By Gail Simone (writer), Inaki Miranda (art), Nei Ruffino (colors), Dave Sharp (letters)
The Story: Batman and Oracle race to save the mind of Black Canary (still suffering from Mortis’ touch from last issue), while the rest of the Birds work to escape from the big bad’s headquarters (…in a school bus. That, I did not see coming.)
What’s Good: Man, where to start? First of all, huge kudos to Stanley “Artgerm” Lau for an absolutely awesome cover. I just wish Oracle had been there too, either instead of or in addition to Hawk.
Speaking of art, that makes a nice segue to the art on his issue. Inaki Miranda dropped my jaw on every single page. This is my first exposure to his work, but you can bet he’s now near the top of my list of comic-art careers to follow. While this caliber of art would be excellent on any book, his lightly penciled but beautifully detailed pages fit the book surprisingly well. (Given Simone’s usually harsh prose and imagery, bolder art styles seem to complement her work better overall, but somehow Miranda manages to marry image to words very well indeed.) I have to especially point out Canary’s opening hallucination sequence as an absolute artwork triumph. Everything from the expression on Canary’s face, to the evil pleasure Mortis is obviously taking in her distress, to the body language of the characters that Canary’s memory conjures, it’s all fantastic. (And, while the pencils and inking are beautiful, credit must also go to colorist Ruffino, who makes great use of shadows and color-contrasts in the sequence to make everything stand out just as it should.) Way to go, art team!
And then there’s Simone. Always brilliant, often brutal, she’s at the tip-top of her game for this issue. Once again Canary’s memory/hallucination world is the standout, with the opening sequence causing me several winces of pain on Canay’s behalf, and then a HUGE stand-up-and-cheer moment later in the book (which I won’t spoil here.) These portions–along with the entire issue, really–are so well written that I literally forgot I was actually reading a couple of times; the story just washed over me in a wave I absorbed easily and naturally. That, ladies and gents, is the power of great writing married with great visuals. Well-done Ms. Simone!
Conclusion: I’m not sure if this counts as the best issue of BoP I’ve read (with only nine issues out there, such a judgment is hard to quantify at the moment), but I can tell you that this is easily my personal favorite. Miranda’s artwork alone is worth the price of admission, and Simone on a writing-like-gangbusters kick (which she is definitely on this arc) is never to be missed. Although they may be a little lost since this issue is, after all, in the middle of an arc, I can’t imagine that even non-BoP fans would regret picking up this issue. Plus, hey–$2.99! (Way to go, DC!)
Grade: A-
-SoldierHawk