Of Birds and Blades
I'm actually really glad that the originally solicited Molenaar covers are not the actual covers. Molenaar does some pretty great interior art, but his cover design is incredibly bland and generic. However, the actual cover duties are being done by the incomparable Trevor McCarthy! Such a fun and loose sense of dynamism, a really unique and interesting angle, and lots of bright clashing colors that really make the image pop.
I've seen a lot of hate for Molenaar taking over the art on this series, but I've found it to be very effective. It may not have some of the sleek 'secret agent' style of the first few issues, but it's more solid than Travel Foreman's 'not quite a good fit' artwork. There's a lot of people jumping and falling in this issue, and Moleneaar's especially good with that kind of action. There's an odd sense of detachment from most of the fighting, but it's kind of unique, and helps balance all the players in this issue.
Condor's a really interesting character, his alignment is uncertain, and his abilities are pretty unexpected, and his costume is pretty cool. He really throws off the entire team as individuals, but keeps the dynamic fresh and on its toes. Also in this story is the Dagger Clan, who finally get us to dig into Katana's backstory. It's kind of formulaic that we went from the one morally gray new member backstory exploration arc where she left the team into another arc with exactly the same core premise. We know Katana's leaving to join the JLA, and Talon Mary is going to replace her. But it's cool to get into Katana finally. What's odd is the mysterious countdown of very vague threat. Is it a bomb? It doesn't get treated like it's a bomb, but something different. It ends up being an afterthought rather than increasing the tension.
However, there are a couple of loose ends that get thrown around that DO increase the tension in odd ways. Black Canary continues to have some troubling repercussions from using her powers, and you'll never believe who Starling calls in the middle of the fight.
In Conclusion: 4/5
This is definitely the best BoP issue we've seen in a while, but it could still use some polish. I've got a few sizable nitpicks, but overall I was actually getting into for the first time in months. With the uncertain Condor and the waves of Dagger Clan, the Birds are in a dangerous place, and I'm actually really excited to see how this plays out.
