Endrun Part One of Four: Without breaking a few eggs (Wr.: Gail Simone, Art.: Ed Benes , L.: Swands, Col.: Nei Ruffino)
Review by Götz Piesbergen
Barbara Gordon has received files with information about every superhero and -villain. That prompts her to get the gang back together: Huntress, Black Canary and Zinda Blake (Lady Blackhawk). They want to prevent whoever collected the data from actually using it.
Commentary: When writer Chuck Dixon introduced the Birds of Prey in the eponymous one-shot from 1996, he couldn’t have guessed what a huge success it would become. In January 1999, it spawned an ongoing series that ran for an astonishing 127 issues. An impressive period of time in an age in which a series that makes it past issue 24 is considered long-living. Initially, the focus rested on the two heroines Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary, one of the first still-active female DC characters, and the wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, now better known as Oracle. Dixon left the book after 46 issues, and for the next ten issues, Gail Simone and artist Ed Benes were the new creative team. Simone wrote the book until #112, and the series was cancelled after # 127 .
In May 2010, DC Comics restarted the series. The creative team is none other than Gail Simone and Ed Benes. She is one of the few women in the world of comic books that made it to mainstream titles. The writer is known for mixing action, humor and drama, all while writing believable female characters. Ed Benes is a Brasilian comic book artist. Initially specializing in superheroine pin-ups, his style developed until he became a serious comic book artist, even regularly pencilling Justice League of America (vol.2).
Simone is taking her time before she reunites the Birds of Prey. She starts with Black Canary, who is solving a kidnapping case with Lady Blackhawk. Afterwards, she receives a message from Oracle, who also gets in touch with the Huntress (Helena Bertinelli). Meanwhile, the duo Hawk and Dove is fighting a gang of evil cheerleaders. Musing about their life in a bar afterwards, they receive an invitation by Zinda to join the group. A short time later, Barbara Gordon, Dinah Lance and Hellena Bertinelli meet on a rooftop. But the joyful gathering is kept short when the anonymous blackmailer contacts them, leaving a significant mark.
After just the first issue, one can say that it almost seems as if Gail Simone had never left the series. Everything still meshes, even if not a lot happens. The book’s fascination rather stems from the character interaction. Some of them are familiar with each other, which leads to the tearfilled reuinon expressing the reader’s feelings, who is bound to get this certain feeling of nostalgia. But the writer’s trademark humor is not neglected, like Lady Blackhawk mentioning that she once ate dried sharks, which was disgusting. A clear reference to Sean McKeever’s run on the title, in which traditional Blackhawk villain Killer Shark had a prominent role.
The book’s future will be interesting. Whereas the Birds of Prey had exclusively female members so far, the character Hawk is the first male superhero to join. Since he is an avatar of war in the DC universe and has quite the turbulent past – he once became the villain Extant, even though that story was retconned away later – there is bound to be some friction with the other Birds of Prey.
Ed Benes does a solid job, nothing more, nothing less. Since he started inking the pages himself, he is using a lot of shadows as a shortcut. That really fits this story, which seems to happen at night. However, a few panels suffer from a lack of detail. While it is pleasant to see that he abstains from too much cheesecake, all of his female characters still look the same, the only differences being the respective hair styles and costumes.
Nei Ruffano, who has worked with Ed Benes before, supports the gloomy atmosphere with his colors. Even white is never bright, but toned down, which really needs getting used to.
Conclusion: A solid first issue. Gail Simone writes as if she’d never left the book. The story contains both serious and amusing scenes, as well as frequent moments of nostalgia. The artwork by Ed Benes appears dark because of his inks. He places a lot of emphasis on shadows, with a grim result that is amplified by Nei Ruffano’s coloring.
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