Scan barcode
A review by ari_odinson
Birds of Prey, Vol. 6: The Battle Within by Gail Simone
4.0
Without a doubt, Birds of Prey is one of my favorite series especially when Simone is the main writer. This is another great installment in the series. It introduces Black Alice who will later become an incredible character who will be missed. Yet my highlight of this collection involves a villain named Harvest.
Birds of Prey: The Battle starts off strong returning to the daily lives of the girls as The Huntress does her best to help a girl named Alice who recently lost her mother. The relationships between all the women in this series is always the best. Gail Simone does an excellent job at crafting friendships in this series. Black Alice's struggle to fit in is no different. She is truly a pariah and as they help her the more interesting she becomes. It's a shame the series couldn't spend more time after her but soon after Alice, Harvest is introduced.
The action packed collection involves one villain after another yet none of them are quite villainous until the drug dealers introduced in the very end. After Alice, there is Harvest and Thorne. My favorite would have to be Harvest who is called upon when somebody has sinned. Somebody writes down a name and she kills them. Yet Harvest has a few secrets of her own. As the mystery unfolds, Black Canary's and Huntress's pasts also become even more fascinating. Yet the questions that revolve around Harvest are not answered until later creating an addicting read. I couldn't put any of the issues down during this arc. In addition, Harvest is the one who remains with me.
While I mainly reflect on Harvest, the way Black Canary and Huntress react to Thorne is memorable, too. I find it impossible to hate any villain for what they do. I want to support all of them. There is so much pain and no justice for so many of them. Apart of me doesn't want the Birds of Prey around to stop them.
It isn't until the end when Black Canary and Wild Cat go to Singapore that the story starts to slow down and looses its interesting points. While there are moments especially with Oracle's and Huntress's involvements, most of the story falls a little flat. It's a shame. I think the reason is because the chemistry is thrown off by introducing Wild Cat as Black Canary's partner instead of the actual members of Birds of Prey. Therefore, it is a bit of a struggle to pull through these parts and to the end. Still, this arc is almost as strong as the others. All it lacks is the dynamics and friendship between all the women of Birds of Prey yet there are valid reasons for them being seperated.
Birds of Prey: The Battle starts off strong returning to the daily lives of the girls as The Huntress does her best to help a girl named Alice who recently lost her mother. The relationships between all the women in this series is always the best. Gail Simone does an excellent job at crafting friendships in this series. Black Alice's struggle to fit in is no different. She is truly a pariah and as they help her the more interesting she becomes. It's a shame the series couldn't spend more time after her but soon after Alice, Harvest is introduced.
The action packed collection involves one villain after another yet none of them are quite villainous until the drug dealers introduced in the very end. After Alice, there is Harvest and Thorne. My favorite would have to be Harvest who is called upon when somebody has sinned. Somebody writes down a name and she kills them. Yet Harvest has a few secrets of her own. As the mystery unfolds, Black Canary's and Huntress's pasts also become even more fascinating. Yet the questions that revolve around Harvest are not answered until later creating an addicting read. I couldn't put any of the issues down during this arc. In addition, Harvest is the one who remains with me.
While I mainly reflect on Harvest, the way Black Canary and Huntress react to Thorne is memorable, too. I find it impossible to hate any villain for what they do. I want to support all of them. There is so much pain and no justice for so many of them. Apart of me doesn't want the Birds of Prey around to stop them.
It isn't until the end when Black Canary and Wild Cat go to Singapore that the story starts to slow down and looses its interesting points. While there are moments especially with Oracle's and Huntress's involvements, most of the story falls a little flat. It's a shame. I think the reason is because the chemistry is thrown off by introducing Wild Cat as Black Canary's partner instead of the actual members of Birds of Prey. Therefore, it is a bit of a struggle to pull through these parts and to the end. Still, this arc is almost as strong as the others. All it lacks is the dynamics and friendship between all the women of Birds of Prey yet there are valid reasons for them being seperated.