I don’t just like Gail Simone because she’s an incredibly witty person who hangs on the same message board as I do… although that is a big part of it, I will admit. She recently started a thread over there entitled “Black Canary Could Beat Up Daredevil,” which contained numerous silly insults and cheap-shots detailing how her Birds of Prey character could wipe the floor with one of our message board host’s star players. Birds of Prey is one of those concepts that doesn’t appeal to me on the surface — three obscurish DC Comics characters fight crime in Gotham City.
First of all, my comics history ain’t what it used to be. The second- and third-tier characters are generally either nagging synapses waaaay in the back of my brain, or more often than not, complete blurs. Second, I pictured this as one of those annoying “girl power” deals, with some hacky neo-feminist (or, more likely, some dude pretending to be one out of guilt) at the helm. Finally… isn’t Gotham City pretty much covered already?
Thankfully, I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I realize once again that any concept can work in the right hands — and Gail Simone’s are as capable as anyone else I’m reading right now. She has an excellent sense of pacing, her characters are solid and the humor is not spared. This trade covers her first story arc on this title, and thankfully, there were almost enough monthlies following this to comprise a second. (See, it really bugs me when I discover a new writer and the trail ends so quickly. They become mini-obsessions.) Bottom line is, Birds of Prey puts Simone on that short list of creators whose work I buy on name alone. Besides, if I don’t like what I see, I can always heckle her on the Bendis board.