Post by HoM on Oct 12, 2013 17:15:38 GMT -5
(Click any of the above covers to go to the relevant issue!)
ALL STAR COMICS #14-16: 'BIRDS OF PREY'
Written by Samantha Chapman and Don Walsh, covers by Steve Howard
INTRODUCTION:
From my very first discovery of them in an issue of Brave and the Bold to when I was reacquainted with them in Action Comics Weekly, I've enjoyed the adventures of the original Secret Six. These days, the properly-acclaimed Gail Simone team is pretty much all that's associated with that title, but originally they were a classic late-Sixties action-adventure series, with expert agents battling Bond-esque megalomaniacs and conspiracies at the behest of the ever-enigmatic Mockingbird (this last concept remained the only holdover between this lost gem and the current fan favorite series).
What's that got to do with Birds of Prey? Well, the Mockingbird connection, mainly. See, I've also loved Birds of Prey from their very first one-shot: costumed heroes delving into espionage and suspense, directed by Oracle. Well, Black Canary mainly, but the cast grew soon enough, and with jet-setting locations and thriller plots, it was a hit. I loved it. Here on the DC2, the classic Birds of Prey characters are well-represented by the fantastic New Outsiders by Brian Burchette. While very different in a number of ways, much of the Birds of Prey can be found in this run, and because of Batwoman/Barbara Gordon, there's a definite lack of Oracle. But as my Justice League run was coming to an end, events conspired against me. My co-writer, Samantha Chapman, wanted to dip her toes into the Earth-One pool (while having a great time with her Earth-Five series Gotham Girls); Charlie Wikins was gearing up for a Big Seven-style JL to make his mark separate from mine on that title, so my ladies Manitou Dawn and Hawkgirl were at possible loose ends; and Charlie's use of Zenobia on Wonder Woman (which I got the fortune to edit) really made me want to write her adventures. Things came together quick after that, as Sam came up with a great take on Halo and I realized that Jonni Thunder (an obscure Roy Thomas character from the pre-Crisis Earth-Two) was pretty free and clear to be redeveloped for DC2. With the addition of a Mockingbird in the Oracle position, we were off to the races.
We tested the concept out here in All-Star Comics because let's face it: this was a project very likely to go under the radar with the cast we'd picked, the concept we were using and the expectations of who and what should compose the Birds of Prey. A nice little three-part origin tale, with some gritty foreign locale and getting to give some spice and identity to an otherwise generic bad guy from Balent's old Catwoman series, that would let us write this, see if anyone cared, and probably just move on. Instead, we moved on to a regular series by rather popular acclaim, and so now we're back to do more issues as well. Meanwhile, come on in and see how we got started.
- Don Walsh, 23rd September 2013