I wasn’t sure what to expect for Birds of Prey (BoP). It hasn’t ever been a title I’ve been interested in and wasn’t going to be on my list to buy for the relaunch. Still, the preview pages I saw online really grabbed me, and there’s something about the costume redesign of Black Canary that really spoke to me. The new costumes have been very hit or miss, but one of the things that I really liked about BoP were both Black Canary’s and Starling’s costumes.

Like I said, I don’t know a whole lot about the original BoP. I know that Barbara Gordon as Oracle was always the Professor X of the team and that it was made up of female superheroes, but beyond that, I never really knew the mission of the team or even the tone of their stories. The new BoP presents a budding team of female bad asses who work street-level conspiracies and crime. In this first issue, we’re only introduced to Black Canary (the blonde on the cover) and Starling (the corset-wearing superheroine in the center). I really adore the little bits of relationship we get between these two characters.

The art (by Jesus Saiz) is clean and the action looks amazing. Both of the female stars look like they could easily kick Batman’s ass while laughing about it the whole time. They both look very distinct, and Saiz makes their personalities shine through his art. It’s a very exciting book to look at, and even the quieter scenes have a quick pace that makes it feel like an action movie. Unfortunately, it does end up feeling like a quick read, and I could see an argument that you don’t really get your money’s worth. However, the story is tight and complete (especially for being a #1) while opening up a whole world of story possibilities. On a side note, we do get two pages where Barbara Gordon makes an appearance, and I’m more intrigued and interested by this depiction of the character than I was with the entire issue of Batgirl #1. I’m excited to see how she will continue to interact with the team she originally founded and would be more than happy if this was her only corner of the DC universe and she didn’t have to carry her own book from month-to-month.