‘Birds of Prey #1’ (review)

Written by Brian Azzarello 
Art by Emanuela Lupacchino
Published by DC Comics/ Black Label

At first glance, writer Brian Azzarello is a strange fit for a writer on this title.

Azzarello writes in a very dark style that is grounded in a unique sense of reality. He makes this one shot work, however, and this is a nicely written entry into the Black Label line of books.

The opening scene has Dinah being woken up by a strange phone call from an ex named Eric. We get to see that Eric is on the side of the road with a car that is flipped over.

What is going on here?

I had no idea but it was a nice ,et up to the book. Things get crazy from there.

Eric gets his head chopped off.

From there, we are introduced to Harley Quinn. I loved the setup of Harley Quinn here. We get to see the various Birds of Prey characters come together. It is very well done and perfectly character driven.

The team investigates what happened to Eric. They also stumble upon something bigger. I love the way everything comes together here. I especially love how Azzarello writes Dinah here. Her characterization is the best that has been done with the character in years.

Rounding out this awesome book is artist Emanuela Lupacchino. This is Lupacchino’s best artwork to date for interiors by far. ]

The art is expressive and well paced. This book is a great package overall and I personally would like to see more of this iteration of the Birds of Prey.

RATING: A