Birds of Prey #21 review

We’re at part two of On the Run and each member of the team is dealing with boat loads of stress. The fragmented stories are impressively in sync and we have lots of action to boot. Now the villains leave a lot to be desired but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

Kelly Thompson has managed to have the split up team work really well. I’m able to follow each piece and the connecting tissue is clear. The villains are the ones giving them reasons to split up so we also don’t need too much motivation for this story. Each piece of dialogue feels like it’s coming from the characters and not just the writer which shows that Thompson has gotten a good grasp of the characters she’s writing. But it’s a very fluffy issue, like cotton candy, leaving me with the sugar rush of witnessing non stop action but nothing really to chew on and savor. Since this is only part two I don’t feel like that’s the worst thing to do and this issue still has me curious for the next part.

Except for the fact that I really don’t care about the villains at all. Except for the roided out raging reptile, the villains seem pretty bland to me. Maybe I love the flair of the dramatic, but it’s more interesting to me at least. Of course I would love to see properly fleshed out characters fighting against the Birds of Prey but I’d be happy with ones that are entertaining. It’s just a shame that since all these characters are falling for the traps laid out by the villains, we don’t actually get super interesting villains. Their powers are a bit ill-defined and don’t leave us much to gawk at as well. I hope this changes as we go to the next part.

I’m so tired of talking about the visual identity of Birds of Prey. Read my, god, who knows how many reviews to find out what my complaints are. Let’s just look at it fresh this time? Sami Basri put in some great touches in my opinion. I love the bigger pages full of fighting and the fact that Canary’s screech is distinctly big or small depending on her needs. It shows a mastery of her superpower that makes the comic more lived in. This issue is really focused on the fighting and has an almost sunday morning cartoon look to it. So while the danger is not too present you still tune in for the crazy colorful chaos.

The art versus the colors and inks do stand a bit at odds for me here. I think this is the reason the comic comes off a bit cartoonish. Because the character designs aren’t like the looney tunes but then you look at the color scheme of Barda’s crash and immediately the danger is dispelled. The design and color pallet of the main villain also makes the entire issue look more whimsical and I think they’re the biggest exception because the other characters look a lot darker in tone. Not to tarnish the colors of Adriano Lucas or the inks of Vicente Cifuentes. I think their work is great but it does clash and I think something closer to the colors of the full page fight with Cassandra would be way better if it was applied throughout. Something dark, muddy and a tad more hazy.

Clayton Cowles is back everybody! They went for a light jog in the last issue and they came back sprinting for this one. We have a massive variety of lettering styles for each dialogue bubble, we’re spoiled with the riches of countless different sound effects all wrapped in pristine spacing that lets our eyes follow the action without missing a beat!

Recommended if…

• Great action excites you
• A variety of lovely lettering leaves you giddy
• You care more about the heroes than the villains

Overall

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