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As Gail Simone has said, "Valentine's Day is just a made-up day." This is true; but only on made-up days do people give me chocolate! So I suppose it's worth celebrating. Happy Valentine's Day!
If you're a long time reader of this blog you can probably guess what I'm going to talk about tonight.
Birds of Prey #1 was really good. Gail Simone delivers (as always) and Ed Benes's work looks better than it ever has. He may be getting better or he may have a new inking/coloring team. Whatever it is, it looks great.
The action is as high octane as expected, it's great to have the team back together (I still think Lady Blackhawk is one of the coolest characters ever), and I'm intrigued to see how Hawk and Dove fit in with the team.
But you know all this. And you know that I'm only here to talk about those last few pages of the book. I'm here to talk about the "White Canary" and the chance that she might be Cassandra Cain.
If White Canary is Cassandra then it looks like all the work that Geoff Johns and Adam Beechen (yes, Adam Beechen) did to rehabilitate here will have been for naught. And I have a hard time believing that Gail Simone--who has always been one of the creators most receptive to fans--would do that to Cassie.
I cannot imagine that DC would try to make her a villain again after the disaster it was the first time. The Internet (this blog included) absolutely erupted after the Robin "One Year Later" story. Some people liked it (I thought it was good except for Cassie's villainous turn) but a lot more seemed to be very angry.
There was a lot of undeserved anger directed at Adam Beechen. I know, because I was among those doing it. That was wrong, because Cassie's heel turn was editorially mandated. The people at the top clearly didn't get how attached the fans were to her. They hadn't learned all the lessons from "Emerald Twilight."
So what exactly am I saying here? I guess I'm trying to convince myself that White Canary isn't Cassandra Cain. I'm trying to convince myself that it's Cassie's long lost twin, raised in secret by Shiva to be her successor. I keep telling myself that Cassie will show up at the end of the arc, defeat her evil sister and join the Birds of Prey.
I keep telling myself these things. But they never seem to come true. My favorite character in comics is still in undefined limbo. Still, I have hope; Gail Simone has always been good at giving me that. She's a great writer and since she's a fan, I'm sure she gets where I'm coming from. With anybody else I'd be pretty angry right now. With her? I'm going to wait and see.
Because I'm really jazzed about the new Gail Simone run on the new Birds of Prey I went back last night and started rereading her first run on the first Birds of Prey from the beginning.
This is why I did not post last night.
I forgot how much I enjoyed those comics. I don't remember what it was that got me reading that comic in the first place. Honestly, it was probably the cover (I'm a sucker for the fishnets). The art is still kind of funky (I think Ed Benes goes overboard sometimes) and the writing was a bit rocky compared to what Gail Simone writes now.
But good Lord... Those comics were fun. So much damn fun. They are just bursting with energy and crazy things and cool fights. It has me really excited for the new series. Honestly, I haven't been looking forward to a new comic like I have this one in a long time.
If the new Birds of Prey is anything like the old Birds of Prey it will be great. But I think it will be better than great... Because both Gail Simone and Ed Benes have gotten a lot better over the years. And they were good to begin with.
There's a preview for the latest Secret Six up. Yeah, I know that by the time most of you read this you'll probably have the actual comic. Such are the trials of the fact that I post these things at night. When it's dark.
Anyway. I was really wondering how Catman was going to get out of the sticky situation he was left in at the end of the last issue. As far as I could tell there was no way for him to extricate himself from the situation.
I was wrong.
You see, this is why I love Secret Six. No matter what I think is coming Gail Simone still manages to surprise me. To shock me. To appall me. And still keep me coming back for more.
Is Catman's decision as cold as it seems? Or is he simply calling the bad (worse) guys' bluff? I'm not entirely sure... But one thing I'll say... Those guys have no idea who they're dealing with.
I think it's safe to say that this is the best news DC has released so far this year. Birds of Prey coming back? Gail Simone writing Birds of Prey again. This is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Seriously; Gail Simone's Birds of Prey was one of my earliest regular comic books. She came on the book around the time I started reading comics. It's no exaggeration to say that her Birds of Prey has a lot to do with why I love both comics and the DCU.
I want to welcome Ms. Simone (and Mr. Benes) back to the book. I hope it's a long run. I know I'll be there every step of the way.
