Justice League #37 Variant by Darwyn Cooke

In December, a whole lot o' DC comics will ship with covers illustrated by Darwyn Cooke.  By then, Birds of Prey will be long dead and I have no idea if Black Canary is slated to end up in another book because I haven't paid attention to the solicits since, um, April...?

However, Cooke included Black Canary in the background of his cover for Justice League #37.

That's her way back behind Superman and Batman.

I wondered if there was any reason for this specific assemblage of of heroes.  Cooke expertly depicts a nostalgic sense of whimsy in his covers, so it makes sense that he uses the seven original members of the Justice League of America--Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and J'Onn J'Onzz.  But he also includes Cyborg, a founding member of the New 52 Justice League.  But what about Green Arrow and Black Canary?  I can't imagine this is the lineup of the team in issue #37 since J'Onn and Ollie are in Justice League United and for some reason I think Hal Jordan is still off the team playing space cop.

I would be happy if Black Canary joined the main Justice League team.  I think she deserve a shot at it, but it might take a creative team shift to get me interested in reading the comic again.  I like most of what Geoff Johns does, but I don't think he ever had a firm grasp on the League like he did with Green Lantern, the Flash or Justice Society.

The Calculator Saga Finale: DETECTIVE COMICS #468

Continuing from this week's amazing exploits of Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, the Atom, and Elongated Man individually combating The Calculator, writer Bob Rozakis brought this thrilling saga out of the backups and into the main pages of Detective Comics.  Joining Rozakis was Marshal Rogers, making his debut on the character of Batman, along with regular inker Terry Austin.

Detective Comics #468: "Battle of the Thinking Machines" opens with the Caped Crusader swinging by a construction site where the Calculator is robbing a newly unearthed time capsule of its centuries-old trinkets.  The Calculator uses the equipment on his chest and head to project an axe; he hurls it at the rope Batman uses to swing down, cutting the line and sending Batman falling to the street.

Calculator anticipates every one of Batman's attacks with the gadgets from his utility belt, effortlessly thwarting the Dark Knight's attempts to capture him.  At last, Batman gets the better of Calculator by using the criminal's own projected objects against him.

As Batman takes the Calculator into custody, the villain pushes some buttons on his chest piece, claiming he will turn defeat into victory.  This is basically the same thing Calculator has been saying for the past five issues of Detective.  Every time one of the Justice Leaguers smacked him down, Calculator bragged that this was all part of his plan.

The next day, Morgan Edge of Galaxy Broadcasting calls Bruce Wayne, hoping to sway the wealthy playboy into voting his way on some boring corporate stuff.  Bruce isn't interested in dealing with Edge, and he blows him off so he can head to a meeting of the Justice League of America.  Of course, he doesn't tell Morgan Edge he's meeting the JLA, and Edge assumes Wayne is jet setting with some supermodels.

In the Justice League Satellite, Batman tells Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Elongated Man, and the Atom that the Calculator broke out of jail that morning.

The heroes discuss the Calculator's crime wave when Aquaman interrupts their meeting to tell them that the Calculator is committing a crime in Central City.  Aquaman is only there on Monitor Duty, and the Flash is away from Central City battling in the future.

The six heroes teleport down to Star City only to find the Calculator waiting for them, even applauding their arrival as it fits right with his plan.  Green Arrow fires a boxing glove arrow, but Calculator redirects the shot directly at Elongated Man.

Using his uncanny and ill-defined powers, the Calculator turns the heroes' attacks against each other, as Batman's batarang snaps Green Arrow's bow line just after he misfires, sending the arrow back at Batman.  Black Canary stumbles into Elongated Man and gets tangled up.  Hawkman drops Atom on Calculator from a distance; the Atom's full weight should smash Calculator, but he bounces off harmlessly.  Then Hawkman moves in for the attack.

The Atom changes to his normal size and appearance as Ray Palmer.  He takes a swing at Calculator but cannot connect.  Ray is physically unable to hit the Calculator.  As the villain saunters off in victory, he reveals that by allowing himself to get captured by each of them in the past, he inoculated himself to ever getting caught by these six superheroes ever again...

