One of the best things to come out of Grant Morrison’s Batman run was Spyral, the new super-spy agency introduced in the pages of Batman, Inc. Superhero espionage has a long history, but in the pages of Morrison’s Batman story, then later in Tim Seeley and Tom King’s Grayson, the organization was fleshed out and made fun, like a hyper-pop Roger Moore-era Bond, with Daniel Craig-era brutality and tons of jokes about Nightwing’s behind. And as an X-Men fan, it brings me no small amount of joy to watch threads dropped by Morrison get picked up and expanded on by other talented creators, and effectively woven into the ongoing stories of these characters.

That’s why the first page of this preview for Batgirl & The Birds of Prey#18 made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Here’s what DC has to say about the book…

BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #18 Written by JULIE BENSON and SHAWNA BENSON Art by MARCIO TAKARA Cover by YANICK PAQUETTE Variant cover by KAMOME SHIRAHAMA “Eco-Deadly!” Tasked with a new mission by the secretive Spyral, Huntress enlists Batgirl and Black Canary to help infiltrate an exclusive tech conference. Searching for an arms dealer masquerading as a tech investor, the Birds of Prey must uncover the mysterious plans for Weather Wizard’s missing wand before the City of Lights finds itself plunged into permanent darkness.

Julie and Shawna Benson are having a lot of fun with Batgirl, Black Canary and Huntress, and they’ve used the sum total of the continuity of these characters really effectively to give the book depth and mine for new angles. Tiger, the new head of Spyral after Huntress left, calls in the Birds for a mission, and then we get more welcome time with Barbara the borderline super-genius (the highlighting of this trait is another fantastic development of the past couple of years). Marcio Takara, the artist on this issue, seems to be inking himself lighter than he normally does, and the cleanness of the lines makes the art pop a little more than it usually does.

All in all, this is a solid preview. Check it out!