The Good
This book has some pretty solid action, and I'm glad they aren't afraid to have the Birds be a little more than lethal. Seeing Katana in all her creepyness definitely improves on the one-note character that plagued "the Outsiders" for many years; hopefully she'll have a greater role in the book in issues to come.
Seeing Dinah in a scientific setting definitely makes me happy, as well, since it gives some much-needed depth to the character. Sadly we don't know a lot about the character right now, since we just seem to be experiencing a giant in media res so far. I'm hoping and praying for some character depth in the coming issues, as I'm slowly losing patience for this book.
The Bad
As I've said before, I don't like the character of Starling very much. She's pretty much an amalgamation of a lot of burlesque/Suicide Girl steroptypes with none of the depth that allows you to forgive that blandness. Again, since don't have any characterization for her besides the fact she's kinda crazy, there isn't much to go on.
At the moment, we're looking at a number of new characters that don't have any background whatsoever; adding Poison Ivy next issue isn't helping the situation at all. Please, give us something to read about besides action sequences and occasional Dinah exposition, as I want to be interested in these characters, but don't have much to go on.
The Verdict
I think I'm giving Birds of Prey one more issue before I retire it from my pull list for good. While the first trade of the original series wasn't exactly magic either, there's been time to develop the characters and find out what the readers actually like. Not capitalizing on that just seems to be missing the point.
That isn't to say that this issue was bad; it's just that, along with other New 52 books, they're skipping the necessary buildup to tell a logical story. I don't care that Dinah and Starling are barelling through an airport, crashing through glass windows and killing cloaked ninjas - I would if I knew what their motivations are and if they just showed a little bit more personality.
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