...WHAT?!!

Okay, Rozakis, that is some straight-up Bob Haney level insanity!  You couldn't provide a better explanation than that?!!

The next day, Bruce Wayne is obsessed with finding a way to stop the Calculator when Morgan Edge shows up to nag him about the Galaxy sale at the board meeting.  Edge's sudden appearance gives Bruce the inspiration for how to thwart the Calculator, but it pisses Edge right off as he has twice been ignored by Wayne.

Later, the Calculator reads that S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City is going to launch another time capsule, so he goes to, like, rob it or something.  Along the way, he uses his head projector thing to create a blizzard and freeze a pair of police officers attempting to arrest him.  When he arrives at S.T.A.R. Labs, he creates a crane to hook the time capsule.  Then Batman arrives.

Batman throws some gadgets but they have no effect on the Calculator, of course.  The Calculator projects a large cage and throws it at Batman.  Then, inexplicably, the floor rotates changing Batman and Calculator's relative position, thereby dropping the cage down on Calculator.

See, Batman could not capture the Calculator, but the Calculator could capture himself.  He rages and howls and his equipment sputters and breaks down on him.  Later, Batman explains to his fellow Justice Leaguers how he tricked the Calculator.

Then an irate Morgan Edge calls to complain about stuff we don't care about.

Maybe the reason you've never seen Batman laughing is because it looks creepy as hell!  Seriously, Marshall Rogers makes him look insane in that last panel; this should be a cliffhanger into a Joker story!

Speaking of Rogers, his figure design and panel work is pretty solid.  I especially like he deviates from the normal construction to throw out some interesting special effects, like how Hawkman crashes during his fight with Calculator.  On the other hand, he's pretty spartan about backgrounds in a lot of these pages.  Rogers would go on to be one of the best Batman artists of his time, but this early issue needs a bit more work.

The story is pretty crazy.  As a climax, I like that Rozakis brought the five heroes back to help Batman foil the Calculator, even though none of them were particularly helpful.  The Calculator would eventually become a serious villain for the DC Universe in general and for the Birds of Prey in specific.  At this early stage of his career, however, he's pretty much a joke.  His costume is lame and his powers are so wonky and inconsistent that it's hard to take him seriously.  I mean, Signal Man was better than this guy.

Thus concludes the Calculator Saga.  Come back tomorrow when I jump forward nearly one-hundred issues of Detective Comics for the next part of "Pretty Bird" with Black Canary and Green Arrow.

The Calculator Saga: DETECTIVE COMICS #467

Continuing from yesterday's thrilling adventure of Green Arrow and The Calculator, writer Bob Rozakis, penciler Marshal Rogers, and inker Terry Austin test the Calculator's criminal computations against the Winged Wonder in Detective Comics #467.

Presented here, uninterrupted, is the six-page backup story "The Man Who Skyjacked Hawkman" starring, naturally, Hawkman.

Come back tomorrow for the final part in the Calculator Saga starring Batman and all the heroes who have appeared in the last five chapters!

Team-Up: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #100 (March 1972)

Happy Batman Day!

Yes, today marks the 75th Anniversary of the Dark Knight's debut in Detective Comics #27.  To honor this landmark in comics publishing, I couldn't think of a better topic for today's post than one of the Blonde Bombshell's team-ups with Batman in the pages of The Brave and the Bold.  And, thinking one big anniversary deserves another, what better issue to cover than The Brave and the Bold #100 starring Batman and Robin, as well as the Hard Travelin' heroes, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary?

"The Warrior in a Wheel-Chair" is written by Zany Bob Haney with art by the legendary Jim Aparo and a cover by the equally legendary Nick Cardy.  The Brave and the Bold #100 is cover dated March 1972 but hit the streets in December of '71.

