Birds of Prey (1999-2009): Whitewater

Birds of Prey (1999) (New Editions)

by Gail Simone, Tony Bedard, Stéphane Roux (Cover Art)

These fearsome fighting females are a force to be reckoneded with. Watch these Birds of Prey soar!

The Birds of Prey cross paths with the villainous group the Secret Six, just as Spy Smasher takes the dismantling of Oracle's operation intero her own hands! Who will end up with control of the Birds of Prey?

Then as Black Canary prepares for her wedding, The Calculator attacks and Black Alice discovers a mystery involving Darkseid!

This collection includes tales from Birds of Prey #104-112!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2007

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Gail Simone's final story on Birds of Prey, she brings in the Secret Six and it's great. They are on opposite sides in Russia with the Birds trying to steal a weapon before a hard line Russian general can use it. I love the interactions with Catman and Huntress. Then there are some solid one off stories with Tony Bedard as writer along with some plot threads leading up to Final Crisis.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hostile takeover

An enjoyable book. Gail Simone's writing of the ladies a spot on. The book covers 3 stories and has the death of the New Gods storyline in the background.

The Birds of Pray are facing a hostile takeover. They are working for the government now. Behind enemy lines can trust their "new boss", and what are they going to do about it if they can't?

Since his defeat at the hands of Oricle, the Calculator is obsession has been to fond him nemesis. Now, they are both on a collision course after the same thing.

Heroes, heroines, God or Goddess fall. Join Lady Black Hawk has her own way of remembering them if she survives long enough.

A good collection of stories, good development of Oricle, Huntress, and Misfit in particular but also shows the bond between the ladies. It does not matter if they are on a deadly mission, telling each other hard truths or beating some sense into each other. They have each other's backs.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume collects issues 104-112 of Birds of Prey from 2007, before the new 52 reboot. The lead storyline was Simone's farewell to the title and it's excellent. The Birds face the Secret Six in Russia and it's a grand hootenanny of a confrontation, handled with the cleverness and subtlety that Simone always delivers. It's followed by a few issues written by Tony Bedard that are pretty good, but pale in comparison. The majority of the art is by Nicola Scott, who delivers some really terrific work. There are a lot of characters who look a lot alike, attractive women with masks and colorful costumes, but Scott manages to distinguish them individually by their eyes and other nuances. There's a four-and-a-half-page spread of the team and their friends lined up in Simone's last issue, a Whitewater epilogue with the fitting title Swan Song, that's just really stunning. The last couple of stories are rendered by different artists, and, again, their work is serviceable but not as good as Scott's. It's a very good book.

[mary stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love women !!!

[Dubzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Gail Simone writing Babs, Helena, and Dinah, so you know its going to be good. However, Gail throws in the Secret Six for good measure which makes things that much more interesting.

However, this issue does suffer from crossover lurch. One minute Barda is part of a big cliffhanger involving Knockout, and then all of a sudden you get kicked over to a new writer and a totally unrelated plot. No resolution, gotta read someone else's title to find out what happened. Not Gail's fault, but still annoying as hell.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly a mixed bag. Gail Simone continues to do Gail Simone things (which is good) but the reigns are handed over to Tony Bedard and the voice does change (which is unfortunate). It wasn't bad by any means, just different. The story starts off well enough with a confrontation with Secret Six (which makes perfect sense) but there was an absolute ton going on. Far too many moving pieces. There is even a death that's completely ignored and another that happens in another book that isn't mentioned, or rather treated like readers should've just known. Bedard's work is fine but un spectacular. What was spectacular was the work of artist Nicola Scott. She is perfection. Overall, a decent read that needed room to breathe and flesh some things out.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The Gail Simone part of the book was fine. Simone remains a fantastic comic author, and her plots were enjoyable. I just don't really like Birds 2.0 without Black Canary - that comes down to personal preference. The Tony Bedard part was dreadful. It is all exposition all the time - just having the plot constantly explained to you. The plots themselves were very bog standard comic plots that held zero interest for me. Bedard really is not a good Birds author. Ultimately, this volume is skippable, but for a Birds completionist, the end of Simone's run should be read, but you can stop after that.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid wrap-up to the Birds of Prey cycle by Gail Simone (who has never encountered a double-entendre she doesn't like.) It's just about impossible to match the Ed Benes artwork from previous volumes, but the Nicola Scott artwork has grown on me. There is one four-page spread of various gathered heroes that is pretty awesome.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this at thought bubble having heard very inspiring talk by Gail Simone. I've not read BOP before but watched old series and awful film.
Took a little to get into the characters. Love the art style even if it over sexualises women.

[Whatcha Reading Heather? · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely a collection for long-time readers of DC and/or the Birds Of Prey characters, but I still enjoyed the adventure, The fact that I want to learn more about the characters I hadn't previously known about is also a plus.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really engaging story with ties to almost all the Birds of Prey history?

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast and fun read. The story moves quickly and the character work good.

[mariah mikaelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF // It could be because i didn’t start with the first volume, but this book just wasn’t for me.

[Cappy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really misses Black Canary and the author’s skill bouncing her off the other characters. Still, Simone develops the characters she has to play with in real and enjoyable ways.

[cc · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gail only writes about half of this, then a new writer takes over.

[Sophia Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

too many hot redheads kept getting confused

[Wm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simone shows us why she's one of the best comics writers in the business. Bedard's closing issues are weaker, especially the couple that act as "flashback episodes", but they aren't a total wash.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i liked the previous volumes better, this one was a little too unfocused. enjoyed reading abt babs-dinah-helena for the last time (?) though.