An appropriate adieu

Everyone remembers the shot heard ‘round the world. No, not the shot that killed Archduke Ferdinand which started the first World War. No, not the battle at old North Bridge, the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. I am referring, of course, to the moment Maxwell Lord shot Blue Beetle in the head, which began the countdown to Infinite Crisis.

It seems, though, that every single character in the DC Universe, along with every single creator working on a DC Universe book, sort of forgot about it already. Sure, Booster Gold was sad for a while, and maybe Fire too. And DC sure cashed in on the sudden name recognition of the Blue Beetle by launching a new series with a new character using the same name. And sure, characters still like to bring it up when they’re pointing out past failures as a way to really drive their point home. But no one seemed to even remember, let alone care, that one of their friends was killed in action trying to prevent the biggest crisis in the history of the DC Universe.

That is, until Birds of Prey #96 hit comic stores Wednesday.

If you love Ted Kord, you need to buy this issue. Do yourself a favor and just rip out anything after the seventh story page. Those first seven pages will finally give you a little closure. It seems there are a few people that remember that Ted Kord died trying to save lives.

And if the love of the character or the gorgeous art by Paulo Sequeira isn’t enough, maybe this line from page 7 will grab you: “They so cyber-did it.”

In a few pages it’s all over, but Birds of Prey #96 provides more closure on Ted Kord’s death than any other DC comic published in the 16 months since the character was killed and sparked an uproar among fans. Writer Gail Simone put it best in the caption that ends the ends this little 7-page story (an internal monologue by Black Canary):

Bye, Ted. We loved you. If we never said it, it was because you were making us laugh too hard. Hope they have huge laboratories for you up in heaven.