“Megadeath” – Part One
Artist: Leonardo Romero
Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Review by Fay Clark
Birds of Prey #1 kicks us off with what can only be described as a heart racing, palm sweating, emotional extravaganza of an issue.
I don’t know how to even begin explaining how hyped I am for this series. As soon as I heard it was coming out, it was no question that I would be reading it! Now, I get the amazing opportunity to review it too! Magic.
Do I know you?
When I saw the name Kelly Thompson, I jumped for joy! Kelly has written some of my favourite series and even co-created some of the characters, so I knew that we’d be getting a whole lot more than we bargained for. This premier issue delivers a fast paced introduction and sets up all the characters and plot beautifully.
The first thing that jumps out at me with me Kelly’s writing is how much she loves Cassandra Cain. Now that’s something I can definitely get behind. There are entire pages of Cass love, and I adore that. We have our classic leader, Black Canary (we couldn’t have a new Birds of Prey iteration without her)… after that, we have basically an all new team!
Thompson has this ease at introducing characters, like you have already met them 100 times, even if they’re new to you. I didn’t feel lost or confused at all. The way this intro was handled was nothing short of brilliant. It didn’t feel like we got any info dumping and Kelly even even kept some mystery and intrigue, to keep fans reading and wanting more. This writer’s is going to do amazing things with these characters. I can already tell.
Long Luscious Locks
I love the artwork from Leonardo Romero, t has an old fashioned looked about it with a modern twist. When you mix this is with the always amazing color work from Jordie Bellaire and the slight sepia tone she give the panels, it all pulls together brilliantly. Most of the characters have their normal costume designs, but with a slight twist. Romero and Bellaire have made these characters their own.
If you know anything about me and my reviews, you might recall that I have a thing I have about long, flowy, glorious hair. Harley Quinn’s our lady for that. The wavy, dangly pigtails, with a little hair pulled out at the front to frame her face… stunning! It gives the character a new look, without changing that much about her. We know who she is the second she appears on the page. I love it.
Hit So Hard That Words Appear
Clayton Cowles, you rock. It’s not often enough that I comment on a Letterer’s work, but I just had to say something about this! There was a double page spread that knocked my socks off. So many different ways to show that bad guys were getting punched and kicked. It was glorious to see. The descriptive words didn’t interfere with the artwork, but they added an extra layer to the scenes. Birds Of Prey #1 has them in different sizes, colors and style. It adds so much to the comic.
Conclusion
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? This entire issue was outstanding. Everything about it was pure awesomeness. That reveal at the end was genius. My only issue is, now we have to wait a month to read the next one! I can already tell this is going to be one of my favourite runs of Birds Of Prey and we’ve only just started.
Seriously, pick up this comic, you do not want to miss out. I’ll be shouting about this one for a while.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment