Ideal Lineup for a Birds of Prey Team

[Dr. Skeleton]

Batgirl (Babs)
Huntress
Black Canary
Cassandra Cain
Vixen
Manhunter

[OBrianTallent]

Why has no one put Artemis, Yara Flor, Cassie Sandsmark, Grace Choi and Nubia on a team and called it Birds of Paradise?

That....that is...just perfection.

[John Venus]

Is the Kelly Thompson viewing this thread also the same Kelly Thompson who is writing the new BOP book?

I think the only mainstay is Black Canary at this point - and to a lesser degree Babs

Personally I think the lack of involvement of Babs is what's killing the momentum of any post Nu 52 BOP relaunches. I know I've said this in other threads before but Babs is the central character of BOP and any BOP line up should be built around her and her Oracle persona. Simone has always maintained that the reason why BOP was so successful was because the series was built on the relationship between characters, not just slapping together a bunch of female characters on one team and calling it a day.

Thompson has said on Twitter that Babs absence is a plot point that would be addressed and that this line up is temporary. We'll see what she's got.

Anyway, to stay on topic, I would ideally give the BOP two branches: one for dealing with high end threats and the other for dealing with low level threats. Babs would be the central character and Wendy will be her assistant.

Ground team: Black Canary, Huntress, Onyx, Katana and Judomaster.

Air team: Power Girl, Zatanna, Halo, Big Barda and Grace Choi.

[Aahz]

Ground team: Black Canary, Huntress, Onyx, Katana and Judomaster.

Air team: Power Girl, Zatanna, Halo, Big Barda and Grace Choi.

Judo Master feels a bit redundant on the first line up, and I don't think she was a particularly well fleshed out character.

Power Girl, was actually Barbara's first recruit before Black Canary, the whole thing didn't went that well and she has iirc refused since than to work with her again.

[OBrianTallent]

Is the Kelly Thompson viewing this thread also the same Kelly Thompson who is writing the new BOP book?



Personally I think the lack of involvement of Babs is what's killing the momentum of any post Nu 52 BOP relaunches. I know I've said this in other threads before but Babs is the central character of BOP and any BOP line up should be built around her and her Oracle persona. Simone has always maintained that the reason why BOP was so successful was because the series was built on the relationship between characters, not just slapping together a bunch of female characters on one team and calling it a day.

Thompson has said on Twitter that Babs absence is a plot point that would be addressed and that this line up is temporary. We'll see what she's got.

Anyway, to stay on topic, I would ideally give the BOP two branches: one for dealing with high end threats and the other for dealing with low level threats. Babs would be the central character and Wendy will be her assistant.

Ground team: Black Canary, Huntress, Onyx, Katana and Judomaster.

Air team: Power Girl, Zatanna, Halo, Big Barda and Grace Choi.

I completely agree that the success behind the previous Birds of Prey series (the original by Chuck Dixon and then by Simone) had everything to do with the relationships built between the characters specifically Barbara and Dinah then Helena. Dixon gave Dinah agency that she hadn't had in decades, if ever...even when she had her own series for what they were. The same can be said for Barbara's character and her development as Oracle and returning her to a heroic status, which while Dixon did a great deal of work for both characters, I truly think that Simone is to be heralded as the greatest contributor to their status. I do agree though that there will have to be a core group that the book is built around, women who can be companions and deep friends similar to what Babs, Dinah and Helena became. If Kelly brings Babs back into the mix, that can be nicely done with her, Dinah and Barda. Adding Cass to the mix can bring in a completely different avenue of exploration for the women. More than adding different characters constantly to the mix, I would like to see Stephanie brought in and the book following that direction with Babs, Dinah, Barda, Cass and Stephanie; something I thought Batgirls would have been (although I think the book would have been more successful with different artists....more on that later.) A rotating cast rarely works well in today's market, the book needs a set cast to build a bond between the characters and then to build a connection between the characters and the readers.
While I haven't read a ton by Kelly outside of her Marvel works, I think she can do a at the least a very respectable if not a great job. She does character interactions excellently as well and given time might even develop a run comparable to Simone's. The one thing I think will hinder the book unfortunately is the art (outside of Harley.) Romero is a solid artist but he is rougher...less polished than what a Birds of Prey book should have. It has a history of having some solid and very stylized artists from Greg Land, Nicola Scott, Ed Benes most notably. His work on Hawkeye, while sketchy and rough, was good and would work better (in my opinion...as of course all of this is) on Green Arrow or Batman or Red Hood. This book needs a Lupachinno, Marquez...it's a shame Carnero or Casagrande are Marvel exclusive, they would have been perfect.

[MajorHoy]

I completely agree that the success behind the previous Birds of Prey series (the original by Chuck Dixon and then by Simone) had everything to do with the relationships built between the characters specifically Barbara and Dinah then Helena. Dixon gave Dinah agency that she hadn't had in decades, if ever...even when she had her own series for what they were. The same can be said for Barbara's character and her development as Oracle and returning her to a heroic status, which while Dixon did a great deal of work for both characters, I truly think that Simone is to be heralded as the greatest contributor to their status.

Don't forget John Ostrander and Kim Yale who first developed Barbara Gordon as Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad.

[OBrianTallent]

Don't forget John Ostrander and Kim Yale who first developed Barbara Gordon as Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad.

They definitely set the groundwork for what was to come and I mean absolutely no slight to them whatsoever as they put more attention to Barbara than probably any other writers previously and gave her a purpose that set up her future and the legacy that over a decade after it's conclusion, people still hold as a high bar.

[Thirteen]

A lineup that would spectacularly implode after one arc - I would only trust to be written by Gail Simone

Black Canary (Dinah)
White Canary (Nameless? Sister in Silk)
Jade Canary (Shiva)
Red Canary (Sienna)

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

Main team:
Oracle/Batgirl
Black Canary
Huntress (both can't decide)
Lady Blackhawk
Power girl (would be interesting)
Speedy

As needed
Mary Marvel
Zealot
Voodoo
Mirage
Redwing
Fairchild
Red Arrow
Arrowette

Also for God sakes please NO HARLEY QUINN