“Birds of Prey” #1 relaunches DC’s team of femme fatales this time without Oracle or Huntress, both personal favorites of mine. Black Canary takes center stage in a story that jumps head first into the action. The issue doesn’t feel like a new book. It feels like a new chapter. It’s assumed that we are familiar with the characters with the exception of a civilian reporter named Charlie Keen who finds himself caught in the middle of a huge donnybrook. We get a flashback appearance by Barbara Gordon in a “this is why I’m not on your team” moment with Dinah but little else in regards to background information. That being said, writer Duane Swierczynski does place us in the early days of this particular team with Dinah still looking for members and this first action-fueled story arc offers plenty of mystery. The story is well constructed and at times has an almost 80’s action movie feel to it. We do get some corny dialogue that I assume is meant to make the team sound tough but instead comes off lame and rather goofy. But overall it’s a fun romp that puts together a fairly engaging story.

Jesus Saiz’s art is really strong. The action sequences have a slick, polished, and cinematic quality to them. There are some gorgeous panels set outdoors during a rain storm and others with heavy shadows that really relay the tone of the book. There are occasional inconsitencies in terms of details. Some pages feature really nice backgrounds while other pages seem to skip backgrounds altogether. A little more careful attention to some of the panels could have made this book look even better.

“Birds of Prey” #1 is a nice start to the series but nothing that’s going to blow you away. There is plenty of action that keeps the issue energetic and enough mystery to the story to keep things interesting. While Starling doesn’t do much for me, I like Black Canary and I’m interested in seeing the team grow. But with so many new books vying for my dollars, this series needs to do a little more to stay on my pull list.