The issue begins with an unseen sniper spying potential targets on the steps of Gotham City Hall.  When Batman comes down the steps, though, the sniper zeroes-in and fires, cutting down the Dark Knight Detective.  Commissioner Jim Gordon rides in the ambulance with Batman, cursing the drug dealers he believes responsible for this attempt on Batman's life.

The hospital's chief-of-staff tells Gordon the bullet penetrated Batman's chest and stopped perilously close to his heart.  There is only one surgeon who might be able to save the Caped Crusader, according to the chief-of-staff; unfortunately, Dr. Hellstrom is in Zurich and can't arrive in Gotham for three days.  That means Batman has to stay safely on the sidelines for three days while the biggest drug shipment in history is set to go down.

Batman stubbornly tries to rise out of the wheelchair but his body betrays him.  Alfred pleads with him to stay in the chair while Batman agonizes over his newfound uselessness in the war on crime.

While sulking, Batman observes a spider catching a fly in its web and has a sudden epiphany.  "The bat must turn into a spider," he says, and tells his faithful butler to summon Robin.

Later that night, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Green Lantern arrive in Gotham City wondering if Batman's condition is as serious as it sounded when he beckoned them.  And naturally, it doesn't take long for the Emerald Archer and the Ringslinger to start shouting at each other about drugs and other societal problems.

Unseen by the trio of Justice Leaguers, Robin makes contact with his boss, using code names for both of them.

Huh... Robin can't understand what value Black Canary brings to Batman's scheme?  Is this naiveté of youth?  Ignorant sexism?  Or just another Bob Haney-ism that we roll our eyes at and press on with this wacky adventure?  Let's go!

Commissioner Gordon contacts Batman and tells him he can't combat the drug trade by himself while recuperating from his gunshot.  Batman tells him not to worry, that he's brought in his ward and three members of the Justice League of America to help his operation.  Then, inexplicably, Gordon complains that this war on drugs is police business.  Is he objecting to more costumed crime fighters lending a hand in an unofficial capacity?  He knows he's talking to Batman, right?  Haney!!!  Anyway, Batman asks for Gordon's trust and a little bit more time to put his plan into motion, then he hangs up and fights back the pain of his life-threatening injury.

Across the world in Switzerland, Mr. Belknap, the head of the international drug cartel is nervous about the security of his drug shipments to Gotham, so he sets up a test run.  Back in Gotham, we learn that Batman has a coded set of delivery routes and dates.  If he cracked the code, he ought to be able to anticipate the location of every one of Belknap's shipments.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the Bat-Spider sends the Ace-Archer into action.  Green Arrow slips into the Gotham City Post Office and observes the drug traffickers disguising drugs into mail packages.

Green Arrow sends a shaft through the chest of one of the drug runners, killing him; the other punk gets away.  Green Arrow checks the packages full of drugs but discovers that it's only fine sugar.  After reporting in to Batman, the Dark Knight realizes that Belknap sent in a test shipment.  Now they are aware of each other and the operations will get even more dangerous.

Batman gets word that another shipment is coming in through the docks.  Green Lantern watches the ship come into port and unload a foreign car.  He suspects the drugs might be hidden in the car, but when he goes to investigate, hidden gunmen from the ship and the docks open fire.  Green Lantern uses the power of his ring to protect himself and thwart the shooters.  Then he uses the ring to deconstruct the car, only to find no drugs hidden inside.  Once again, Belknap has foiled Batman's plan by sending a false shipment.

Of course it's the woman who nearly ruins Batman's carefully constructed scheme!  And of course Robin thinks Black Canary's an idiot, though he is able to recognize her legs from across the street in the rain.

Wait, Black Canary had to get out of the rain because it was ruining her hair?  She wears a wig!!!

Batman wallows in despair that he couldn't catch Belknap's drug deliveries.  Three chances, three misses, and now the Dark Knight has run out of time.  He collapses under the strain and needs to be prepared for surgery.

