The mind control antics continue as the Birds race against time to unveil the mysterious Choke.

Looking back, I feel like more should’ve happened in BIRDS OF PREY by now. I mean, I know there was some stuff in there that was basically mind games. That’s gonna take some pages. And that’s fine. And there have been quite a few separate missions they’ve gone on to fight off the Cleaners. That said, I’m not clear on what the stakes are.

But this part is straightforward and exciting enough. Looks good, reads good. I would like a more character-centric storytelling style, since so far this book has been very plot-heavy, but I can wait until the second arc for that.

I do think it’s peculiar that Batgirl has been added to the book, not because it’s strange for her to be in BIRDS OF PREY, but because she’s done very, very little in the series so far. The focus is still on the other four characters. Batgirl seems there almost as an attention grabber, something to get people to come read the book who don’t know Black Canary or Katana or Poison Ivy. Though only Canary and Starling really get much character development, anyway.