Birds of Prey #116

I picked this up with some anticipation, and I must admit that I was FLOORED to read Gail Simone's name on the cover! Woohoo! I thought, in anticipation! Alas, it was not to be, it was still written by Sean McKeever.

It isn't a bad issue, in fact I loved the Zinda/Queen Shark and Huntress portion of it. I was less enamoured of the Babs/Misfit/Black Alice part however. Babs just hasn't been HERSELF lately. We discover that apparently Misfit's powers are magical in origin, and therefore able to be assumed by Black Alice. Who, after originally helping Oracle suddenly goes bonkers again, and attacks not only Misfit, but Oracle. I can understand her not being pleased with Misfit, who to be perfectly honest is acting like a two-year old here, but Oracle? And Oracle herself is still in her snotty/judgemental state, that she's been in ever since she was scolded by Superman a couple of issues ago. Snap OUT of it, Woman! Sheesh!

However, the adventure with Zinda and Helena is rather on the rollicking side, and I enjoyed it a lot. Zinda of course has been drugged with Killer Shark's old serum, so she's totally in love with this guy, who apparently is not all that we believed. Huntress has this air of incredulity about her, that I find amusing.

It turns out that Killer Shark isn't REALLY Killer Shark, but his obnoxious Grandson. He's still a nasty little piece of work obviously, but he certainly lacks the original's panache. For one thing, he's rather turned on by the fight between Zinda and Huntress, the little weasel. Secondly, he's pretty much a wannabe, and he's using Zinda in order to find Grandpa's treasure. Zinda, as Queen Shark is still under his spell however, and she doesn't like the attention that he's paying to Huntress, so she locks he in a closet or something.

Zinda does manage to lead him to the location of the treasure, and he's a happy happy little fake Shark. So happy, that he decides he's NOT going to kill her after all. OR her pretty pretty friend. However, when he asks Zinda if she would mind sharing, she loses it, and punches him in the mouth, even knocking out some of his teeth. Haw! Way to go, Zinda! Naturally enough, this pisses the little stinker off, and he's about to shoot her, when Huntress shows up and kicks his ass! Zinda is still a little befuddled due to the drug, but underneath it all, she's still Zinda, and when she locked Helena in that closet, she apparently also included a number of helpful items such as keys, her crossbow, quiver and some ancient candy. The bad guy is defeated, and Zinda and Helena stroll merrily off into the sunset.

Just as a little added bonus, Manhunter shows up! She's investigating Platinum Flats, which is some sort of Silicon Valley kind of place, running down Oracle's lead. And we see who is behind all the trouble. Maybe.

So...worth reading, certainly. I don't think that Mr. McKeever really has a handle on Oracle yet, but I suppose that the problem is moot anyway, since Tony Bedard is going to be coming back soon, and I rather liked his version. I'd really like Gail back, but I suppose that isn't going to be happening anytime soon. Of course, I think that I'd like for Gail to write MOST of my books, at least the ones not written by Geoff Johns, Greg Tomasi and John Rogers over at Blue Beetle, but hard as it may be for me to assimilate, the comicbook world does NOT revolve around me.

*sigh*