Birds of Prey #116 Cover by Stephane Roux

Birds of Prey #116 Cover

Pencil and Inks by Stephane Roux

Beautiful Birds of Prey cover that features Huntress, Lady Blackhawk (in her Queen Killer Shark persona), and Killer Shark. I think its really cool how Huntress and Killer Shark were left shaded in graphite, I think it creates a really neat effect on the cover.

Following up from the last Lady Blackhawk-centric page I posted, this cover is from a storyline of Birds of Prey that also benefits from having a bit of Blackhawks lore knowledge. In the Blackhawks history, Zinda was captured by a villain named Killer Shark, who chemically brainwashed her into becoming his queen; Queen Killer Shark and together they were recurring villains for the Blackhawks. This apparently lasted for quite a while until eventually the Blackhawks rescued her and cured Zinda from the brainwashing.

In this Birds of Prey storyline, "Hidden Treasures", while out drinking with Huntress one night Zinda captures a glimpse of Killer Shark in the modern day and chases after him in a rage. He gets away while taunting Zinda but also leaves behind some coordinates that lead to an Island out in the pacific. Huntress and Zinda agree that this is obviously a trap, but Zinda, in her fury, asserts that she needs to follow it anyway so she can put an end to Killer Shark. Unwilling to let her go alone, Huntress tags along to help. They go to the coordinates that Killer Shark left behind and they were correct in that it was a trap, and Killer Shark injects Zinda with a chemical brainwashing serum, once again turning her into Queen Killer Shark.

We then find out that this Killer Shark is actually the grandson of the original Killer Shark from the Blackhawks days. He discovered his grandfather's history, including a reference to a grand treasure that his grandfather left behind in a secret location that only he and his "Queen" knew the location of. Sharing his grandfather's gift of chemistry, he was able to recreate the brainwashing serum, and came up with this plan to turn Zinda back into Queen Killer Shark and have her lead him to his grandfather's treasure.