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Birds of Prey #39
Joel Jacobsen
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| Title: |
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The Gun |
| Cover Date: |
March 2002 |
| Story: |
Chuck Dixon |
| Pencils: |
Rick Leonardi |
| Inks: |
Rodney Ramos and Jesse Delperdang |
| Colors and Separations: |
Wildstorm |
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Overall impression:
This issue is part of the current
crossover
in the Batman universe, comprising
Part Five
of the Bruce Wayne: Murder? Storyline.
And,
while there are new developments
that you
won't want to miss if you're
following the
overall story, there are also
developments
that relate to the directly to
the recurring
Birds of Prey cast. Any fan of
this title
will want it regardless, as will
those following
the over all Wayne plot. It's
not necessarily
a good first issue to be introduced
to this
title but isn't all that bad
either. The
story is the strongest aspect
of this issue
and it carries the art.
Technical impression:
The cover art, another by Noto,
is a nice
representation of the cast appearing
in the
issue. Though it offers a great
pencil sketch
of Black Canary, it's a bit subdued
and not
nearly as nice as the one Noto
gave us for
issue 38, which is one of my
all-time favorites
from this title.
Rick Leonardi is introduced to
us as the
new penciler for the title and,
for the most
part, I have to say that his
work is just
okay. One of the most effective
panels he
drew falls on page 15, panel
2. The expression
he put into Barbara's eyes and
the reflection
from her glasses says everything
that words
could not. It gives us a very
clear impression
of what she is thinking at that
moment.
Unfortunately, there are inconsistencies
with how he draws Barbara and
Dinah and I
found it distracting and disappointing.
Perhaps
it's a matter of him getting
used to the
characters, but there are very
unflattering
angles of both throughout this
issue; they
just aren't up to the quality
(Greg Land,
Butch Guice) I've gotten used
to - and expect
- from Birds of Prey.
I'll reserve my final judgment
on Leonardi's
style for at least another issue,
but there's
definite room for improvement.
While nothing reached out and grabbed me
about the coloring, it wasn't bad and stayed
true to the characters and each situation.
Past familiarity with Wildstorm's coloring
techniques have led me to expect better so
I'll give their efforts this time a rating
of adequate: nothing outstanding, but nothing
to really complain about either.
There were some little things
throughout
the issue that I noticed that
made me wonder,
and not just in regard to art
style:
First, we see Dinah wearing a
baseball cap
all the way through this issue.
What was
fine for a "Day out"
in the beginning,
but it feels out of place later
on. I found
my mind wandering from the action,
trying
to figure out why it was still
with us. This
isn't Image, we're not reading
Violent Messiahs
and Dinah Lance isn't Cheri Major.
If this
happens to be some in-joke that
I'm just
not getting, I'd love to be let
in on it.
Otherwise it just comes across
like he just
wasn't sure if Dinah should be
"under
cover" or in costume so
he just drew
her somewhere in between and
didn't pull
either off successfully.
Whoever decided Ted's shirt should
be plaid
and chose the approach they used
just needs
to be kicked. It's ugly, obviously
applied
after the fact, and if it had
been in any
more of the issue than it was,
it would have
annoyed me more than seeing Dinah
in that
silly cap. Lose the plaid or
learn to hand
draw it, please.
Last - why does Dinah use a cell-phone
when
on the job? Isn't that what the
canary earrings
and charm are for? We've seen
it established
in the past where Barbara can
communicate
with Dinah when mobile without
need of a
cell phone (See Issue 21, among
others).
At the end of this issue, Dinah
is shown
dropping the phone but still
talking to Barbara.
Did we just step into an ad for
Nextel™ with
Denis Franz, or is someone confused
about
the "Oracle-ware" tech
and gadgets
that Dinah has access to and
uses on a regularly
established basis?
Just little things, but added
together, they
annoyed me.
General Story overview:
The story opens with the Blue
Beetle and
Oracle engaging in a little friendly
competition
in her "holo-room".
After it's
over, Barbara urges Ted to get
a checkup
because of symptoms she recognizes
that bring
cause to worry.
