DC's "One Year Later" event has yielded a mixed bag of stories. Some really make the most of the concept, immersing the characters in a mystery of what unfolded in their lives over the past year. A few have hardly done anything with the concept at all, changing little of the status quo. I'm sorry to report that Gail Simone's latest Birds of Prey script falls into the latter category. There are a couple of minor new tweaks to the core concept and character lineup, but the overall tone of the storytelling and premise remains pretty much the same. The artwork on this book is capable but ultimately unremarkable. Still, Simone continues to work from a strong foundation, and an ongoing, relatively static BoP title still serves as an enjoyable diversion.
A year after the dramatic events of the Infinite Crisis, the Society is still in operation, uniting villains and empowering them to commit even more crimes and create more chaos. Oracle is presented with an opportunity to gain a massive amount of intel on the Society and strike a spiritual victory with the defection of key member. There's just one problem: the bad guys know about the situation and send a team of villains to eliminate the defector. Fortunately, the Birds of Prey have a secret weapon: a new member. But what happened to the woman she's replacing?
Siqueira's art is capable, and he captures the femininity of the title characters without sexualizing them. The visual storytelling is clear... for the most part, though there's one sequence I just didn't follow. At one point, Killer Croc displays his arm and complains of what the Huntress did to it, but I couldn't tell what damage had been done. The artist and inker Robin Riggs do offer up a nice, dramatic shot to introduce the new team member.
Speaking of which, I like the new name Simone has granted the new member; it speaks to her Asian and martial arts background and her connection with the Black Canary. Furthermore, the notion that Oracle is determine to use her resources to bring down the Society is a solid one. For a while, the cases with which these heroines occupied themselves seemed a bit random in nature. This new focus on the Society provides a strong, cohesive direction for the series, and I hope this issue's plot isn't a fleeting dalliance with the idea.
Dinah's new journey of pain and self-discovery strikes me as somewhat familiar. We've seen her travel down dark paths before. Furthermore, this is the main element of "mystery" arising from the unseen events of the past year, but I don't really feel drawn in by the unanswsered questions. The situation is so alien that Dinah's decision (or punishment, whatever the case may be) won't be something to which I can really relate, so I'm hesitant to believe the revelations will have that much of an impact. 6/10