Back in Switzerland, Belknap learns that Batman will be operated on by Dr. Hellstrom from the same country.  That night, "Hellstrom" oversees the loading of some equipment onto the plane sending him across the ocean.  In Gotham, Robin and Commissioner Gordon watch as Batman is wheeled into the operating room.  Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Green Lantern fume over their inability to stop the drug shipments and head to the hospital to be close to Batman during his surgery.

In the operating room, Dr. Hellstrom points out his elaborate machine that will keep Batman's condition stable during the procedure.  The Dark Knight begins to feel the effects of anesthesia which causes him to hallucinate images of a giant spider web and Belknap at the center.  The vision of Belknap transforms into the vision of a surgeon and Batman feels himself ensnared by webs.

The Caped Crusader snaps out of his sleep and begins to resist the doctors about to cut him open.  He struggles while they try to increase his anesthesia.  In desperation, he signals Robin in the waiting room.

Before Belknap can slice Batman's throat, Green Arrow fires an arrow that knocks the scalpel out of the drug kingpin's hand.  The heroes take down Belknap.  Gordon gets word to Switzerland where they discover that the real Dr. Hellstrom was captured by Belknap's goons.  It will take six hours for him to fly to Gotham, and Batman doesn't have that much time.  So Green Arrow uses his green power ring to collect the surgeon and bring him to Gotham in a much speedier time.

When the real Hellstrom begins to operate on Batman, he realizes that his specialized machine isn't working correctly.  Upon inspection, the heroes realize that the machine is filled with Belknap's drug shipment.

After the operation, the heroes gather around Batman and explain how Belknap planned to usurp Dr. Hellstrom, kill Batman during the surgery, and then take his machine out of the hospital to flood the city with his product.  They wonder how Batman figured out Belknap had taken the doctor's place, and the Dark Knight tells them he felt needle marks on the doctor's wrist and remembered that Belknap was a junkie.  Hmm... that seems like information we should have had earlier.

What to say about this issue?  It's fun and hilarious in all the usual Bob Haney ways.  The story is too complicated by half for its own good.  Why all this ridiculous spider imagery and emphasis on Batman spinning complex webs like a spider?  This doesn't amount to anything profound and the metaphor doesn't even hold up.  The characters are exaggerated and slightly wonky, and sexist in Robin's case, but that's just natural fun.

In any event, the true star of this book isn't Batman or Black Canary or Robin... it's Jim Aparo!

Pretty Bird: DETECTIVE COMICS #560

Previously in Detective Comics...

Feeling the need for a change in attitude and appearance, Black Canary scrapped her old fishnets costume in favor of a new more tactical and '80s-looking tracksuit.

Detective Comics #560 starred Batman in a story by Doug Moench with art by Gene Colan, who also drew the cover.  Green Arrow and Black Canary teamed up in a backup strip titled "...Me A Bad Guy...?" written by Joey Cavalieri and drawn by Jerome K. Moore.  The story opens with Oliver Queen reading the newspaper over breakfast and Dinah Lance complaining that he's hogging all the croissants.

Other than the bizarre fact that Dinah thinks she can get "morning sickness" from chili and eggs, it's a nice, funny-ish scene.  In Dinah's defense, Black Canary used to get knocked unconscious every single issue, so a little memory loss or mild brain damage is forgivable.  She does dance around the subject of marriage and/or children, which is quite different than the attitude she'll have one year later in The Longbow Hunters.

Ollie recounts a story from the newspaper about a costumed vigilante known as Champion who appeared in the sky over Star City when a building fire endangered the lives of a crew of construction workers.  As firefighters risked life and limb to save the workers Champion flies right by them... and continues to fly past them.  He flies down to the street where he tackles a man carrying a briefcase.  Champion says the briefcase is very valuable; he was hired to retrieve it.

The reporter asks Champion if he thinks it's crass to be so close to people in desperate need of help and to ignore them.  He asks the reporter why she doesn't risk her life to help the people rather than leave the task to trained professionals like police and firefighters.  Apparently, Champion is only the defender of people willing to pay his fee.  As he walks off, he expresses the story's title by asking the reporter if that makes him a bad guy.

