DCU Comic Book Reviews

BIRDS OF PREY #125

Hard Traveling Heroines

February 2009

Written by Tony Bedard

Pencils by Claude St. Abin

Inks by John Floyd

Cover by Stephane Roux

Synopsis

Now, Oracle and Black Canary are driving a 1946 Allard J-1 through the city with multiple gunmen on the heels.  Two days ago…Oracle devises a plan to catch the Caretaker.  In Las Vegas, Black Canary acts as the seller of the car while Oracle portrays the buyer.  Caretaker takes the bait, sending a number of goons to forcibly take the car.  Black Canary however is able to subdue them and capture Caretaker.  Meanwhile, Huntress and Infinity infiltrate eBuy, Caretaker’s business, and locate his collection of artifacts, including the people being held hostage.  With a little bit of coercion, Black Canary and Oracle convince Caretaker to give them the passcode to save the people.  Later, while driving home Black Canary tries to find out what is bothering Oracle, but she refuses to talk about it.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I did not like this issue.  It just did not work for me on a number of different levels.  The shifts back and forth through past and present certainly didn’t help.  McDaniel’s art, which doesn’t feel right for this book, also doesn’t help.  The maniac chase through Las Vegas hotels and such felt off for a comic book that should’ve been more cerebral or at least a little bit more serious about its chosen area of collecting.  I mean, I like the basic idea of flushing out the Caretaker, but the execution just did not work.  Rather than senseless chase and fight scenes, I would have liked to have seen more about the car, how rare and expensive it is, and how much the Caretaker values it, and so forth.  The car is more of an afterthought rather than the object Oracle and Caretaker are fighting over. 

I also wanted to see more on the folks locked in the basement.  It is sort of glossed over.  It looks as if the people were shrunk to fit into the town, based on the art.  How exactly did they become bigger when they burst through the door to the outside?  Why exactly were the people there to begin with?  Isn’t the Caretaker a collector of objects?  I think I remember Oracle explaining it in a previous issue (and I’m sure will be better remembered in the trade than in the monthly), but I think it needed to be reiterated. 

The above are really nitpicks.  I think the problem I really had with this issue is Oracle’s unwillingness to talk to Black Canary.  It didn’t ring true for me.  I like the idea that Oracle is at a crossroads given all that has happened in the past year or so.  It is something that I think Oracle needs to work through.  But not talking about it?  To her best friend?  I think that was simply done to set up the mini-series that is set to appear after the last issue of this book.  It doesn’t feel like a natural part of Oracle, but a forced decision by the writer (or by editorial). 

The Allard J1 was part of the first line of sports cars made by the Allard Company after World War II.  Only 12 models of the J1 were made in 1946 and 1947. 

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