What do you think?
Rate this book
Birds of Prey (1999) (First Editions)
Birds of Prey: Old Friends, New Enemies
This breathtaking book features the female dynamic trio of Oracle, the Black Canary and Batgirl. After being paralyzed by the Joker, former Batgirl Barbara Gordon became Oracle, an information and cyberspace specialist, and began a crime-fighting union with Black Canary. Two women with different personalities and beliefs, their relationship has always been tumultuous but effective. This volume includes some of their earliest adventures as well as a rebirth for them as they are joined by the new Batgirl in their vigilante mission.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Dixon
3,426 books1,029 followersCharles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.
In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.
His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.
He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .
While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.
In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.
On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 10, 2024
Set during the early years of the Birds of Prey, it excels at comicbook camp, but loses any sense of consequence in its goofiness.
July 28, 2016
The stories range from above average to silly with average to good artwork. It's early in the relationship between Oracle and Black Canary.
OVERALL GRADE: C plus to B minus.
OVERALL GRADE: C plus to B minus.
August 1, 2021
Birds of Prey is a superhero team featured in DC Comics, usually lead by Barbara Gordon as Oracle and consist of mainly female superheroes. Birds of Prey: Old Friends, New Enemies collects the first six issues of the 1998 series with Birds of Prey: Batgirl and Birds of Prey: Wolves.
The core series has the Birds of Prey, commanded by Barbara Gordon as Oracle and Dinah Lance as Black Canary taking on Hellhound (Birds of Prey #1–3), a martial artist mercenary, who typical has run-ins with Selina Kyle as Catwoman and teaming up with The Ravens, a team of female mercenaries led by Jade Nguyen as Cheshire to fight against Kobra Prime and his cult (Birds of Prey #4–6).
"Birds of Prey: Batgirl" is a one-shot storyline that has Barbara Gordon being held prisoner by Fay Moffit as Lady Spellbinder who has the powers to create illusions and makes her believe that she is still Batgirl and teaming up with Dinah Lance as Black Canary to fight Batman Rouges in order to find the location of the Batcave.
"Birds of Prey: Wolves" is a one-issue storyline that has Barbara Gordon as Oracle and Dinah Lance as Black Canary having a row and they go their separate ways and have their own domestic adventures or rather misadventures only to return to each other with a better understanding where they stand.
Chuck Dixon penned the entire trade paperback. For the most part, it is written somewhat rather well. Dixon has created an interesting team – well mainly a relationship between two women Barbara Gordon as Oracle – an information broker and Dinah Lance as Black Canary her main agent. However, the villains used as their opponents were rather forgettable, but Dixon expanded their repertoires rather well.
With the exception of one issue (Birds of Prey: Wolves), which was penciled by Dick Giordano, Greg Land penciled the entire trade paperback. Since he was the only penciler, the artistic flow of the trade paperback flowed exceptionally well. For the most part, Land's penciling depicts the narrative rather well.
All in all, Birds of Prey: Old Friends, New Enemies is a good and promising beginning to what would hopefully be a wonderful series.
The core series has the Birds of Prey, commanded by Barbara Gordon as Oracle and Dinah Lance as Black Canary taking on Hellhound (Birds of Prey #1–3), a martial artist mercenary, who typical has run-ins with Selina Kyle as Catwoman and teaming up with The Ravens, a team of female mercenaries led by Jade Nguyen as Cheshire to fight against Kobra Prime and his cult (Birds of Prey #4–6).
"Birds of Prey: Batgirl" is a one-shot storyline that has Barbara Gordon being held prisoner by Fay Moffit as Lady Spellbinder who has the powers to create illusions and makes her believe that she is still Batgirl and teaming up with Dinah Lance as Black Canary to fight Batman Rouges in order to find the location of the Batcave.
"Birds of Prey: Wolves" is a one-issue storyline that has Barbara Gordon as Oracle and Dinah Lance as Black Canary having a row and they go their separate ways and have their own domestic adventures or rather misadventures only to return to each other with a better understanding where they stand.
Chuck Dixon penned the entire trade paperback. For the most part, it is written somewhat rather well. Dixon has created an interesting team – well mainly a relationship between two women Barbara Gordon as Oracle – an information broker and Dinah Lance as Black Canary her main agent. However, the villains used as their opponents were rather forgettable, but Dixon expanded their repertoires rather well.
With the exception of one issue (Birds of Prey: Wolves), which was penciled by Dick Giordano, Greg Land penciled the entire trade paperback. Since he was the only penciler, the artistic flow of the trade paperback flowed exceptionally well. For the most part, Land's penciling depicts the narrative rather well.
All in all, Birds of Prey: Old Friends, New Enemies is a good and promising beginning to what would hopefully be a wonderful series.
February 16, 2010
Barbara is one of my all time favorite super-heroes. In comics, people often say things like "Superman isn't Superman because he has a rainbow of superpowers, he's Superman because he uses them to help people." Batman is my favorite superhero because he has no powers, but Barbara takes that humanity one step further. She got hurt. She's paraplegic for life, and she's still a superhero.
