DCU Comic Book Reviews

BIRDS OF PREY #126

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March 2009

Written by Tony Bedard

Pencils by Claude St. Abin

Inks by John Floyd

Cover by Stephane Roux

Synopsis

Now, the Calculator runs for his life.  Kilg%re chases.  Calculator attempts to shut down Kilg%re.  Instead, Kilg%re stabs Calculator through the heart.  Two days ago…Calculator is helping Matchmaker set up his next victim, but the Birds of Prey interrupt.  Matchmaker thinks the Calculator has sold out the Network.  Visionary gives him three days to trap Oracle or else.  One day ago… Calculator sets his trap, talking to each member of the Network separately, sowing the seeds of dissent.  Today… Calculator springs the trap, which results in Kilg%ore stabbing Calculator through the heart, unleashing nano processors throughout Calculator’s body.  It sets up a neural network throughout his body.  It is Calculator 2.0.  With his new abilities, Calculator uses the Unternet to locate the Oracle and the Birds of Prey. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Out of all of the Faces Of Evil books that I have read, I think this is the only one to truly have the entire issue narrated by the villain (most of the other books only do parts of the issue, while others ignore it altogether).  And I think I understand why.  Don’t get me wrong; this was a very enjoyable issue and I loved the Bedard presented the Calculator.  The problem is that I missed the Birds of Prey and I would loved to see Oracle hatch her plan to set up Matchmaker.  Conversely, I liked this issue enough that I don’t think one issue does it service; I would have preferred to have seen more of the Calculator and his plan to take down the Syndicate while elevating himself.  This is good stuff, but as a one-shot, it was way too short.  I wanted more. 

Interesting little touch to see the Darkseid omega symbol in the background with workers trying to clean up the area. This would suggest that the events in the story are taking place after Final Crisis, although I am not quite sure how that all works out. 

I like the ending with Calculator thinking Barbara was the woman he met in this issue.  That is a good use of the internal continuity of the series.  Granted, it was written by the same person, but it shows that Bedard has a good awareness of what he has written in the past and making sure it matches to what he is currently writing.  Well, either that or he has a good editor to catch stuff like that. 

Speaking of the ending, it still annoys me that someone like the Calculator is clueless as to the identity of Oracle, but someone like David Cain (as shown in this mini-series) not only knows Oracle, but can easily find her.  Sometimes I get the feeling that the identity of Oracle or who knows who she is based on the needs of the story rather than anything else. 

I wonder if Bedard was told the Calculator has children (as seen here).  Will whatever changes that happened in this issue (assuming it sticks by the next issue) be reflected in the Teen Titans story?  While I liked the in-book continuity, it is the inter-book continuity that DC needs to work on.  Nothing spectacular needed to be done here, but a brief mention of his daughter would have been nice.  I know I have said this before, but sometimes all you need are small touches that give life to the DC universe.

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