Birds of Prey v2.11, Titans v2.34 - "Hit and miss (horribly)"

I don't often pick up comics that - well, that I don't often pick up, but this week I gave in to temptation and decided to give both Birds of Prey and Titans a shot. I was excited for BoP when Gail Simone took over writing duties, but was irritated by so much - the confusing, fast-paced plot, the apparently pointless addition of Hawk and Dove, and the horrible, horrible artwork - that I quickly dropped it; however, this week's one-shot, Huntress-focused issue (and the temporary lack of Benes) piqued my interest. Teen Titans is usually as much ridiculous team angst as I can take, but with the wonderful Isis gracing the cover this week I decided to give it a chance.

Birds of Prey #11 | Writer: Gail Simone | Artist: Pere Perez | Cover: Stanley Lau

Apparently "hit and miss" was coined purely for my two choices. Birds of Prey went a fair way to restoring my faith in Simone's writing as the Huntress once again confronts the fact that in a world of heroes-and-villains, black-and-white, she's still grey - too moral to be a villain, but not quite at the point where she can really number herself among the heroes. Apparently considering the same situation is her sometime-love interest, Catman, and the two have a chance to reconnect - or not. Simone does an excellent job of showing just how complicated the "grey areas" are - as you'd expect from the writer of the anti-hero-slash-villain team Secret Six - and also shows the influence of the people that Huntress and Catman have chosen as their friends and team-mates. The art isn't amazing, but at least it isn't Benes, and this was such a satisfying read that I think I'm back on the BoP train.

Titans #34 | Writer: Eric Wallace | Art and cover: Fabrizio Florentino

And then we come to Titans which is more like a trainwreck. At this point I should almost apologise to Benes, because at least his work hasn't permanently scarred my retinas. Every single thing about this comic made me angry. First there was the panel of Cheshire being knocked down, which was carefully drawn so as to get maximum breast viewage, while a grizzled Roy Harper was apparently unable to help her because he's high on dead children. Then we have Dick Grayson angsting about his best friend and beating up a suit of armour (actually, more hilarious than anything else). Then we find out that Slade is going to remove Roy's eyeballs, and Cheshire's been captured so she can bear Drago a child. He actually tells her she's going to be his "Mary".

Oh, right, Isis. The whole reason I invested any time in this heap of steaming donkey dung in the first place. Well, her brother committed mass slaughter to bring her back to life, so naturally she goes mad and starts destroying Philadelphia. I guess sometimes you just have to accept that you are not a comic's target demographic - presumably they were going for the "people with absolutely no taste" market, that's a big market - and move on.