Booknote: Birds of Prey, Volume 1: Trouble in Mind

Duane Swierczynski, et.al., Birds of Prey, Volume 1: Trouble in Mind. New York: DC Comics, 2012. ISBN: 9781-4012-3699-1. 

Genre: comics and graphic novels
Subgenre: superheroes, adventure
Series: The New 52 (DC Comics)
Format: trade paperback
Source: I owned this (weeded out of personal collection)

Black Canary brings together a team of women to take down "the villains other heroes can't touch." That's the description, though this volume does not make clear why they come together. Black Canary and Starling were already working together; they recruit Katana and Poison Ivy, whose loyalty is questionable, to form a team to fight the threat of Choke and his stealth suited agents. Oh, and Batgirl comes and goes in assisting. At times, it is a miracle they get along.

To complicate things, the enemy can manipulate minds with chemicals and subliminal suggestion, so the question rises of who can be trusted. Still, the plot at times can be quite convoluted, and at times it seems the authors add complications just to move the plot along. It is a decent story but not particularly great nor memorable. Do note this volume ends up on a cliffhanger. To be honest, I may or not seek out the next volume. The art on this is decent, but again, no big deal.

On another note, the New 52 series was supposed to be a reboot event for DC Comics. Yet in this volume (and some others) it does assume a lot that readers have both prior knowledge of the characters and of previous plot lines. For old timers, that may not be an issue. For new or casual readers (the alleged intended audience of The New 52), it may be an issue that distracts from the reading experience.

Overall, I liked it, and it was entertaining.

3 out of 5 stars.

This is part of DC's The New 52 series.