BIRDS OF PREY #41
"Felony Matters"
Recommended (7/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Pencils: Rick Leonardi
Inks: Jesse Delperdang
Colors: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Albert T. DeGuzman
Editor: Matt Idelson
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
So this issue was sold out at Diamond Comics Distributors even before it reached comic-shop shelves? Interesting. The "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" storyline is providing this title with a big spotlight, and the creators make good use of it. This action-packed issue comes off as part of an adventure book, not so much a super-hero series. After almost three and a half years, Birds of Prey has been a consistenly fun read.
Oracle learns that Vesper Fairchild, the woman Bruce Wayne is accused of murdering, had a safe-deposit box in a local bank, and she sends Black Canary in to grab the contents in case it provides any leads that might clear Bruce. Meanwhile, Ted Kord (AKA the Blue Beetle) lay incapacitated on his office floor while Mr. Quam gives the term "hostile corporate takeover" a whole new meaning.
Leonardi and Delperdang's art here puts me in mind of Klaus Janson's work. The sketchy style conveys the action clearly and dynamically. Still, overall, the traditional art approach never really goes beyond simply capable. I find I'm not connecting with Leonardi's work on this book the way I did with Greg Land's and Butch Guice's sleek and sexy linework.
Dixon not only offers up a fun and exciting story, but an accessible one. Despite the fact that we end up following not just one, but two ongoing plotlines here, it's easy to pick up on the storylines. New readers sucked in by the "Fugitive" crossover (or by the development of a television series based on this book) will have no problem getting into these plotlines and characters.
This was a fun issue because essentially, it's a heist story. The title characters are pulling a caper. Though they're doing so for a good cause, this story casts them in the role of rogues, and it makes for a lot of fun. I'm also pleased to see the heist mirrored in the Beetle subplot. While the heroines rob a bank, Ted Kord's business rival is robbing him of his company.
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