Having just reread the first trade of Simone and Benes's Birds of Prey, I was struck by how much foundation was laid down, and how well the story really played out when read altogether. Given how much I've enjoyed their second arc, which concludes in this issue, I think it's fair to say that I'm right onboard this book, and finally agreeing with what my reviewing partner Don said about the book almost a year ago when the team started: It might be the best thing Simone has written. Certainly Ed Benes has grown considerably in his time on this book, and while he was popular with the majority from the beginning, I'm finally ready to agree that he's doing stellar work on the book. Simone is clearly having a lot of fun with these characters, and her writing brings a touch more authentic girl power than Dixon managed (even though he did that kind of thing surprisingly well), and she has done a terrific job in this arc of balancing the serious with the lightly humorous, the action with the character interaction and the DC continuity with standalone espionage-style stories.
This is the culmination of "Sensei & Student," an arc that has grown more and more intriguing with each issue, and Simone and company wind it up with a bang. Simone brings in some unusual guest stars, some of the women of the DC Universe who we don't see very often, and uses them to very good effect, but the focus is still on the three main ladies of this book, Oracle, Huntress and Black Canary, and on the two assassins who have driven much of "Sensei & Student," Shiva and Cheshire. I'm impressed that the creative team manages to have an issue with over a half-dozen characters, and nobody really gets lost in the shuffle. Indeed, there's some pretty heavy personal stuff resolved between Canary and Shiva and Huntress and Oracle that feels very satisfying. Simone has done a terrific job of writing Shiva as an amoral but strangely honorable character, making her much deeper and interesting than I'd ever given her credit for before, and though her Cheshire goes into full-on manic supervillain near the end, I didn't have any trouble buying her sociopathic motivations either. In addition, the respect for continuity is one of those things rarely seen in comics today, as this issue references even relatively obscure (but important) stuff like Cheshire using a nuclear bomb (in the later days of the Deathstroke book) without making it too inside for those who haven't been reading forever, but it's just a nod to let folks know that "hey, we know what we're talking about."
Beyond writing a very satisfying action climax to the story and bringing some interpersonal stories to a conclusion, Simone also ties up a reasonably complex plot in satisfying fashion, and brings most of what she's set up in the first twelve issues to a neat close. This is how arc-style writing should work, as it's enjoyable on an issue-by-issue basis, but when you step back, you can really see that she knew what she was doing all along. More to the point, her moment to moment stuff is also highly enjoyable, with Canary getting a very cool (and very funny) entrance early on and bit players like Katana and Gypsy getting to play the cool badasses that they rarely get to play as well.
Have I mentioned the artwork? Because I've been harping on Ed Benes from the beginning, that he was too focused on T & A, that his style wasn't my cup of tea... and I've come around. Benes's work is reminiscent of Jim Lee in many regards, with a touch of influence from guys like J. Scott Campbell, but he's definitely starting to develop a style that is more his own as well. I'm glad that the camera angles he's using have changed a little bit, and while his female characters are still sexy, they don't feel as overly sexualized (except for Cheshire, and I'm guessing that's intentional). He's also quickly developed a straight-haired look for Black Canary that I could easily come to see as definitive, and seeing how cool his take on the old school Black Canary costume is, I'd almost lobby to see that back as her regular look. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, this issue is full of amazing action storytelling, and you have to give Benes as much credit as Simone for keeping things clear, fast-paced and exciting with so many characters and so many developments to take care of.
Next issue should bring another jumping-on point, and I'd recommend that everyone who hasn't already give the book a try with that issue. Birds of Prey is not what it used to be, but what it has become, finally, is a book that someone else has put their personal stamp on, one that mixes humor, action and characterization in equal measure and which has, over the past six months, never failed to delight. I look forward to many more issues, and hopefully many more trades, of Simone, Benes and Lei on this book.
