Birds of Prey #25 Review

Written by: Christy Marx
Art by: Romano Molenaar
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 20, 2014

It's a Hard Knock Life for Canary

Best part of the issue

Birds of Prey is a strange book.  It features an all-star cast of some of the DC Universe's most popular heroines yet it has failed to find a large audience.  The main culprits for this are poor storytelling and inconsistent art.  Unfortunately, these two rear their ugly heads in this Zero Year tie-in featuring Black Canary.

Explain It:

Dinah Drake was a poor young girl, dumpster diving for pizza when she is taken in by Sensei Desmond, the teacher at a local martial arts dojo.  He gives her a place to live and teaches her mixed martial arts as well as life lessons to make her a better person.  When he finds out he has a terminal illness, he leaves the dojo to Dinah.  She has lost her hero, but is doing her best to help the young kids of the neighborhood while keeping the dojo afloat in honor of Desmond.

Then the City goes dark and Dinah's life changes forever.  She is given a mission from a dying man, gets tangled up with murderous ninjas and is on the run from a shadowy government agency.  After the smoke kind of settles, she is offered an opportunity that will set her on the path toward being a favorite member of the Birds of Prey team.

I'm not really sure what Christy Marx was going for here.  The story was the weakest Zero Year tie-in I've read so far.  As an origin story it also misses the mark which is a shame. What we get is such a cliched story that it's hard not to wish for more.   Some of what we get is interesting in concept, but on the page it felt rushed, incomplete and confusing.

Romano Molenaar's art was equally frustrating.  His pencils lack definition and detail and the faces look crazy.  Seriously, I've never seen anyone with the crooked face disease Molenaar seems to want to duplicate, but when I do I'm going to high tail it out of wherever I am.  

It's a real shame this issue is as bad as it is.  With the hype surrounding Zero Year, this could have been just what Birds of Prey needed to get a wider audience.  Sadly, I believe this issue will harm the book more than help it.  I just hope Christy Marx can get back to the little momentum that last months issue provided because I really want this book to get better.

Bits and Pieces:

Birds of Prey #25 is the weakest Zero Year tie-in and a sorry excuse for an origin story.  Even Birds of Prey fans would be wise to give this one a wide berth.

3.5/10