Finishing the article, Ollie talks about knocking Champion off his high horse.  Dinah redirects the conversation to herself and her superhero metamorphosis.  She changed costume because she was dissatisfied with her old look, but now she's leaning toward changing her whole modus operandi.  Despite dropping the look of the classic Black Canary, she entertains the idea of returning to the criminal underworld in which the Blonde Bombshell once operated.

By infiltrating criminals and earning a reputation as one of them, Black Canary could wage a war on crime from within.  She says it would give her more direction and make her more aggressive.  Ollie thinks it's a terrible idea because the severity of crime and criminals is much more severe than when the old Black Canary used to act this way.  He says her reputation as a crime fighter and Justice League member is too public, and she would tarnish her good name with the authorities and in her community.

Dinah continues to argue that she'd feel more productive if she infiltrated the underworld and asks if that makes her a bad guy.  Then there's a knock at the door and Dinah opens it to find her landlord, Mr. Panofsky.  He tells her that the cost of heating, utilities, basically everything has gone up and he's forced to raise the rent on her flower shop.  Dinah complains, but Panofsky explains that he's only doing what he must to pay his own expenses.  He asks if that makes him a bad guy, because apparently everyone has to ask that question in this story.

That night at the Star City dockyards, a gang anxiously awaits the arrival of shipment of illegal drugs while arguing over the cut they each deserve.  The conversation is interrupted by a metal gauntlet crashing through the wall.  A man in a hooded cloak enters the warehouse, calling himself Steelclaw and demanding his share of the money.  The hoods respond by drawing their weapons.

One of the crooks asks what will happen if they don't cut Steelclaw in on the action.  He lashes out with his metal hand and its claws, raking the man across the chest.  The man crumples to the floor but lives.  Steelclaw walks away, demanding not only part of the drug trade but the dealers' unwavering loyalty.  He asks, naturally, if that makes him a bad guy.

Four different people in this story ask if their actions make them a bad guy and yes, I think they all do except maybe for the landlord.  That Black Canary used to have a reputation as a criminal in her earliest appearances in Flash Comics is a great story thread that never saw much development after 1948.  It's great that Joey Cavalieri is delving into this area, exploring more of Dinah's character and using Ollie as a sounding board against her.

This issue also sees not one but two potential costumed enemies.  I always complain about Black Canary's lack of a rogues gallery, but Steelclaw and Champion can both be added to the list, even if Green Arrow is the titular lead of this backup strip.  Steelclaw has  a great look with the whole grim reaper visage and the claw hand.

Come back next Friday for the next part of Green Arrow and Black Canary's continuing adventures in Detective Comics...

Pretty Bird: GREEN LANTERN #194 and DETECTIVE COMICS #555-558

Last week I covered the debut of Black Canary's then-new costume in Detective Comics #554.  For two straight issues, Dinah had taken point on the Green Arrow backup strip.  Now with a brand new look and a more focused identity, Black Canary seemed poised to launch into the upper strata of DC's heroes and heroines.

But then she disappeared from the backup stories in 'Tec for four months.  At the same time, DC was overhauling their entire continuity with the universe reshaping event Crisis on Infinite Earths.  I know Black Canary appeared in a handful of issues of Crisis, but for the life of me I can't remember what she did there.  I've only read Crisis one time and I didn't like it, and I don't feel inclined to wade into it again for the purposes of finding Black Canary in one panel of issue #6 or something.

However, I can painlessly recap her appearance in one of the Crisis tie-in issue of Green Lantern, wherein Dinah and Green Arrow witness the Harbinger take the new Green Lantern John Stewart off to his fateful rendezvous with the Monitor.

Green Lantern #194: "5" is written by Steve Englehart with art by Joe Staton.  The issue begins in Star City where Green Arrow and Black Canary are attempting to evacuate civilians as a building begins to crumble around them.

