Birds of Prey #33 Review

Written by: Christy Marx
Art by: Robson Rocha
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 9, 2014

End It, Please

The first page of this issue begins with the newly freed Dr. Mambety wondering what he's gotten himself to to.  I know how he feels. When we started our little site, I chose this book to review and was actually excited about doing so.  Then I read it.  While I was hoping that Christy Marx would inject some life into it, she put the final nail in it's New 52 coffin.  Yes, this is the penultimate issue of the series and the end can't come soon enough.



Like I said, the issue begins with Dr. Mambety in a bad situation.  Both the Birds of Prey and the Suicide Squad want to save him. Instead of working together, however, both teams throw down.  I'd like to say that's where things go bad, but they were never good.  In one of the worst cases of bad timing, the New Suicide Squad book came out on the same day as this Old Suicide Squad shows up in this one. King Shark and Captain Boomerang are long gone (especially King Shark) in the regular New 52 continuity of the Squad.  I know it can be explained away by sliding timelines and such, but it just feels wrong.

The other thing that feels wrong is the dialogue in this issue.  Christy Marx can be forgiven for not getting the feel of the Suicide Squad (except Capt. Boomerang, which is okay) since it's not her book, but she seems to have lost hold on her own team.  Plus, the interaction between both is awful.  At times they seem to not know anything about each other, then they know too much.  The whole thing comes off as forced and just plain awful.

In the end, the little story we have gets nowhere, the teams are about to kill each other and poor Dr. Mambety might be dead.  I'm not sure, maybe he just walked away while the fighting was going on.  That's what I would've done.  Amanda Waller promises that we will finally get some answers next month, but I really could care less.  Please end the pain.

I usually like Robson Rocha's art, but this is not his strongest issue.  I did give Christy Marx a bit of a pass when it came to writing the Suicide Squad so I'll give the same to Rocha.  His Harley Quinn is not good at all. Actually, it's awful.  He does a good job on the rest of the Squad especially Amanda Waller, but I can't get past Harley.  Her look changes throughout the issue and none of them are good.

Bits and Pieces:

If you are a fan of the Birds of Prey, I pity you.  This is not the book you deserve.  Hopefully down the line, DC will give you a better version of the Birds that you can enjoy and be proud of.  This is not that book and everyone should steer clear.  You have been warned.

2.5/10