Back-to-back Cover to Cover Jaw-Breaking part1: How many darn buzzwords can I FIT here???

Oh my god, I haven't posted here in about. . . FIVE THOUSAND YEARS!

I definitely do not win any awards for consistency.

But Birds of Prey should!

Birds of Prey #115
by Sean McKeever and Nicola Scott

The fun continues, but the middle part of McKeever's run on Birds is definitely slowed down. There's a lot of build-up here, particularly the hostility between Misfit and Black Alice. It only really explodes in the end.

And then you have Huntress and Lady Blackhawk traveling to confront Killer Shark.

As it turns out, Killer Shark had drugged Zinda before in WWII and brainwashed her to become his "Queen Killer Shark."

Creepy.

I originally thought Killer Shark would be cool, because of, well, his fish-shaped planes! But now?

Dude. Ten kinds of creepy right there. It's too bad that Zinda got drugged by him (again) and became Queen Killer Shark at the end of the comic, but then again, without that, we wouldn't have a darn story. I'm sure he'll get his comeuppance.

There's one thing that McKeever doesn't really get. To him, Misfit's another angsty teenager, but she was so much better as a fun and spunky girl.

That's very, very bad dialogue for Charlie. I know that Charlie Radcliffe (Misfit) is probably scarred from the Metropolis incident, but this was a very jarring transition from yay-misfit to angst-misfit. I don't appreciate that. If I'm gonna criticize McKeever, this is where I'd do it.

But you gotta admit, McKeever can be competent. Here, Lady Blackhawk (Zinda) and Huntress (Helena) are about to infiltrate Killer Shark Island.

I love Zinda.

And really, this issue was pretty much centered on her, yet it was all narrated from the point of view of Huntress. Her narration was very down-to-earth and it read very well. I got the sense that she admires Zinda, respects her, and this panel is done very well.

There were a lot of other panels, too, but I thought this was most representative of what Birds should always be about: camaraderie and empowerment. These are gals who are competent, good role models and they're just darn fun to listen to. I love it when superheroes acknowledge their alter-egos, and I love to see such a sense of friendship.

Currently, this gets a two out of five creepy sharks, but only because it's in the middle of an arc, and not too much plot develops. Misfit is somewhat mishandled, I'd argue, but it's believable given the circumstances.

Hack/Slash #9
by Tim Seeley and Rebekah Isaacs

Thank god this is over.

I didn't like part 2 of "Tub Club" and that remains the same for part 3. Basically, Cassie saves an obscure college from the menace of Zombie American Queen Emily Cristy, who's out to eeeaaattt thhhheeir fleeeeeesh.

And I say meh. A bunch of side characters are meaningless; the deaths/killings are un-compelling; the humor in this issue is scant compared to Hack/Slash's pedigree, and there was, maybe, two character moments?

The first: Vlad deals with his self-perception (: ugly) issues in two, maybe three panels. it's kind of a bad theme to mention at the end of the arc.

The second: Cassie kind of deals with her possible homosexual leanings, but not really. It's really vague.

The problem with this arc is that nothing concludes but the plot. We don't know anything more about the characters, and in three issues, there kinda should've been more.

I definitely think artist Rebekah Isaacs is at fault as well. Backgrounds are bland and uninteresting, particularly in the college.

A one out of five skin-eating zombie american queens from me. Emily Stone is coming back on art for issue 10, so I really hope that it picks up there! She drew that cover you see up top!

And, because I don't like leaving you on a low note, Cassie Hack has something to tell you: