Birds of Prey (2023-) #2

Birds of Prey (2023) (Single Issues) #2

by Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Bastos Romero (Penciller), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

Black Canary has built an all-new team with a very specific and very dangerous first extraction! Their ! She’s being held on and guarded by a battalion of . Sounds simple enough, right? Well, then we’re explaining it wrong! It’s a terrible mission! And before it can even be launched, the Birds have to gather a few mysterious supplies and see some old familiar faces…that they punch! 

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2023

About the author

KELLY THOMPSON has a degree in Sequential Art from The Savannah College of Art & Design. Her love of comics and superheroes have compelled her since she first discovered them as a teenager. Currently living in Portland, Oregon with her boyfriend and the two brilliant cats that run their lives, you can find Kelly all over the Internet where she is generally well liked, except where she's detested.

Kelly has published two novels - THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING (2012) and STORYKILLER (2014) and the graphic novel HEART IN A BOX from Dark Horse Comics (2015). She's currently writing ROGUE & GAMBIT, HAWKEYE, and PHASMA for Marvel Comics and GHOSTBUSTERS for IDW. Other major credits include: A-Force, Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps, Jem and The Holograms, Misfits, Power Rangers Pink, and the creator-owned mini-series Mega Princess.

Kelly's ambitions are eclipsed only by her desire to exist entirely in pajamas. Fortunately pajamas and writers go hand in hand (most of the time). Please buy all her stuff so that she can buy (and wear) more pajamas.

Reviews

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still colourful and wacky, the writing isn't quite as tight, making it ever so slightly less impressive than the previous entry.

[Murphy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art and colors look great, but the plot and dialogue are difficult to follow.

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it a little incoherent tbh. The story isn't very engaging, and it's a tad all over the place. It's more “Female Suicide Squad” than BoP, to me.

[Fernanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

ficou mais caótico que o capítulo anterior e a arte ficou maravilhosa aqui, amei os layout diferentes e como foram usados, está me conquistando, lembra muito arte de hqs clássicas

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun second issue but not as bombastic as issue 1. Art is still excellent.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is so peak for every reason you can think of and more and the panel layout for this issue has went to such creative highs. All last issue we heard about how Dinah is forming this team to get her sister, Sin, back. Then we got dropped the bombshell that we need to get her away from Themyscira before the amazons inadvertently destroy the world, which has so many problems attached to it, least of which is the destruction of the world. So this issue takes us back a few years ago to help us understand why Sin it’s important, we are taken to the mountains of Bhutan where Dinah has taken her sister for a bit of a hidden camping trip as she still has to hide from the league of assassins. These roo are abolished adorable together, so I get why everyone would be willing to stand up and fight for her when hearing her name. But then the point about the amazons gets dropped and Zealot is the first to walk out. Dinah has to chase after her and reassure her that they will NOT be killing any amazons and if she would just come back and listen to the plan with everyone else it will make more sense. The current plan is to get in and get out without anyone knowing they were there, unfortunately the odds of that is low but they still aren’t planning on killing anyone. Apparently the amazons brought her there either good intentions, but Meridian, who is from the future, tells Dinah that all the amazons are going to die because they have brought Sin directly to some creature attempting to make Sin its host. It’s so funny seeing the origins of this as someone who jumped in 14 issues into the series but it’s still so exciting to learn about. But with all of this potential destruction why doesn’t Dinah just talk to Wonder Woman? She could and Dinah is very reasonable but on the chance she says no for any reason…then their hand will be tipped and they will loose the element of surprise. This is their chance and they have to take it and the current departure time is tonight at the Gotham east docks. But they still have one huge problem…getting into the island. Dinah tries to see if Barda’s boom tube will help, all the while Harley has her hand raised and is begging to be called on as she can handle it for them. Dinah is unsure and even takes a sidebar with Meridian, but Harley assures her that she is either on this team or she isn’t and she either trusts her or doesn’t and she swears she would never risk the kid. So with that Harley is the one providing their point of entry. Dinah has to take care of a few more things but it seems like Zealot has to get some things of their own if they are to fight amazons. Meridian decides to teleport away to meet back up with them later on the beach of Themyscira and Dinah sends Barda and Cass to retrieve some Urn in Chicago that they need while Harley makes a very angry phone call to someone who owes her a favor to get them entry, and Dinah goes to q bar to get what she needs. What do you find in a bar? John Constantine of course, and it seems he has something called a “marker” that Dinah needs. John gets up opens one portal to another bar, more specifically the oblivion bar where he knows an entrance to the seam exists. I love the concept of the seam, black mark magic stuff isn’t a knew idea but having slight breaks in reality to get to it is such a cool idea and seeing the characters fall off panel and the entirety of the seam bending the panels to look 3 dimensional is so wicked cool.