At the last second, John Stewart, the new Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814, flies by and creates an energy projection of a load bearing support to keep the debris off of Green Arrow and the civilian.  John and his fellow Green Lantern Corps member Katma Tui have just returned from space to find the Earth in the throws of violent environmental disaster.

Ollie tells the Green Lanterns that he doesn't know what's causing the freaky weather phenomena, and Dinah mentions the report that Firestorm mysteriously vanished earlier.  At that moment, the stunning and enigmatic Harbinger arrives.  Harbinger reveals that she is responsible for Firestorm's disappearance, and now she has come to claim Green Lantern as well.

John tells Harbinger he has no intention of going with her, and she warns him that if he doesn't his world is in jeopardy.  John throws an energy vice around Harbinger and tells her he doesn't like being threatened.  Him or his world.  Harbinger, though, effortlessly breaks free of his green construct.  Katma Tui uses her power to reinforce John's will, but neither of them appear strong enough to contain the strange woman.

With Black Canary and Green Arrow down, Katma takes a shot at Harbinger with her ring, but John stops her and ends the scuffle.  John says he scanned Harbinger and he believes she has only come to collect him for a purpose other than attack.  He trusts her and begs Katma Tui to trust him by letting him go alone despite his inexperience.

Just before Harbinger takes him away, she asks him to don the mask he wore originally because that's how the Monitor observed him (and that's how George Perez drew him, I think).

Elsewhere in the story, Hal Jordan is doing stuff that doesn't matter for our purposes.  John Stewart joins Firestorm, Superman of Earth-2, Blue Beetle, Cyborg, and the others aboard the Monitor's ship.  Katma Tui returns to Oa to report the events to the Guardians of the Universe.  After hearing her story, the distressed-sounding Guardians send her bath to Earth to await further orders.

Back on Earth, Katma is visibly shaken by the Guardians' apparent fear.  She tries to warn the Green Lantern of neighboring Sector 2813, but finds nothing there: no Green Lantern, no sector.

While John does Crisis-related stuff, Katma Tui goes to meet with former ring-slinger Hal Jordan.  Hal then finds Guy Gardner just as Guy is granted a Green Lantern ring by one of the Guardians.  Dinah and Ollie, meanwhile, stand together in the cold rain where their story will be picked up in issues of Crisis on Infinite Earths which I already said I'm not going to cover at this time.

For the few pages that Black Canary is in this issue, I like what Englehart and Staton give us.  The obvious point is her tactical judo move that takes Harbinger to the ground.  That the move ultimately proves ineffective is because of how immensely powerful Harbinger is, not because Dinah isn't a badass fighter.

We also get a beat where John Stewart refers to Katma as his girl, and Dinah mentally corrects him with the word "woman".  This seems like a very pro-feminist concern that Dinah wouldn't necessarily believe but that liberal Ollie would have pushed on her.  The Black Canary that we've seen up to this point in continuity hasn't been as vocal in politics or in Ollie's ideals, and she seems too grounded for this thought to even occur to her in the middle of a dire situation like the one they find themselves in. I'm glad she only thought it, because if she said it out loud at that moment when the world is going to hell, everyone would have turned to her and said, "Shut up."

But the other bit of characterization that I really like is when John Stewart calls Green Arrow and Black Canary his best friends in the superhero world.  I've recently read John's early years as a Green Lantern for the first time and I mostly enjoy the stories, but I really like John Stewart as a character.  Most of my exposure to him comes from Justice League and other DC Animated Universe projects, and to me he always seemed incredibly flat and boring in those cartoons.  These comics proved otherwise.

Ollie, Dinah, and Hal Jordan were the famous Hard Travelin' Heroes, but sans Hal I like that Black Canary maintains a connection to the Green Lantern mythos through John Stewart.  And within a few years, she'll have a team connection to the new Lantern Guy Gardner.

4th of July Bonus!!!

Before I return to Black Canary and Green Arrow's adventures in Detective Comics, what has the Archer been up to while his Pretty Bird was away?

