Black Canary
Black Canary and Huntress
Lots of clips of Black Canary and Huntress from JLU. Hope you enjoy.
The Black Canary, Ed Benes, artist.
Black Canary is the name of a fictional superheroine appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Black Canary was created by the writer-artist team of Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, and debuted in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947). One of DC’s earliest superheroines, the Black Canary has featured on many of the company’s flagship team-up titles, including both Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America. Since the late 1960s, the character has often been paired romantically and professionally with the archer superhero Green Arrow.
As introduced during the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Black Canary was the alter-ego of Dinah Drake, and took part in crime-fighting adventures alongside her love interest and eventual husband, Gotham City detective Larry Lance. The Black Canary did not possess superpowers, but was a hand-to-hand fighter who frequently posed as a criminal in order to covertly take down criminal organisations. She also featured as a member of the Justice Society of America, the first superhero team to appear in comic books. Later stories, published during the Silver Age of Comic Books, depicted the Black Canary as a world-class martial artist with a superpower — the “Canary Cry” — a high powered sonic scream that could shatter objects and incapacitate enemies. DC Comics later twice adjusted its continuity; firstly to explain the two character versions as existing in distinct parallel universes, and later to depict them as mother and daughter (Dinah Drake becoming the mother of Dinah Laurel Lance). Stories since then have primarily focused on the younger Black Canary, ascribing her abilities to a genetic mutation. In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its continuity, and in the process re-established Black Canary as a singular superpowered heroine, Dinah Lance (née Drake).
Black Canary is ranked as the 71st greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard. IGN also placed Black Canary as the 81st greatest comic book hero of all time. She was ranked 26th in Comics Buyer’s Guide‘s “100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list.
Fictional character biography – Dinah Drake Lance (1947–1985)
Dinah Drake first appeared in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947), as a supporting character in the Johnny Thunder feature written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Carmine Infantino. Initially, she seemed to be a villain. Johnny Thunder was instantly infatuated with her and was reproached for this by his Thunderbolt. However, she was in fact infiltrating a criminal gang.
In Flash Comics #92, she was given her own anthology feature, Black Canary, replacing the Johnny Thunder feature. The new series fleshed out Black Canary’s backstory; in her real identity, Dinah Drake was a black-haired florist whose romantic interest was Larry Lance, a detective on the Gotham City Police Department.
Dinah just prior to leaving Earth-2 to begin a new life with the Justice League on Earth-1. Art by Dick Dillin.
Black Canary was revived along with the other Golden Age characters during the 1960s, and was shown as existing on the parallel world of Earth-Two (home of DC’s Golden Age versions of its characters).
It is also revealed Dinah has married Larry Lance during the 1950s. Dinah also takes part in various annual team-ups between the Justice Society and Earth-One’s Justice League of America.
In a 1969 JLA-JSA team-up against the rogue living star-creature Aquarius, who had banished all the inhabitants of Earth-2 to another dimension except for a JSA group, Larry Lance is killed while saving Dinah’s life from an attack of energy. There is a brief funeral for him after which Aquarius is defeated. Out of grief, Canary decides to move to Earth-One to make a fresh start, where she joins the Justice League. Sometime afterwards, she begins dating her JLA colleague Green Arrow, and discovers she has somehow (possibly due to exposure to radiation) gained the ultrasonic scream later dubbed the Canary Cry.
In Justice League of America #219 and #220 (October and November 1983), it is revealed this Black Canary is actually the daughter of the original Black Canary and her husband. Born in the 1950s, the infant is cursed by the Justice Society foe the Wizard with the “gift” of a devastating, yet uncontrollable, Canary Cry. Dinah asked her old friend Johnny Thunder to summon his Thunderbolt in hopes of a cure, but it was to no avail.
Instead, the Thunderbolt keeps the child in suspended animation (aging all the while) in his native Thunderbolt dimension, until, the Lances hope, a way to cure or control her power can be found. Seeing his friends in pain, the Thunderbolt decides to erase all memory of the child, letting everyone think she has died.
After the battle with Aquarius, Dinah realizes she is dying from the radiation she was exposed to. She discusses possible solutions with the Thunderbolt and Superman of Earth-1. The three arrange to transfer Dinah’s memories into the body of her now-adult daughter, still held in suspended animation, while not letting Dinah believe anything unusual has happened to her (this retcon was established in 1983 to deal with the fact Black Canary had been active since the late 1940s and would therefore have had to been nearly 60 years old by that time).
In 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, which attempted to combine the histories of various multiversal Earths into a cohesive whole, removed the divide between Earth-One and Earth-Two. It altered the history of the Justice League of America and Black Canary was now a founding member, in place of Wonder Woman. To further expand this revised history, Secret Origins #50 (August 1990) revealed the first Dinah had been trained by her father, Detective Richard Drake, and intended to follow in his footsteps on the Gotham City police. She was turned down by the force, however, and her disillusioned father (unable to use his connections to change the decision) died of heart failure shortly thereafter. Dinah was determined to honor his memory and fight crime and corruption by whatever method possible. This led to her debut as a costumed vigilante; she would use her inheritance to open a florist shop as her day job.
