Review by Frank Plowright

The shock ending to Worlds Without End was rather a cheap ploy, it seems, being nothing more than the Birds of Prey being engaged to rescue some captured Amazons. They’ve been tracked to a corporation called the Ninth Day, but it’s not only a corporation with great security, there’s a real eccentricity to those in charge. The Bird Undercover title comes from Batgirl, Cassandra Cain version, on an infiltration mission.

While Kelly Thompson’s plots are always engaging, there’s real effort put into the personalities, defining who everyone is, why they get along (or don’t) and their reactions to certain situations. It’s once again reiterated why Black Canary is a leader, shown that Sin is more resourceful than might be expected and it’s nice to see Oracle as a computing genius once again. However, the one character needing some polish is Barda, who’s so far very one-note as the big grumpy woman. There has to be more to someone who survived the hell of Apokalips, although to be fair she has a great moment in the second story.

Sami Basri draws the title story very elegantly, supplying character, action and locations with style, and the two chapters of the second story are equally well drawn by Juann Cabal. It continues the policy of this Birds of Prey series looking excellent, although colourist Adriano Lucas is good without being as innovative as Jordie Bellaire on the previous two volumes.

The second story concerns foreign agents targeting Sin. An intercepted message reveals her location in Gotham is known, so the Birds of Prey feel in the interests of public safety it’s best to set a trap somewhere more rural. Simultaneously John Constantine asks for help, so Barda and Batgirl answer the call. The result is a combination of two stories very different in tone, and as noted, it’s fun seeing Barda deal with magical threats.

This series has been excellent to date, and that’s still the default setting.