This issue suffers from a few too many narrators. We have scenes told from the points of view of Batgirl, Talon, and Black Canary, which leaves the issue spread a little too thin. The series’ two best characters – Starling and Strix – have been inexplicably sidelined (Starling doesn’t appear at all here) in favor of a lukewarm plot that fails to inspire.
Marx’s run hit its high point when she devoted a fair amount of time to exploring the stoic and silent Strix, but in this issue, she opts instead to focus on her least well-developed characters. Readers who haven’t been following Talon will have little reason to care about his struggles in this issue. Calvin’s plight has little resonance – it’s implied that we should care about the people he’s trying to protect, but Marx doesn’t lay down the groundwork to inspire any sort of real emotional investment. Similarly unearned is the burgeoning relationship between Black Canary and Condor, whose chemistry is both sudden and unexplained.
Penciller Romano Molenaar continues to shine with his dynamic action sequences, but there is a visual inconsistency I simply can't ignore. In this issue, Barbara Gordon makes mention of the traumatic events she’s experienced in other titles – like Death of the Family and the loss of her psychopathic brother – but here, her costume is still adorned with the yellow bat. In Batgirl, Babs made a big deal of removing the symbol as she felt unworthy of it (which was brought up in this week’s Batman and Batgirl #21), but somehow, it slipped through the cracks here.
The plotline is set to continue in Talon #9, but it’s hard to feel motivated to pursue this story any further than this. Hopefully, Birds of Prey will find its wings soon, but as it stands, the title is in danger of falling even deeper into its rut.
Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.
Source : ign[dot]com
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