Eventually Dinah married her beau, private eye Larry Lance (still maintaining her florist business). In a Times Past-style story in Birds of Prey, Lance was an acquaintance of Jim Gordon, father to Barbara Gordon. A few years later, their daughter, named Dinah Laurel Lance was born. In Birds of Prey #66 (June 2004), which is a flashback to a cold case investigated – but never solved – by the elder Dinah, Laurel was the name of a librarian that Dinah consulted during the case and later befriended.
Dinah Laurel Lance (1983–present)
Dinah sparring with Rabbit of the Twelve Brothers in Silk. Birds of Prey #82. Art by Joe Bennett.
Dinah Laurel Lance was born to Dinah Drake, the original Black Canary, and Larry Lance. While growing up, Dinah was surrounded by her mother’s friends in the disbanded JSA and regarded them as uncles and aunts. Dinah wished to become a costumed hero like her mother before her. Her mother forbade it, however, thinking the world had become a darker, more dangerous place than when she herself fought crime, and too dangerous for the younger Dinah to succeed.
The younger Dinah, however, had her own “Canary Cry” – the result of a metagene not present in either parent – which she was fully able to control. With this weapon, she next sought out numerous fighters to help her hone her skills, including former JSA member Wildcat. Years of training and intense dedication paid off, and Dinah eventually took on her mother’s mantle, albeit initially against the elder Dinah’s wishes. She took an active role among the ‘Silver Age’ heroes, operating, like her mother before her, out of Gotham, while maintaining a day job in the family florist business.
In an early issue of Birds of Prey, writer Chuck Dixon established that Dinah, at a very young age, had been married briefly before divorcing. Her ex-husband Craig Windrow featured in a storyline apparently needing her help (Birds of Prey: Wolves), but actually wanting her to rejoin him after he had stolen funds from the mob. This marriage and her ex-husband were not referred to again until the 2007 Black Canary miniseries.
Shortly into the League’s history, she met Green Arrow (Oliver Queen). While Dinah at first detested him, they later became romantically involved, despite the difference in their ages. (In the Modern Age Oliver was substantially older than Dinah, the reverse of the earlier depiction. However, the character later died, and later still was resurrected, at which point he was de-aged by an unspecified amount.) Dinah remained a member of the League for roughly six years, including a brief stint with Justice League International (JLI), of which she was a founding member. During that time her mother died due to radiation poisoning experienced during a battle with the villain Aquarius. Her mother’s death affected Dinah deeply, and led her to accept that her time in the JLA was over.
After the breakup of the Justice League, Dinah moved to Seattle with Green Arrow, opening her own florist shop named “Sherwood Florist”. The move to Seattle brought a string of bad luck for her.
During this period, she took part in a failed operation to bust a drug ring. Kidnapped, Black Canary was tortured before being rescued by Green Arrow. The effect was severe: Dinah’s vocal cords were mutilated, she lost her Canary Cry, and she became unable to bear children. She required extensive counseling afterward, as did Oliver Queen.
Simultaneously, she and Green Arrow had major conflicts in their relationship. She learned that Green Arrow had fathered a son, Robert, with the villainess Shado (albeit against his will), and was taking money from the florist business (Black Canary #1). The relationship ended when Dinah walked in on Green Arrow kissing her shop assistant, Marianne.
Later, Sherwood Florist was destroyed, leaving Dinah with no means of paying the debt collectors now calling.
Later still, she learned from Connor Hawke that Oliver had been killed (Green Arrow #101), and that Connor was yet another of his offspring. Although Dinah and Connor later developed a close friendship, the knowledge that Oliver had kept his existence from her remained painful.
Though Black Canary continued to fight crime off and on (she became a pen friend of the youthful hero The Ray, who had a crush on her, participating in some of his adventures and even having a brief romance), the effects of her misfortunes took their toll.
Birds of Prey
Around the time of Dinah’s downward spiral, the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, was gravely injured by the Joker. Barbara reestablished a crime-fighting career as Oracle, an information broker to the superhero community. After briefly working with the Suicide Squad, Barbara formed her own covert mission team. Concluding that of all the superheroes, Dinah had the most potential and was most in need of direction, Oracle asked Black Canary to become an operative.
Black Canary took to this role with great satisfaction. Dinah abandoned the blonde wig and bleached her hair. Her relationship with Oracle was at first rocky, her impulsive nature clashing with Oracle’s tactical planning. However, as time passed they learned to work well together as a team and became friends. When Oracle fled from the villain Blockbuster, Dinah came to her rescue and Dinah and Barbara Gordon met face-to-face (Birds of Prey #29). This adventure led them to an even stronger friendship.
In Birds of Prey #7, Oracle provides Dinah with an electronic version of the Canary Cry. In Birds of Prey #22-24, Dinah goes to Gorilla City along with Deathstroke, Lady Vic, and Grimm, to retrieve an ape heart for Blockbuster. In Birds of Prey #34, Black Canary, who is dating a mysterious European named “Raymond” (who is actually, as Oracle correctly guesses, supervillain Ra’s al Ghul), is seriously wounded and immersed in a Lazarus Pit. Birds of Prey #35 reveals the Pit had restored Dinah’s metahuman Canary Cry, as well as her ability to have children.
In the series Birds of Prey, Black Canary and Oracle work together to cultivate a covert team of female operatives whose members include Huntress, Gypsy, and Zinda Blake (the original Lady Blackhawk). In #68, Oracle shows Black Canary the retail space that later houses a reopened Sherwood Florist.
Black Canary has fostered a kinship with Lady Shiva, the two having trained under the same sensei. Shiva, impressed by Black Canary’s formidable martial arts prowess, offers to provide her with further training. Black Canary turns down the offer, thinking it would compromise her morality. The two communicate nonetheless, with Shiva conveying recommendations to assist Canary in honing her skills.
The Black Canary features in the four issue miniseries New Wings, as well as a twelve issue series that is ongoing. Both were written by Sarah Byam.
Infinite Crisis Shiva and the Black Canary. Cover to
Birds of Prey #95, by Brian Hurtt.
Infinite Crisis produced a recreation of the Earth with a new timeline. It is revealed Wonder Woman was once again a founding member of the Justice League. In 52 Week 51, a back-up feature revealed Black Canary was present at the battle forming the League. The core of the League consisted of Black Canary, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), J’onn J’onnz, Flash (Barry Allen), Aquaman, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
However, the 2007 Black Canary miniseries established Black Canary and Green Arrow joined the Justice League at a time after it was founded, and they were tested by founding member Batman early on in their membership.
During the publication of the Infinite Crisis limited series, most DC Universe comic books skipped forward one year. Following the “One Year Later” jump, Dinah trades life experiences with Lady Shiva in hopes of softening the warrior, undertaking a harsh training regimen in an unidentified Vietnamese bidonville, or shantytown. The regimen replicates Shiva’s early life and training; Shiva, meanwhile, assumes Dinah’s role in Oracle’s group and demands her associates call her the “Jade Canary”.
When Dinah realizes following Lady Shiva’s path will require her to fundamentally change who she is as a person, she ends the training and returns to the United States. She brings with her a little girl, Sin, who also had begun the harsh grooming process to be Lady Shiva’s successor (Birds of Prey #95; the now resurrected Oliver Queen uses his connections to allow Sin to immigrate into the country). Dinah hopes to balance her duties as a superhero with the responsibilities of being a surrogate mother/sister to the child.
Dinah informs Oracle she is quitting the team in Birds of Prey #99, having decided to devote herself to raising Sin. Issue #100 shows Dinah and Sin leaving Metropolis. It is hinted their final destination is Star City; Dinah jokingly tells Sin that she can rip out Ollie’s beard if he is not nice to her.
After leaving the Birds of Prey, Black Canary joins with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Red Arrow (Roy Harper) on a mission to locate the Red Tornado‘s body, (stolen by his creator and Solomon Grundy). The three heroes join forces with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Black Lightning, and Vixen to defeat Amazo.
The assembled heroes reform the Justice League of America; Dinah is made the Chairwoman, due to her strong abilities and strategic mind. The team’s first mission with Dinah as leader sees the JLA and JSA discover members of the Legion of Super-Heroes (a team that lives in the 31st Century) have been located in the 21st Century.
In Green Arrow, Dinah returns to Star City to aid Oliver, Connor, and Mia against Roadblock and Merlyn. During their mission, Dinah rekindles her relationship with Oliver, feeling he has truly changed and all the parts of him she hated are apparently gone. Oliver admits to Dinah many of the changes he made over the last year were for her. As the Green Arrow series ends, Oliver proposes to Dinah. He appears in a four-part Black Canary miniseries (beginning in July 2007). Black Canary would see Green Arrow fake Sin’s death to protect her from the League of Assassins, to Black Canary’s conflicted reaction; Sin comes to live in a “safe” location with Connor, away from her mother.
During the events of Countdown, several books include tie-ins and run-ups to the wedding between Dinah and Ollie. The Black Canary Wedding Planner offers details about the preparations; Birds of Prey #109 depicts Dinah and Barbara discussing the event and Ollie in detail. Countdown, Justice League Wedding Special, and Justice League #13 deal with aspects of the wedding, particularly the bachelor and bachelorette parties. A major plot thread throughout these books, which ties in to the Piper and Trickster arc of Countdown, is that the Injustice League plans to attack the wedding.
