Reviewer: Tim Stevens
Story Title: Perfect Pitch Part Five
Written by: Gail Simone
Penciled by: Paulo Siqueira and Adam Dekraker
Inked by: Robin Riggs
Colored by: Hi-Fi Design
Lettered by: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Joan Hilty
Publisher: DC Comics
While no one was looking, the weirdest thing has happened: one of the consistently best portrayals of Batman has been occurring not in Detective or Gotham Knights, but right here in Birds of Prey. Simone has given us a Batman who can be a hard ass, but is also a big enough guy to admit when he has misjudged a situation and compliment a contemporary. Huh. Just when you thought that that sort of Batman was not walking around anymore.
His scenes with Barbara and the Commish and Canary and Huntress are the highlights of this issue. I will say that his disconnect with Mr. Gordon did feel oddly forced as, near as I know, there was never any sort of falling out between the two. Well, I mean, I know there have been falling outs, but I thought those rifts had been healed. I admit that I could be wrong though. Anyway, back to what I was saying, great scenes that highlight that while Simone is an exceptional action writer, she is no slouch in the characterization or dialogue departments either.
And that kiss. And its description. Fun. And disturbing. But mostly fun.
If the book has a strike against it, it is the merry-go-round of pencillers. It feels like the book has not had a consistent artist since Benes came on board at the beginning of Simone’s run. Normally that sort of thing hardly grabs my attention, but the returns on the art side of things have become less and less with each switch and this issue, which essentially uses three pencillers (Riggs also does “finishes” in addition to inks on the last 4 or so pages), fits that pattern. The art is not bad, but it just is not great either.
Oh, and Deathstroke shows up here too. I understand some people are annoyed about that. Canary does handle herself rather nicely against him though, so that’s a nice capper to their encounter in Identity Crisis.
Overall, a strong finish to a strong storyline. The Calculator/Oracle faceoff never really went anywhere, but there were enough other plotlines running through that I hardly noticed, and the evolution of relationships between the Birds and the men in their lives and between the Birds themselves, has been a treat.
