Birds of Prey Volume 2: Old Friends, New Enemies

Authors: Chuck Dixon, Greg Land, and Drew Geraci
Illustrators: Greg Land and Drew Geraci

Title:Birds of Prey Volume 2: Old Friends, New Enemies

Publication: February 22, 2011

Publisher: Vertical

Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic Book

Pages: 224

Audience: 16 and up

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Source: Purchased

Synopsis (from the cover): 
Recruited by the mysterious Oracle to act as her agent, former justice leaguer Black Canary now travels the globe fighting injustice and forcing the guilty to pay for their crimes. Through their adventures an odd friendship has developed, even though Black Canary has never even seen Oracle face to face.

But their friendship and their lives could be cut sort when Black Canary finds herself. in the middle of a deadly hunt being led by the ruthless cult leader Kobra for a long forgotten piece of Russian technology, and as Black Canary fights for her life, Oracle has her own troubles when the U.S. Army begins tracking down the person hacking into their systems, There's no rest for anybody here, wicked or otherwise.

My thoughts:
This comic was action packed. My husband loves Chuck Dixon and I can see why! He is a great writer and I just love him for spawning The Birds of Prey storyline. Black Canary is still doing what she does best- kicking bad dude's butts. Oracle is still utilizing her librarian skills and finding the bad guy's hideouts. They make a great team, which in turn is a great read. I found the individual stories intertwined, but not as closely as volume 1. The last story in the book was kind of crazy and involved time travel and a lake in Minnesota. It was just really odd. Even though, the last story kind of threw me for a loop, the entire book is worth reading!

 

Black Canary/ Oracle Birds of Prey Volume 1 by Chuck Dixon

Author: Chuck Dixon, Jordan B. Gorfinkel, Gary Frank
Illustrator: Stefano Raffaele, Matt Haley, Jennifer Graves, Sal Buscema

Title:Black Canary/Oracle Birds of Prey Volume 1

Publication: February 1999

Publisher: DC Comics

Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic Book, Super Heroes.

Pages: 208

Audience: 15 and up

Rating: 4 out of 5

Source: Purchased

Synopsis (from the cover): Alone, they are driven vigilantes...together they are a force to be reckoned with. 
Name: Barbara Gordon 
Alias: Oracle
 The former Batgirl, she now serves as information broker to the super-hero community-all the while searching for something beyond the limitations fate has forced upon her.
Name: Dinah Lance
Alias: Black Canary
A master of judo, aikido, karate, and several other martial arts, this ex- Justice Leaguer now finds herself searching for a new direction, a new outlet for her talents.

My Thoughts:
I am a huge fan of Barbara Gordon, who is Batgirl/Oracle. I am also a fan of the Birds of Prey, mainly thanks to Babs. I started the New 52 Birds of Prey and decided I wanted the entire original back story. My husband lovingly spent months, time, and money on helping me collect the original story. The art in this book is marvelous as well as the writing. Granted, the art is a little dated looking. I thought it looked a bit like the 80s or 90s. It is from 1999, so that could explain it, but it is worth the read. Chuck Dixon is one of my husband's favorite comic book writers, and he hasn't let me down on any story I have read by him so far. 
The story is essentially how Black Canary and Oracle come together to create this team of heroines to save Gotham and the rest of the world. The story throws in some details that are probably explained in other comics or hopefully in the future comics of this series. Some of it is kind of understood, like everyone should know that the Joker shoot Barbara Gordon and paralyzes her. She then uses her knowledge and technology to help the super heroes fight the bad guys, and she turns into the Oracle. Occasionally other questionable ladies are thrown into the mix like Catwoman, Lois Lane, Lady Shiva, and the Huntress (I REALLY hate her, especially since the show Arrow had her on there.). Even though there are other characters mixed in, Black Canary proves time and time again she can take care of herself, with a little help from Oracle. If you are interested in the series at all, I strongly recommend this "origin" story.