February 28, 2017
Loving this classic series...until the dinosaurs.
December 26, 2012
Four stars mostly for Babs. It's her personality that's really gotten me hooked on Birds of Prey. Of course, her growing friendship with Dinah is a key component to the series. I can't say much for the actual plots. They're mostly serviceable, outstanding neither for their quality or lack thereof. Minimal fanservice in the art, which is a relief to me. Not only is it a (more or less constant in superhero comics) irritant to me, it just doesn't suit a comic that's meant to be about powerful women.
May 13, 2022
Es lo primero que leo sobre las Aves de Presa y me han dejado totalmente enamorada.
La relación de Oráculo con Canario Negro es demasiado interesante como para dejar de leer en algún momento. Como son mejores amigas a pesar de ser tan distintas, que Canario no sepa quién es su mejor amiga en el mundo... Desde luego volveré a leer más de Aves de Presa.
5/5 ⭐
La relación de Oráculo con Canario Negro es demasiado interesante como para dejar de leer en algún momento. Como son mejores amigas a pesar de ser tan distintas, que Canario no sepa quién es su mejor amiga en el mundo... Desde luego volveré a leer más de Aves de Presa.
5/5 ⭐
September 11, 2016
This is a nice collection of early issues of Birds of Prey, with only Black Canary and Oracle on hand. (It's hard to keep track of the continuity what with the DCU being rebooted so often... I have no idea which Robin appears in one of the issues in this volume. It was about twenty years ago, so...) The art is pretty good and expressive, and the stories are well-written, though not of the same caliber that Gail Simone brought during her run. Babs still seems to be struggling with the idea of settling into her roll as Oracle, and post-Ollie Dinah (not sporting the fish-nets, alas) is struggling with the idea of partnering with someone whose idea is unknown to her. It's fun, better-than-average work for its time.
July 17, 2016
The same Dixon quality we all know and love, this trade should however come with a cliché warning – time travelling in the final issues contained. However, that aside, this collection of BoP #1-6 has some absolutely classic moments (Mint ice-cream/chat with the Bat, etc) and a couple of heartbreakingly familiar scenes regarding our society’s (mistaken) views regarding disability… You can’t miss the series of panels in question, like the insistent librarian being overly helpful…
“This chair doesn’t have handles on the back for a reason.”
Equally, reading this had made me nostalgic for the character of Oracle and given further mixed feelings for the New 52 trade still being scorned on the bedside table…
“This chair doesn’t have handles on the back for a reason.”
Equally, reading this had made me nostalgic for the character of Oracle and given further mixed feelings for the New 52 trade still being scorned on the bedside table…
June 17, 2007
This trade collects the first Birds of Prey issues, back when it was just Oracle and Black Canary. Way back in the dark ages of the 1990s when Oracle looked strangely like Dana Scully and wore a beret (a beret?!). A good setup for the rest of the series, which only improves from here.
April 5, 2009
guys, i love babs and dinah. seriously. there's just . . . yeah. i am clearly missing some issues because dinah still hasn't met babs by the end of this trade, and when gail simone picks it up, babs and dinah are way closer. though they are still best friends here!
i need mooooore . . .
i need mooooore . . .
January 28, 2018
Unsurprisingly, the stories here are still great. Perhaps surprising is how good Greg Land's art is. He takes a lot of heat these days for his stilted layouts, bad faces and swiped poses, but I like what he does in these issues. Good stuff.
February 24, 2020
Still clunky. Apparently Gail Simone is the only one who gets what it takes to make Birds of Prey click.
We talk about this and the Birds of Prey in general on a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
We talk about this and the Birds of Prey in general on a special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...
April 16, 2015
Slightly better than the last Birds of Prey collection. Have to admit I liked the story with Brand as well as the Vixens were really cool and fun. Dinah is still whiny and Barbara is too clever for her own good. Never understood the success of this series. C-
February 18, 2023
Part of my massive Barbara Gordon Re-read which I had a glorious amazing time with. Birds of Prey, under the hands of Chuck Dixon, got it's first big push into existing, gorgeously, and I continue to love it deeply!
July 21, 2015
This volume as a whole didn't feel like it had much of a cohesiveness. There are some references to past events, but mostly, the issues are completely standalone. The issues are good, but they just don't have that feeling of history yet.
June 2, 2010
This was action packed and I really enjoyed it. I can't believe I somehow managed to skip the first two volumes of the series.
August 11, 2011
loved it!
March 11, 2013
A couple of silly fake-outs damage the integrity of the second arc, but otherwise good fun.
April 1, 2015
It was ok, I guess, but it feels a little dated and I did miss the Huntress.
September 3, 2017
Dinah's the best.
October 21, 2022
Gems include Clocktower home invasion, Canary teams w/ Batgirl, Termina betrays the Ravens, Canary & Bard v. Hellhound 3parter, & Jurassic Beach 3parter
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2011
Fun short stories. Good intro into the Birds of Prey
July 31, 2013
For a comic written by guys, this was a satisfying girl-power romp, especially the first story!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews