Black Canary: Difference between revisions

[[File:canaryiconic2_9522.jpg|frame|[[Action Girl|She WILL Kick Your Ass]].]]

 

 

Black Canary is a [[Legacy Character]] crime-fighter, most famous for her leather and fishnets costume, who fights evil with her mastery of multiple martial arts and an [[Make Me Wanna Shout|ultrasonic scream]] capable of various effects from rendering people unconscious to demolishing robots and buildings.

 

 

By the end of the year, Black Canary proved to be more popular than Johnny Thunder, and his back-up feature became hers in ''Flash Comics #92'' (February, 1948). It was here that her [[Secret Identity]] was finally revealed, as was the meaning of her [[Code Name]]. Dinah Drake was a raven-haired florist, who used a blond wig and flashy costume as a disguise while fighting crime in her native Gotham City. Her path frequently crossed that of her boyfriend, private detective Larry Lance. She also joined the [[Justice Society of America]] and continued to be a part of that team even after their adventures ceased publication in 1951, at the end of [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]].

 

 

In the early days of [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]], Black Canary began dating fellow JLA member Oliver Queen a.k.a. [[Green Arrow]]. She was a regular part of his adventures with [[Green Lantern]] and was developed by writer Dennis O'Neil into a more proactive, feminist character — one who ran her own business, had her own solo adventures and chided Green Arrow for his possessive attitude and referring to her as "his girl". Indeed, she was so much a part of Green Arrow's life that she became a foster mother to his sidekick, Roy Harper a.k.a. Speedy, and it was she who got Roy treatment for his heroin addiction during the infamous ''My ward Speedy is a junkie?!" incident.

 

 

An Earth-Two [[Super Villain]] called The Wizard used his powers to curse the infant Dinah with an uncontrollable scream (yes, yes... [[A Wizard Did It]]) and Black Canary asked her old friend Johnny Thunder to use [[Genie in a Bottle|his magical genie pal The Thunderbolt]] to end the curse. The Thunderbolt was unable to break the spell, but was able to place the infant Dinah in a sort of [[Suspended Animation]] in his home dimension until such time as a cure could be found. Years later, during the [[Crisis Crossover]] that killed her husband, Dinah Drake was critically injured by the radiation and The Thunderbolt then used his magic to put Dinah Drake's memories in the still-sleeping-but-now-adult body of her daughter (which had since then learned how to adapt to the once uncontrollable scream) and [[Mind Rape|erase everyone else's memories so they wouldn't remember what happened]].

She was still dating [[Green Arrow]], though [[Mrs. Robinson|their difference in ages]] was reversed, with a [[Dirty Old Man|30-something Oliver Queen]] having started dating a college-age Dinah Lance several years earlier. For most of this period, she was a supporting character in Mike Grell's Mature-Readers [[Green Arrow]] book, where — in an effort to limit the usual [[Superhero]] elements of comic books and create a more grounded, realistic story — [[Women in Refrigerators|Grell removed Dinah's Canary Cry]] in ''The Longbow Hunters'' following an extended torture session. She would later dump Green Arrow and - for a time - disappeared into [[Comic Book Limbo]].

 

 

 

Most agree that it was in 2003 when [[Gail Simone]] took over the writing duties on ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' that Black Canary really began to achieve her full potential as a character. She became the field commander of an expanding [[Birds of Prey]] team. She continued her martial arts training, becoming a warrior worthy of the respect of Lady Shiva - one of the greatest martial artists and certainly the deadliest assassin in [[The DCU]]. Dinah also acted as a trainer to a number of young heroines and briefly tried to care for Sin - a young girl being trained by the League of Assassins to be their next great warrior. It was also during this period that she rejoined the [[Justice League of America]] and become their official team leader.

The most familiar version of Black Canary to television viewers is probably the ''[[Smallville]]'' version, where she was introduced as a [[Blonde Republican Sex Kitten|conservative radio host]] in her [[Secret Identity]] and a Lex Luthor minion in costume, recruited to stop the "terrorist" activities of Green Arrow. She eventually saw the light and joined the fledgling Justice League.

 

 

Black Canary has also shown up several times in ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', where she is voiced by [[Grey DeLisle]]. She had starring roles in "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" and "The Golden Age of Justice!", and had a lead role in "The Mask of Matches Malone!", which features an approximation of the Birds of Prey and was written by Gail Simone.

The character also appears regularly in ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'', voiced by Vanessa Marshall, as one of three main mentors and chief combat trainer for the Team, and turned up in the last minute or so of the [[Green Arrow]] [[DC Showcase: Green Arrow|animated short]], where she essentially [[Big Damn Heroes|saved the day]]. Her prominence in both works is unsurprising given the involvement of [[Greg Weisman]], who has readily admitted that Dinah is his favorite comic book character.

 

 

* [[Aborted Arc]]: [[Dwayne McDuffie]] initially had plans of Dinah going through confidence issues during his [[Justice League of America]] run, [[Character Development|only for her to develop into a determined leader.]] Unfortunately, McDuffie was pulled from the title and the next writer decided to [[Canon Discontinuity|ignore most of McDuffie's storylines]] leaving Dinah OOC.

* [[Action Girl]]: When written properly, Dinah is one of the best in [[The DCU]].

* [[Badass Normal]]: Dinah Drake, who earned JSA Membership with no special powers whatsoever.

** Dinah Lance, when she didn't have powers, also qualified.

* [[Battle Couple]]: Green Arrow and Black Canary.

* [[Blasting It Out of Their Hands]]: One possible use for The Canary Cry.

* [[Blonde Republican Sex Kitten]]: Black Canary on ''[[Smallville]]''.

* [[Bound and Gagged]]: One of the few ways to effectively deal with Black Canary. She can easily cripple a man with one limb or her mouth free.

* [[Canon Discontinuity]]: Andrew Kreisberg's above-mentioned [[Retcon]] of Dinah Lance's origin and Dinah Drake's feelings about her life as a superheroine had been steadily ignored by every writer to touch the character since.

** Indeed, his [[Retcon]] is officially [[Ret-Gone]] as of ''Birds of Prey, Vol. 2, Issue 4'', which says in no uncertain terms Dinah Lance knew about her mother's life as a superheroine and that Dinah Drake was proud of it. Indeed, [http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2434/bop1.jpg the original Starman and Green Lantern took the younger Dinah flying as a toddler] in a flashback that is also a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

* [[Color Character]]

* [[Combat Stilettos]]: Very much a part of the original costume, the modern Black Canary has thankfully stuck to more sensible flat boots for the most part, although she is sometimes still drawn with them.

* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Black Canary's level of competence.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Andrew Kreisberg's retelling of Dinah Lance's origin in ''Green Arrow/Black Canary''. It was fairly apparent that Kreisberg hadn't even read even a summary of the character's background, much less the fairly recent [[Birds of Prey]] stories which established Dinah as being aware of her mother's double life as the original Black Canary.

** The [[Smallville]] version uses make-up around her eyes that is basically a painted [[Domino Mask]].

* [[Dye Hard]]: Since the start of [[Birds of Prey]], Dinah has dyed her hair blonde rather than use a wig.

* [[Faux Action Girl]]: Black Canary at her lowest points.

* [[Fights Like a Normal]]: She very rarely actually uses her sonic ability.

* [[Gail Simone]]: One of the few writers it is generally agreed can write Dinah well.

** In universe, Dinah acted as a mentor and martial-arts trainer to several other heroines - most notably Barbara Gordon (the first Batgirl), Stephanie Brown (the current Batgirl) and a three-year-old Lian Harper.

'''* [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Lian proceeds to]] [[Holy Shit Quotient|snap Vandal Savage's thumb]]* ''' }}

* [[It's All Junk]]: In ''Action Comics #609'', Black Canary burns her (admittedly ugly) Eighties costume. Oddly, the costume had been established previously as fireproof.

** There were also several references to the awful Eighties costume in the [[Gail Simone]] run on ''[[Birds of Prey]]''.

* [[Judd Winick]]: Writer on ''Green Arrow/Black Canary''. Widely considered to be a prime example of [[Did Not Do the Research]], regarding Dinah's character and background before he attempted to write her.

* [[Kid Sidekick]]: Sin.

** Additionally, an [[Affirmative Action Legacy|African-American Black Canary]] appears as part of an alternate-future Justice League in [[Judd Winick|Judd Winick's]] ''Justice League: Generation Lost'' series.

* [[Mama Bear]]: Dinah has a soft spot for children in general and will give extra helpings of pain to anyone responsible for endangering or harming them. But that's nothing compared to what she did and was ready to do for the League of Assassins members responsible for kidnapping her adopted daughter Sin.

* [[Make Me Wanna Shout]]: The Canary Cry practically makes her The [[Trope Namer]]. As it is, her picture is next to the definition.

** On that note, {{spoiler|it was highly implied that she had a one night stand with The Ray.}}

** Also, [[The Eighties]] costume.

* [[Official Couple]]: [[Green Arrow]] and Black Canary.

* [[Old Master]]: In the ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' animated TV series, she's the team's official combat trainer. Old only relative to the teenaged heroes, of course; [[Word of God]] puts her at 24 in that universe.

* [[Straw Feminist]]: Depending on the writer, Dinah can come off as one.

* [[Very Special Episode]]: Many of the "Hard Traveling Heroes" storylines from [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]].

* [[Wedding Smashers]]: Naturally, villains attacked the Black Canary-Green Arrow wedding festivities.

* [[We Would Have Told You But]]: Ollie fakes the death of Sin, Black Canary's adoptive daughter, and has her shipped off to a monastery, without telling Dinah so that her reactions will look natural. Never mind that Dinah's been established to be a better actor than he is.

* [[Women in Refrigerators]]: In ''The Longbow Hunters'', Black Canary is captured, tortured and depowered solely for the purpose of giving Green Arrow a story-arc where he angsts over killing the men who were torturing her.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:DC Comics Characters]]

[[Category:The DCU]]

[[Category:The Forties]]

[[Category:Animal Title Index]]