Birds of Prey (2023-) #10

Birds of Prey (2023) (Single Issues) #10

by Kelly Thompson, Robbi Rodriguez (inker), Gavin Guidry (inker)

It’s Barda’s world now, and we’re all just living in it. As the Birds search for Barbara inside the mysterious portal that keeps changing (and also trying to kill them), separating enemy from ally is getting harder than ever—and more important than ever.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics

29 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2024

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

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best issue since issue 4. Love Cass and Barda so much together. Overall really fun issue, sad background.

[Hannah Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5/5

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Birds are world hopping.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that just escalated quite a bit and what Canary said last issue is only proving to be more and more true, we just got dumped into the third act of someone else’s story. So last issue, Barbara has been taken by a mysterious force through a portal and the birds follow through only to find strange new worlds. Discovering the monster pretending to be Barbara sent the birds running for their lives through a different portal where we now find them with a 50s vibe. Reeling from the confusion as they walk through the portal, everyone ducks behind Barda as she takes the brunt force of strands of black goop and even goes down to the ground because of it. Suddenly a new person enters the arena with a very big gun and mentions those are pieces of Maia, the giant bat creature they fought in the last world and is still trying to get through the portal. Using her big gun she orders them out of the way and blasts Maia away. It seems that big gun with cool shadow wolf here may be the person they need to explain what is happening here. Her companion is named Poe and she is Clea, and she explains that they are inside a pocket dimension that her sisters, along with herself, built years ago. When you walk through a portal it basically re-skins the world and takes inspiration from whoever was first, so the 50s suburbs are from Barda’s mind, she’s layered okay! But they still reside in the same place and Barbara is still here. Stopping Maia from following will only but a bit of time as the world is quite big, but they have to keep moving. But Clea actually has a question about there clothes, they aren’t actually from the 50s are they?ntneunconfirmntheybarennkt, which is good because this place is able to move around in time and she would hate to be stuck in the 50s of they are able to get out. But we also have the problem that Clea seems to want to leave them at any moments notice to fend for themselves, her shape shifting shadow companion can actually sense when a portal is forming nearby. But as Canary is trying to appeal to Clea to stick with them and work together to get out of here, they hear a crash in the other room as Barda falls to the ground. That blast she took infected Barda with a bit of Clea’s sister Maia, and Clea has seen what it can do, she even has to kill her own sister when the infection reached a point she was begging for death.

Which gives us the perfect bridge to explore Clea’s backstory and the story of this insane world. As it turns out Clea is one of seven sisters, septuplets which I can only imagine how painful that must of been. Clea was born last and Maia was the first, each of their names being after constellations known as the seven sisters. When they were young each of them began to develop powers, and when they were nine her sister Aly built the locked dimension with her reality waring powers. They built a paradise to escape some of the not do great potions of their childhood, and having met her parents in the present day in later issues on this series I get why. But when their mother was killed they decided to escape to the pocket dimension, where they really didn’t want to leave. But then when Maia started killing the sisters and absorbing their powers…Clea realized she couldn’t leave of she wanted to. She wasn’t sure if Maia was already insane or if her sanity slipped while inside. Either way it doesn’t matter as she started to kill and take the others powers, learning all their secrets in the process. Maia stole some of Meridian’s tech for time travel but couldn’t access the green so she killed their sister Taygette to access the powers of the red. It came down to Clea and her sister Electra whose invulnerability powers prevented Maia from killing her. But when she infected Electra just like how Barda is infected now, Electra have up her life to give her powers to Clea so she would Bev a better chance at defeating Maia. But even after hearing this story Dinah is even more convinced that Clea needs the work with them to get out of here, but all Clea can see is the ticking time bomb that is Barda and still wants to get away from here. But Clea also explains that the birds are literally Maia’s endgame, and explains that in the future Barbara Gordon is the one to kill their mother, the villain also known as the velvet tiger.

Which would also explain Barbara’s current situation, she is stuck in the dimension and affected by the changes but stuck inside of a prison cell. She was building an object in the last world to help break out, but that shifted to something useless. But with that change she is beginning to learn the rules of the shifts and can start using it to her advantage. As you can imagine Dinah is in a bit of disbelief, they didn’t kill her mother or at least not yet and there is still a chance to change it. But it seems we won’t get to have that discussion for long as a fully taken over Barda just woke up and began to smash the area around them. Each of the birds attempted and failed to take a shot. Canary’s cry was mute, Mari still can’t access the red, and even Sin can’t hold back Barda. But then it came down to the confrontation of the century as Cass faced Barda. Even with the portal in sight, Clea realized that this group may be exactly what she needs to get out of here permanently. As Cass faces Barda she doesn’t throw a punch, instead she looked deep into Barda’s eyes and confirmed everything about her that made her strong:

“ Barda. Stop this. You are Barada free. Born of the fires of Apokolips. She who first led the female furies. She who wheeled the mega rod as if it is but a child’s toy. This infection is nothing. It is a scratch.”

With that, Barda turned around and slammed into the ground before ejecting the infection out of her body, she beat it!! And now they are really on the clock, Maia is approaching and they only have a few minutes as Clea directs them towards the portal, but who should be the first one to enter…but sin. Let’s hope the new world reads Sin’s thoughts and not Megaera’s, lol.

[Alexis Moreno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, not sure how much i love the reveal that Babs ends up killing Cela mother and what essentially starts the issue of keeping babs safe. time travel plots are always very messy and i find this to be no exception. I’m hoping this phase of the birds of preys either solidifies or moves on since it’s my favorite but I did love the Bards and Cass interactions this issue and showcases little things why I like Thompson’s writing and interpretation of characters.

[Yasser Maniram · Rating 2 out of 5]

A meh issue with dizzying art.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"you may have noticed my weird name. we all have them." okay jughead, what shit ass writing is this?

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gusta el estilo y arte. No tanto este arco argumental que salvo por el jugueteo clásico de "universos de bolsillo", deja una revelación no tan sorpresiva y que ya apetece despachar cuanto antes.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I lost the thread. Either my memory of the last issue is spotty or there was some real big leaps in plot here.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another art team change, but the story moved to another location in a pocket dimension, so it worked out well.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Fazun · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good parts but I kinda felt lost.

[rafaela (taylor's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25