Opening Birds of Prey #2, I really didn't expect to find such a surprisingly dark issue. The debut issue of this relaunch was pretty plot driven, and while Gail Simone can make her characters shine through nearly any amount of plot, character development was a little short handed. With issue #2 though, that all changes.
This is Black Canary's issue, that's for sure. Stemming off of her recent drama with Green Arrow, we see Dinah head to a dark place that blurs the line between vigilante justice and anarchy. It's a line we've seen Simone walk plenty in Secret Six, but applying it to Birds of Prey is a welcome change of pace that leads to unexpected places. Simone does a great job of using the team's time apart as an obstacle for them to overcome. For example, we see Oracle discuss her equipment being out of date, which ultimately led to their precarious situation with top secret information being stolen from them. Most noteworthy, their secret identities.
I read the book last night, and the decisions of Black Canary in this issue are still bouncing around in my head. Birds of Prey #2 is a serious game changer for the character that feels like a point of no return. Simone has set up a really interesting character arc here that will hopefully run through many more issues of the new Birds of Prey.
Ed Benes continues to evolve here, taking more chances with his layouts than I recall him ever doing before. His pencils are still relatively style over substance, which doesn't hurt the issue but ultimately leaves the reader with a feeling that Simone's character-driven story could have made a much larger emotional impact with a more acting-savvy penciller.
Overall, Birds of Prey #2 is a solid comic book that gives the title a worthy cause for a relaunch. Only two issues in and it's clear that this book is going to be different than the previous run. What it has to do with the Brightest Day banner still has yet to be clear to me, but for now I'm enjoying the return of the Birds to their own monthly title regardless.
