Review: Black Canary #6
A mild-mannered event planner by day and masked vigilante by night, Becca can usually be found sipping an iced coffee and scouring the stacks at her local comic shop. She splits her time between the TARDIS, Burnside, and Avengers' Tower.
Black Canary might just be the most dangerous band in the world and our Becca Tyrrell is here to keep you up to date on their tour, as she reviews Black Canary #6 by DC Comics.
When we last talked about Black Canary, (all the way back in September!) former lead singer Bo Maeve had kidnapped the mysterious Ditto for seemingly sinister purposes and we were left wondering how Dinah and Black Canary were going to get her back - or if they even could. A lot has happened since then. Ditto has been rescued, Black Canary is stronger than ever and as for Maeve? Well, she has her own Canary Cry now, and is coming for Dinah and her friends...hard.
Black Canary #6, Screaming Bloody Murder, brings the conflict between Bo and Dinah to a head, and there are some pretty serious consequences when these two songstresses clash.
From Black Canary #6 by Annie Wu
Summary:
Black Canary has been through the ringer, and the group have only just started to come into their own as a band, now that their tour is winding down. They have overcome internal strife, attacks from alien creatures, the reappearance of Dinah's secret husband, the kidnapping of their band mate, an attack by a strange ninja (clad entirely in white) and, of course, the mounting costs associated with the trail of destruction they have left in their wake. By the time issue six starts, Dinah has shown that she will do whatever it takes to keep her new friends safe.
When one of their tour stops becomes an impromptu battle of the bands, Dinah decides to pull Black Canary from the obvious set up. She urges her band-mates to pack quickly, but they ignore her, instead pointing to Ditto drawing a design on the mirror, which turns out to be a written representation of some of Dinah's words in her actual voice. The band doesn't have time to fully process this strange action, or to heed Dinah's insistent commands to pack before Heathcliff bursts in and tells them their gear has already been loaded onstage and they've been announced.
Faced with a choice between their safety and the almost certain brawl waiting for them onstage, the band freezes until Ditto confidently marches toward the stage. Black Canary follows her and nothing short of an epic battle between Bo M and Black Canary follows.
From Black Canary #6 by Annie Wu
Critique
It's worth noting how well the creative team understands these characters. There's a panel early in this issue at that perfectly showcases Dinah Lance. It's her, walking away from Kurt saying:
Sure. Fine. I promise I'll be very careful when I carve a path through them to get my friends to safety.
Dinah isn't quick to form relationships; she's independent, intimidating and surly. But, when you have earned her loyalty, she will never let you down. The fact that Fletcher regularly creates moments that perfectly capture the essence of these characters speaks volumes. His understanding of what makes Dinah tick plus Wu's impeccable visual choices make a product that is so thoroughly Black Canary that I can't help but fall in love with it every single issue.
This comic is so full of richly developed characters and realistic friendships that it's hard to think about Dinah on her own. This story is as much her band's story as it is hers. I especially appreciate the way the story has developed not only Dinah's fondness for her band but also their relationships with her. Just a few issues prior, there was a lot of tension between Dinah and Paloma over Dinah's brash nature, but as the two got to know each other and made compromises, their friendship has also grown.
There's no longer the resistance to an outsider leading the band that had been present for so long, and that's where the true strength of Black Canary lies.
I love stories that depict the strength and importance of friendship, and that come back to the idea that we're better as a team than we are as individuals, a premise I find at the core of Black Canary. It's refreshing to see an action-packed comic that develops relationships AND delivers all the flash and explosions we've come to expect from superhero stories. It's a terrific tale about Dinah AND the band, great music AND incredible fight sequences, honesty AND secrets.
This book says AND, where others say OR, something that I can't get enough of, which is probably why Black Canary is my favorite comic right now.
Becca Tyrrell is a Contributor To ComiConverse. Follow her on Twitter: @ArrTee
A Comic With Heart!
In a time when the most talked about comics are stories of us versus them, it's refreshing to read something so good that presents the exact opposite view point- we're stronger as a team than we are as individuals-without losing any of the action that fans expect from superhero comics.