Birds of Prey is winding down before their September reboot; can the book take flight without Gail Simone at the helm?
The Good
The Birds fighting Nazis is definitely a great concept; I've seen the "jumping back and forth between timelines" mechanic done much worse than this. Having youth characters from the flashback come back to haunt the team as adults is great for continuity.
The Bad
I'm not sure how to say this, but here goes:
Bird of Prey suffers if Gail Simone isn't writing it.
There was a big difference between this issue and how the rest of the series has been written; it almost seemed like the writer was a bit out of touch with how the characters are "supposed" to act.
Now, it's hard to write this without considering that it's a new writer, and that they have no obligation to write things how they have been before. However, Simone's put so much work into crafting the birds into something more than "boobs and butts," while this book seems to take it back a couple steps.
Seeing Lady Blackhawk say that "the only missionary she knows is the position" just had be cringing. Along with some other panels, it just seems to make being sexually promiscuous "her thing", when she's been so much more than that in the past. It was a disappointing take on the character.
While Ed Benes has never been one to skimp on the cheesecake, the new artist's figures just seem a bit... unrefined? There's a certain messiness in some faces that turns me off, while Black Canary bears a stunning resemblance to a Barbie doll in some panels.
Overall, I didn't like this issue very much, and not necessarily because a certain writer wasn't on board; this issue was such a big mood departure that it brought down the book's quality.
The Verdict
I feel like as a lot of books wrap up before the DCU reboot, it's easy to just shrug off any weak last issues and say "eh, it'll be different soon." I'm hoping the Birds are taken care of better when Duane Swierczynski takes over the helm: I feel the Birds could benefit much more from him.