Is the Bird's Nest Falling Apart?
The Good: The artist is temporarily different, but a lot of it looks really nice. Some of it compliments Ed Benes really well and the mood of this arc as an epilogue to the previous. Especially the first scene with Oracle.
This is a crazy minor good point, but the logo looks a bit sharper and cooler in black.
Oracle's aftermath discussion with Savant and Creote is very very heartwarming and has some nice character development and exploration.
Kord Tower. Bwa Ha Ha ha!
Huntress and Lady Blackhawk's refusal to accept Black Canary's resignation is totally in character and great.
White Canary's constant cheap-shots and hatred are a great source of excellent dialogue.
The crazy shock ending was really wild. Not like, epic jaw-dropping plot-twist, but still quite excellent.
Hawk's crazy near-death experience was a pretty moving moment as well.
Dove's menagerie of flowers from Penguin. XD
The scene where Huntress wants to kill Penguin and has to be talked out of it by Lady Blackhawk is very powerful and nicely written.
The Bad: There are a few points where the art looks really ugly. Like when Lady Blackhawk is in the hospital. There's a few single panels that just look bad spread randomly about and it takes you out of the scene a bit with abrupt difference.
I'm having A LOT of trouble buying White Canray's motives. Her whole plan kind of fizzled and I can't figure out her angle, especially while she's still hissyfitting and spitting venomous words at Black Canary constantly.
The whole thing feels halfway between an epilogue and a chapter 1. I think that was the intention but it sometimes gets awkward, but never too much.
In Conclusion: 4/5
After the spectacular conclusion to Endrun, Aftershock is a nice sort of second arc/part 2. It's tough to tell where it's headed, but that's a pretty good thing the way its done. I'm left with a huge genuine desire to know what happens next, not just out of curiosity, cliffhanger, or usual comic want the next issue, but just, where ARE they going with this? The plot is really engaging and sets up a lot of questions to keep you guessing once it ends.