Detective Comics #555 includes a solo Green Arrow strip called "The Case of the Runaway Shoebox" written by Elliot Maggin with art by Dicks Dillin and Giordano.  Oliver Queen gets pick pocketed and the ensuing adventure leads to the foiling of a much grander criminal operation.  Black Canary is never seen, but Ollie does refer to Dinah in the very last panel.

This story is pure filler, unconnected to anything from Green Arrow's story in the past couple of issues.  I don't know if "The Case of the Runaway Shoebox" was a reprint, but I'm quite sure it wasn't conceived for this issue as Dick Dillin sadly died five years before this comic hit the shelves.

Detective Comics #556 and #557, however, do pick up where writer Joey Cavalieri and artist Jerome Moore left off.  Not with Black Canary, but with the other woman who was trying to get Green Arrow's attention: Onyx.  The two-part story called "Zen and the Art of Dying" begins with Oliver Queen returning home after he and Dinah wrapped up the Bonfire case in #554.  Onyx, a young whip-weilding woman last seen in #552, waits for Ollie in his home.

When he confronts her, she tells him she was sent to bring him back to the monastery where he trained in martial arts.  Onyx tells the story of Lars, a cruel thuggish student of the Exalted Master who trained her and Oliver.  Lars has been trying to take control of the monastery and its library of powerful teachings.  Only the Master has kept Lars in check, but now the Master is poisoned and Lars is on the brink of taking that power for himself.  Ollie remembers Lars from his days in the monastery; he and Lars did not get along and the bully swore there would be a reckoning some day.

Green Arrow and Onyx arrive at the monastery only to find Lars has taken over and ambushes the two of them with dozens of his men.  Green Arrow draws his bow and manages to disarm most of Lars' followers and capture some with a net-arrow.  Onyx doesn't do so well as she is quickly captured by Lars and taken to the bell tower.

Lars tells Onyx that he wants to open the Exalted Master's ancient and powerful Book of Ages, but he needs something called the Wisdom Key.  The Master, it turns out, hid the key on Onyx's headband, but Lars finds it and sneaks away to the library.

Green Arrow rescues Onyx from the bell tower and they follow Lars to the library.  They're too late to stop him from opening the box with the sacred tome, but they needn't fear.  The book was cursed and when Lars tries to read it, it crumples to dusty vapor that kills him.  Eeek!

Detective Comics #558 features another disconnected Green Arrow backup tale called "Believe Everything I Hear" written by Dean Traven and drawn by Black Canary's series artist Trevor Von Eeden.  Green Arrow saves one of his criminal informants from murder, but misinterprets the wounded man's tip about an illegal shipment coming in that day.

This is another filler issue, though I have less idea of when or why it was originally produced.  It's still a fun story.  All of them are good stories; I really, really enjoyed the two-parter by Cavalieri and Moore.  Revisiting Green Arrow's formative years that don't involve being stranded on an island is a nice glimpse behind the scenes.  And Onyx was a great character that got a little bit of attention in Batman and Detective Comics, but could have been a much more mainstream hero or foil.

Black Canary eventually returned to the pages of Detective Comics with issue #559, where she and Green Arrow teamed-up with Batman and Catwoman in a story I've already reviewed--check it out!  After that, she co-starred with Ollie in the backup strips for the next eight issues.  Dinah brought her all-new costume to the criminal underworld and a direction of the character that was, ironically, closer in line with her very first appearance in Flash Comics #86.

Come back next Friday for the next chapter of Green Arrow and Black Canary in Detective Comics #560...

Pretty Bird: DETECTIVE COMICS #554

Previously...

Last week I made the argument that the Green Arrow backup strip in Detective Comics #553 was--somewhat covertly--DC's first attempt to really differentiate between the current Black Canary and her Golden Age mother since Roy Thomas' retcon in Justice League of America #220.  Certain aspects of Dinah's inner monologue in today's chapter may support or refute that position.  I'm not entirely sure.  What is certain, though, is that 'Tec #554 debuts the first change to Black Canary's costume since she abandoned the domino mask way back in 1948.

