Written by: Kelly Thompson
Colors by: Jordie Bellaire
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover art by: Leonardo Romero (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: November 8, 2023
Birds of Prey #3 gets Harley and the Birds on Themyscira to rescue Sin from the dark entity intending to possess her. Can they escape from Paradise Island before Wonder Woman finds out?
Is Birds of Prey #3 Good?
The longer this series continues, the less sense it makes and the weaker its central premise becomes. The entire gist of Dinah's mission rests on the simple fact that she, and everyone within her circle of trust, won't even attempt to talk to Wonder Woman about a very serious concern, presuming Wonder Woman is somehow... stubborn? Callous? Unsympathetic? Birds Of Prey #3 tries to get you to believe Wonder Woman is uncaring, and it fails spectacularly.
When last we left Harley and the Birds of Prey, Dinah completed her recruitment drive and embarked on a boat ride to the outskirts of Themyscira. In a bizarre act of blind trust, Dinah left the mechanism on the island to Harley without asking about it in advance. That mechanism appears in the form of King Shark, who intends to use his command of sharks as a type of Trojan Horse to sneak Harley and the BOP onto the island.
Now, Harley's collaboration with King Shark works, depositing the BoP on the shores of Themyscira without detection. Zealot makes a magical pact with the island to prevent death, should the team be discovered. Harley takes out at least one Amazonian guard single-handedly. Dinah finds Sin, who appears to be maxin' and relaxin' in comfort. And when the team is noticed, and alarms sound, Ollie (back in America) creates a distraction by attacking Wonder Woman with magic-infused arrows that turn her into a kaleidoscope of butterflies. The transformation lasts long enough to slow Wonder Woman down for a few minutes at best before she makes it to Themyscira, ending on a cliffhanger.
If it wasn't clear from the description, three glaring problems become increasingly evident.
First, Harley dominates every scene, every conversation, and even Dinah's internal monologue/narration for no other reason than Thompson decided Harley needed undue focus compared to every other character. There's no reason for Harley to be on this team. Setting Harley up as some agent of chaos that can make the impossible possible is ridiculous, and Thompson's insistence that Harley can beat bigger, better, stronger fighters in close combat is absurd. If Harley needed to be brought in against her character makeup, Thompson should have at least tried to make Harley's presence clever. Instead, Harley comes off as an obnoxious editorial mandate.
Second, there's no circumstance where simply shooting arrows at Wonder Woman (magic-infused or not) ends well for Ollie. Green Arrow is a fan favorite, but again, his fight with Wonder Woman is absurd. As soon as Ollie gets one punch to the gut by Diana, he should be done.
Third, no one except the BoP realizes Sin is in mortal danger, so the premise of the arc would fall apart if Dinah had simply reached out to Wonder Woman in the beginning and told her what was happening. When has Wonder Woman ever not been a good listener? When has Wonder Woman not taken a credible threat seriously, especially when that threat is on Themyscira? To make this premise work, Thompson needed to create a credible reason for Dinah to sneak into Themyscira, and she didn't put in the work to create that credible reason.
What you see over and over again is a story built on a poor understanding of the characters, their circumstance, or the reader's ability to see through lazy plots. It'll be a miracle if this series makes it past issue #6.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
When last we left Harley and the Birds of Prey, Dinah completed her recruitment drive and embarked on a boat ride to the outskirts of Themyscira. In a bizarre act of blind trust, Dinah left the mechanism on the island to Harley without asking about it in advance. That mechanism appears in the form of King Shark, who intends to use his command of sharks as a type of Trojan Horse to sneak Harley and the BOP onto the island.
Now, Harley's collaboration with King Shark works, depositing the BoP on the shores of Themyscira without detection. Zealot makes a magical pact with the island to prevent death, should the team be discovered. Harley takes out at least one Amazonian guard single-handedly. Dinah finds Sin, who appears to be maxin' and relaxin' in comfort. And when the team is noticed, and alarms sound, Ollie (back in America) creates a distraction by attacking Wonder Woman with magic-infused arrows that turn her into a kaleidoscope of butterflies. The transformation lasts long enough to slow Wonder Woman down for a few minutes at best before she makes it to Themyscira, ending on a cliffhanger.
If it wasn't clear from the description, three glaring problems become increasingly evident.
First, Harley dominates every scene, every conversation, and even Dinah's internal monologue/narration for no other reason than Thompson decided Harley needed undue focus compared to every other character. There's no reason for Harley to be on this team. Setting Harley up as some agent of chaos that can make the impossible possible is ridiculous, and Thompson's insistence that Harley can beat bigger, better, stronger fighters in close combat is absurd. If Harley needed to be brought in against her character makeup, Thompson should have at least tried to make Harley's presence clever. Instead, Harley comes off as an obnoxious editorial mandate.
Second, there's no circumstance where simply shooting arrows at Wonder Woman (magic-infused or not) ends well for Ollie. Green Arrow is a fan favorite, but again, his fight with Wonder Woman is absurd. As soon as Ollie gets one punch to the gut by Diana, he should be done.
Third, no one except the BoP realizes Sin is in mortal danger, so the premise of the arc would fall apart if Dinah had simply reached out to Wonder Woman in the beginning and told her what was happening. When has Wonder Woman ever not been a good listener? When has Wonder Woman not taken a credible threat seriously, especially when that threat is on Themyscira? To make this premise work, Thompson needed to create a credible reason for Dinah to sneak into Themyscira, and she didn't put in the work to create that credible reason.
What you see over and over again is a story built on a poor understanding of the characters, their circumstance, or the reader's ability to see through lazy plots. It'll be a miracle if this series makes it past issue #6.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Bits and Pieces:
Birds Of Prey # is an absurd comic. The flaws in the central premise grow wider with each page turn, the character work is just plain bad, and Romero's art is dull.
3.5/10
Getting real sick of Harley Quinn.
ReplyDeleteDoes everyone just forget that she was complacent with the Jokers murders and committed quite a few of her own.
Yeah, I hate her character too. Insufferable. Not only she is a too unrealistic representation of what a character with her purpose (a woman being abused to insanity with mental health issues, at least what the writers try to imply usually) is supposed to be, she isn't even engaging to read about in her unrealisticness. Just plain obnoxious and overused.
DeleteNot to mention she usually isn't held accountable the way she should be for what she has down in her past. No, working with and commiting crimes with a psychopathic serial murderer doesn't go away no matter how 'quirky' she is and saying sorry.
Delete