Birds of Prey: Sensei and Student/Gail Simone

Birds of Prey: Sensei and Student by Gail Simone (Birds of Prey reboot, v. 2); graphic novel; 168 pages

This arc ties neatly into the loose ends left from Of Like Minds: Savant is still loose, and Senator Pullman is still a threat, but things are on hold for the moment. Dinah is in Hong Kong to visit her dying martial arts instructor, who she loves as a father. However, her master's condition also attracts his other best student, the infamous assassin, Lady Shiva. At their master's request, Dinah and Shiva form an uneasy truce, which is strengthened upon finding that their master has been murdered. Their investigation points to the notorious Cheshire, a master of poisons, but Cheshire claims that she's been set up, and vows to help them track down the real killer. Meanwhile, someone has hacked into Oracle's systems, wreaking havoc with the superheroes of Gotham. Alone, and cut off from contact with the outside world, Oracle must track down the person clever enough to outwit her security.

On the one hand, I liked the drama of this arc: seeing Dinah have to work with two hated enemies, and seeing Oracle have to work things out with Huntress. I'll also add that the interactions between Lady Shiva and Black Canary are fantastic, and I hope there are more instances where they're working on the same side. The art didn't bother me as much as in the previous volume, but I will say this: Cheshire has, without a doubt, the most ludicrous costume I've EVER seen in a comic, and I've seen some pretty bad clothes (no, it's not the one you see on the cover). Also, Catwoman is in this book for a grand total of three pages, so I'm not sure why she made it onto the cover, but whatever... One of the best parts of this book was the flashback story to the original Black Canary, as Dinah investigates a similar case in the present. I liked it enough to overlook the horrible librarian stereotype that runs through it (cats, glasses, frizzy hair, no life, sleeps at the library--you get the picture). Then again, we've got Barbara Gordon being the ultimate in cool librarians for most of this series, so I guess I can let this one slide. Continuing this series later this week.