Dinah meets up with Barbara and
is given
her assignment for this issue
- go poke around
inside Vesper Fairchild's apartment
and dig
up any clues the police might
have missed.
While this is happening, Barbara
makes a
startling discovery regarding
the murder
weapon and drops in on Sasha
Bordeaux in
jail. She passes herself off
as one of Sasha's
attorneys while trying to get
any clues that
can help clear Bruce of the murder
charges.
While searching Vesper's apartment,
Black
Canary makes her own unexpected
discovery
that has ties to Batman. And
when she catches
Spoiler spying on her, things
get truly interesting.
Full Story review (contains spoilers):
The issue opens with the Blue
Beetle and
the reader is treated to an action
sequence
over the next several pages.
Combined with
the dialogue, which is nicely
done (As good
as the majority of Dixon's work
on BoP IMO),
it makes for an entertaining
introduction
to the issue.
Not personally knowing a lot
about Blue Beetle's
past or his personality outside
of his previous
appearances in the pages of Birds
of Prey,
seeing him utter "Booyah!"
made
me chuckle. We get to see a side
of him that
hasn't been really explored in
these pages
so far - Ted Kord, the competitor.
It was
nice to see someone other than
Dinah getting
outwardly excited when something
goes right.
We're given reason to be concerned
about
the Beetle and we get a chance
to see Barbara
being the pushy "mother
hen" that
she has shown she can become
oh-so-well.
As Ted puts it, "…Medicine
lost a great
nurse when you decided to fight
crime."
Barbara also shows off a talent
on par with
"Miss Cleo and friends"
when Dinah
calls. Not surprisingly, Barbara
is busy
with the whole Bruce Wayne situation
and
has no time for small talk but
we aren't
disappointed. She has an assignment
for our
favorite little bird: go use
her detective
skills in going through Vesper
Fairchild's
apartment.
It's in this conversation that
we are reminded
just how precarious the business
relationship
between Oracle and Black Canary
really is.
It happens, however, to be in
a scene between
Barbara and Dinah. Despite bring
close friends,
but Barbara just can't risk confidentiality
when Dinah balks, trying to figure
out why
clearing Bruce Wayne would interest
Barbara
so much, but she does as asked.
Entering the apartment Black
Canary is skeptical
that she'll find anything that
the police
haven't - but finds a lot more
than she expected,
as does Oracle when she pokes
through what
GCPD has on the Fairchild murder
- the murder
weapon.
An intriguing scene occurs when
Barbara poses
as one of Sasha Bordeaux's attorneys.
She
tries sweet-talking, badgering
and cajoling
to get Sasha to level with her
on what really
happened, all without luck. We
find out that
Sasha had no idea that Bruce
Wayne had purchased
a handgun and admits to being
quite surprised
at this. The situation leaves
each with the
wrong (perhaps?) impression of
the other.
It becomes another example of
the tangled
web Bruce has woven while isolating
himself
and those around him even from
each other
to varying degrees.
Then, as if the gun's registered
owner wasn't
enough of a surprise (except
to those who've
read Gotham Knights #24), we
get another
one. Ted Kord has a serious heart
problem.
His doctor tells him to avoid
stressful situations
until further tests are done
and to even
be careful when watching TV.
His future as
a hero, and his life in general,
is put in
question and it looks like we'll
have to
wait at least until next month
(or beyond)
to see what develops.
In Vesper's apartment, Black
Canary discovers
something the police did, indeed,
overlook:
evidence of the ongoing investigation
by
the late Ms. Fairchild into the
Batman. When
she informs Oracle of this, her
instincts
tell her that there is more to
this that
meets the eye and that it somehow
ties into
Bruce Wayne. Yet Oracle assures
her that
it doesn't. It will be interesting
to see
if Black Canary will let it go
with just
Oracle's "say so" or
lets it sit
for a while before digging deeper
at another
time. And when Spoiler shows
up, the stage
is set for a partnership of sorts
in future
issues.
In the end, we find that everyone
wants to
help but they can't seem to make
much progress
while trying to keep their secrets
from each
other. We get another glimpse
of just how
much Batman is the glue that
keeps this "family"
together. Something looks like
it's going
to have to give in the end, but
what - or
who - has yet to be determined.
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