Birds of Prey is an ongoing comic from DC Comics and part of the Dawn of DC publishing initiative. It is a relaunch of the eponymous team written by Kelly Thompson, and art by Leonardo Romero.
The relaunch sees Birds of Prey co-founder Dinah Lance assemble a new incarnation of the team (consisting of Batgirl, Big Barda, Zealot, and Harley Quinn) to help tackle the threats and challenges of the post-Dark Crisis DC Universe.
This series of Birds of Prey provides examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Barda calls Cass "Small Bat".
- Author Appeal: Kelly Thompson's admitted
she put Cassandra Cain on the team as the second Batgirl's one of her favorites. - Badass Cape: Cassandra Cain and Big Barda are the only cape-wearing members of this incarnation of the team.
- The Bus Came Back: Big Barda rejoins the Birds for the first time in over 15 years (having last been on it during the closing years of Gail Simone's original run).
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Cassandra Cain is a given but issue #3 also shows Dinah breaking a bunch of golems - creatures made of stone - using punches and kicks, as opposed to her signature Super-Scream.
- Confusion Fu: Cassandra Cain suggests Harley for the team as an X-factor, recounting a confrontation where Cass' normally infallible combat predictions were thrown off because Harley made completely irrational choices.
- The Dreaded: The primary reason the mission to Themyscira requires stealth is that the Birds don't want to have to face Wonder Woman should the Amazon princess be alerted of their presence on Themyscira. In issue #3, Barda expresses that she has little confidence she can take on Diana and when Wonder Woman does confront the team at the end of the issue, Dinah appropriately panics.Black Canary: Everyone is obviously afraid of Batman. And they should be. Despite everything, everyone is also afraid of Superman. As they should be. Everyone just loves Diana. As they should. But they should also be very, very afraid.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- For all of Harley's... checkered morality, and despite not appreciating how Dinah acted like she was doing her a favor by recruiting her, Harley still agrees to join up when Dinah admits that she's forming the team to rescue her little sister, because Harley doesn't like people who kidnap kids.
- Despite Zealot's reputation as a Blood Knight, she agrees not to kill the Amazons, and even takes special measures so that nobody on Themyscira will die if she loses control of herself during the mission.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: Issue #6 has the team go their separate ways, though Cassandra sticks around after learning about the future.
- Golem: In issue #3, Dinah and John Constantine go to a man named Barter to collect a bag of magic Dinah needs. Barter betrays them and summons some golems to fight them.
- Group Costume Fail: Played for laughs when everyone on the team shows up for their stealth mission in diving-suit versions of their regular costume, except for Big Barda, who shows up in the swimsuit-like costume that she occasionally wears.
- Infraction Distraction: Green Arrow's job is to attack Diana and keep her distracted in the event the Birds of Prey's presence on Themyscira is discovered. He attacks her with magic from Constantine but she realizes what he was trying to do and heads to the island immediately.
- Just Eat Gilligan: Discussed in issue #2 when Harley asks why Dinah can't just talk to Wonder Woman about the issue at hand instead of risking sneaking onto Themyscira. Dinah explains that while Diana is reasonable and kindhearted, if she were to say no, there'd be zero chance at that point of recovering Sin, since any element of surprise would be gone, which in turn would seal the fate of the Amazons as a whole.
- Mythology Gag:
- While she's been affiliated with the Birds before, Cassandra Cain's never officially been a member of the team in the comics (Gail Simone wanted her on the team in her run, but was denied). Her presence here pays homage to her role in Birds of Prey (2020). Similarly, Harley's presence on the team likewise pays tribute to her role in the same film.
- Kelly Thompson has confirmed that Nick Bradshaw's variant cover for the first issue is an intentional homage to Brian Steelfreeze and Greg Land's cover to the very first Birds of Prey issue in 1999.
- While tying up and gagging a pair of Amazonian guards in issue #3, Harley jokes that they'll probably enjoy it when they wake up since she's heard Amazons love bondage, a nod to the infamously kinky Golden Age Wonder Woman comics by William Moulton Marston.
- Older Than They Look: Zealot has been around for so long that she once managed to visit Themyscira before it went into centuries of isolation. When one of her teammates asks just how old she is, she simply responds "old".
- The Reveal: Issue #6 reveals why Barbara Gordon, who usually leads these teams as Oracle, was not included for this mission: in an alternate future, Barbara dies along with Sin. Meridian reveals someone is gunning after the other Birds using her time travel tech.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Harley's brilliant plan for getting to Themyscira undetected is to ride in the mouth of a Megalodon. Absolutely nobody is thrilled by this idea, even though it actually works.
- Threatening Shark: In the second issue, the team has to deal with Megalodons while traveling to Themyscira. Thankfully, Harley is able to call on King Shark for aid in driving them off.
- Variant Cover: According to pre-release information, Romero will also be doing variant covers. Other variants will also be drawn by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Thompson's Deadpool collaborator Chris Bachalo, Nick Bradshaw, and Frank Cho.