But it seems that Constantine and Dinah are not the only ones with something in the seam they need, as with Harley’s task done she decided to see where Zealot was off too, and that turned out to be another entrance point to the seam where her item is. As it turns out Constantine bag of tricks he needs for Dinah is with someone named Barter, which seems like a sleazy black magic pawn shop who really doesn’t want to give it back. Dinah is immediately suspicions and rightfully so as when John gets it back he finds stuff missing, although there is still enough for what they need…except Barter still doesn’t want to see them leave and sticks his golems on them. Dinah orders Constantine to teleport out of there and get to Ollie as she can take these things and have a good time doing it. And while the fight mostly does well, it goes even better when the rest of the team notices Dinah fighting and joins in with her! Turns out Barda and Cass also had to go into the seam as Dinah’s urn was sold to someone here, but they got it back without fully killing someone. This fight with very easy to smash golems was a great way to show everyone’s skills off, before the opened a boom tube right to the Gotham east docks to get going. One thing I also love is how polite Barda is with the mother box, always saying please when asking for a boom tube. As the issue gets to an end and the BOP approach the protecter waters of Themyscira and the aggressive shark defense that surrounds it, they meet Harley’s plan for getting them in…none other than king Shark…who is six minutes late, lol. He’s like king of the sharks or whatever so they should listen to him, lol.

[Machiavelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birds of Prey #2 keeps the momentum rolling with more sharp dialogue, big action, and that perfect clash of personalities. Thompson balances the chaos well — Black Canary’s plan gets messier, Harley’s antics land, and Big Barda steals every panel she’s in.

Romero’s art continues to be vibrant and stylish, giving the whole issue a playful, high-energy vibe that really sells the team’s dynamic. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s a blast watching this squad take shape. A fun, fast read that leaves you ready for more.

[Mariah · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Black Canary and the other Birds of Prey members are trying to figure out their game plan. They have to break into Themyscira and hopefully not piss off Wonder Woman. Harley does come up with a plan, but the group quickly disagrees Harley thinks they should travel in King Shark's mouth to get to Themyscira. I love King Shark, so I'm on-board.

Another fun issue. I think this shows a little bit more about how everyone will work together.

[Alexis Moreno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun and good read. I should have known this was the goat Kelly Thompson. She really knows how to write great dialogue between characters and I find her harley quinn funny when she isn’t necessarily trying to be and all the other characters funny or endearing in their own way, especially Big Barda. The way she talks sounds so “dumb” it’s actually not, it’s really smart and intelligent just forward and direct which i love.

[Colin Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is pretty quickly becoming a runaway favorite book of the year for me. The art is a showstopper and the story is weird and funny and full of heart. Along with the colors, this feels at once like a Bronze Age story and totally contemporary.

And oh my gawd, that double page splash of the full team fighting faded neon yellow golems…

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is VERY quickly becoming one of my favorite ongoings out there, everything about it is so much fun and that art is gorgeous. I have so many good things to say about it but I just hope it never ends

Also my man Constantine!!

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art of series artist Leandro Romero has a nice throwback flair to it. The colorist Jordie Bellaire is up to the job of bringing the most out of this retro style with colors and hues that hug the lines snugly, while calling back to the era when comic books where 60 cents.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone is gearing up to start the rescue mission. Lots of fun dialogue. Several guest stars.

This title is just getting started. It’s going to be fun.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this issue.
Phenomenal artwork and writing.
You get see Dinah and Sin Lance.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think this is my favourite series atm. So many cameo characters

[Brandon Tindle-Cowgill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving this!

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIVE STARS FOR THE KING SHARK APPEARANCE OMG

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues to surprise me with how much I like it (even though it's a Kelly Thompson book). Super fun. Super unique.

[Rivulet027 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm loving this and am excited to see what happens next!

[Sofi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving the art and this series!

All the cameos seem so natural too, I love how many great DC characters we’re getting to see in this series.

Can’t wait to keep reading!

[ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s just missing something

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, as I had hoped (or even expected when it comes to Kelly Thompson), the writing picks up as the story gets going. Still adjusting to the art.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Hmmm, still not completely sold on this series yet. The writing isn't my favorite which makes the plot not the most interesting thing in the world. Hopefully this next volume will be better.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75

[David Cassady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the King Shark cameo

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It continues to be a great read making great characters out of those that many haven't heard before. Kelly Thompson is doing great work!

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just the slightest bit confusing, wish there were one ot two notes for newer readers. Otherwise, very very good.

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story is starting well.