephane Roux

Synopsis

In Azerbaijan, Russia, the Birds of Prey and the Secret Six are in the midst of a major battle.  Nearby, Tora Olafsdotter (aka Ice) has created a large ice monster and wants to know which one of them was responsible for her death.  When no one answers, she decides to kill them all.  Elsewhere, Feodor Kerimov, a Russian drug lord, responsible for Ice’s resurrection orders the Rocket Reds to bring her back to him.  Meanwhile, Huntress tries to talk some sense into Ice asking what Guy Gardner would think of her right now.  That is enough to calm her down, but the Rocket Reds arrive and start to attack.  Ice attacks back and the Rocket Reds flee.  Then Kerimov arrives and he tries to convince Ice he needs her.  Huntress tries to convince Ice that Kerimov is a monster.  Deadshot decides to kill him.  Lady Blackhawk then arrives to take the Birds back home but since this countered on of Spy Smasher’s direct orders, Katarina fires her.  Lady Blackhawk punches Katarina in the mouth and walks away.  Meanwhile, Oracle decides it is time to deal with Katarina. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

My concerns with the resurrection of Ice aside (and detailed below) this issue was an entertaining story with some great action and comedic moments.  The decision to bring the birds and six together was easy to make and Simone makes the best use of her two wild DC teams.  This entire storyline was designed and written as a major fight between the two (spread out over three issues!) and frankly I can’t argue with either Simone’s intentions or the execution, which features lots of witty banter and cool action from Scott’s pencils.

However, the resurrection of Ice seems like an afterthought, as if Simone needed a reason to get the birds and six together and this was what she came up with.  Personally, whatever brought the team together should’ve been treated as a MacGuffin (something everyone is after that seems important but is really not), not an event that changes a significant portion of DC history.  The mechanics of bringing her back to life (magic?) was never discussed, nor did Simone try to explain what happened to her after her funeral.  Ice simply was shown to be living and that seemed to be all that was needed.  As I said, her return seemed incidental to the story.  None of the characters have any connection to her, except maybe Huntress but that is tenuous at best.  A better place for her return could’ve been Checkmate where Fire appears or even the new Blue Beetle where Guy Gardner has made a few guest appearances or perhaps a few months down the road in the new Booster Gold series.  Heck, the best place would be JLA: Classified.

The next question is after this story, where does Ice go, where does the character belong?  Fire is part of Checkmate and Guy Gardner is in outer space teaming Ice with either one of them.  Perhaps Simone will add her to the Birds Of Prey, which might explain the firing of Lady Blackhawk:  one team member down, one more added to the group.  But frankly I am not sure if this works or not.  I much prefer the rotating cast of characters, bringing in those who are needed for the mission, not a specific core group of people.

ïPREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXTð

Home ●  Blog ● Who Are We? ● Site News
Alive and Well since April 16, 2006

 DC Universe Reviews.  All Rights Reserved
  Characters, trademarks, brands are property of DC Comics

For problems or questions regarding this website, please contact our kindly webmaster.
Last updated: 08/06/11.