Detective Comics #554 starred Batman in a story by Doug Moench with art by Klaus Janson, who also drew the cover.  Said cover features the newly adorned Black Canary bursting through a paper hoop held by Batman and Green Arrow as a direct homage to her first cover appearance in Flash Comics #92.  The bold text caption on the cover reads, "For the first time anywhere...The All-New Black Canary."

...but that's not exactly accurate.  This issue of 'Tec is cover dated September 1985, but thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics we know the issue hit the stands on June 27 of '85.  Six months earlier, though, the second issue of Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe came out, clearly depicting Black Canary II in her "all-new" costume drawn by Terry Austin.  So Janson's cover here can hardly claim to be the first ever appearance of the all-new Black Canary.

What further complicates things is neither Austin nor Janson deserve credit for the all-new design.  My best friend, Rob Kelly, founder of The Aquaman Shrine, informs me that 'Mazing Man artist extraordinaire Stephen DeStafano created Black Canary's new look for the post-Crisis era, and the interior artist for this very issue corroborates this claim.

"Crazy from the Heat II: The Past is Prologue" is written by Joey Cavalieri with art by Jerome Moore and Bruce Patterson.  Black Canary gets top billing over Green Arrow at the top of their first page, and she's advertised as "the NEW" Black Canary.

Picking up where the last issue left off, Dinah Lance is in bed recovering from a nearly disastrous encounter with a female arsonist named Bonfire.  She combs through her mother's old scrapbook, wondering if the original Black Canary ever had a bad day like this one.  She's awestruck to find an article Dinah Drake had saved recounting the case of another female arsonist named Pyra.

The original Black Canary confesses, in her journal, to choking when it came to collaring Pyra.  She describes being pinned down and nearly burned alive... and all she could do was scream.   Hmm, sounds exactly like what Bonfire did to the younger Dinah earlier that day.

Dinah II thinks the reason she froze when fighting Bonfire was because her mother's spirit lives on in her, and she psychically relived the same calamitous bout with Pyra when trapped in the blazing building last issue.  Now she understands why she failed and she's more determined than ever to redeem herself.  That means severing the residual psychic connection to her mother.  That means not following directly in her mother's footsteps.  That means a brand new look for Black Canary.

That night, Dinah suits up in her all-new Black Canary costume and returns to the Star City slums that Bonfire has been torching lately.  She feels guilty over not bringing Green Arrow along with her, but she recognizes that this is a conflict she must face on her own.  If she is to truly break away from her mother's past demons, she must overcome her fear and take down Bonfire.

She slips into a condemned building that ought to be abandoned, but she notices an old derelict sleeping in one of the rooms.  The man has a hat pulled down low and a fake-looking beard covering half his face; of course, Dinah realizes, it's a disguised Green Arrow doing some undercover surveillance of the area.  Dinah doesn't wake him, but she is relieved to know she'll have backup later if she needs it.

And as it happens, Bonfire shows up just as Black Canary's walking down the stairs.  Bonfire torches the landing and the stairs around Black Canary, though she doesn't recognize the superhero for her new costume.  Black Canary lets her know "the plumage has changed, but the name is the same."

Thanks to her new fireproof costume, Black Canary stalks Bonfire back to the room with the sleeping "derelict".  Using the man for a hostage, Bonfire sets fire to an empty mattress and throws it at Black Canary.  The doorway goes up right around Dinah, who might not have to fear burning alive with her new duds, but she's still in danger of asphyxiation from the smoke.

Bonfire is dazed but staggers to her feet.  Then, out of nowhere, an arrow launches a rope around the arsonist, capturing her.  Green Arrow stands in the doorway in all his emerald archer glory and tells Dinah that he took care of the fire downstairs.

Dinah is shocked.  She thought Ollie was dressed up as Bonfire's homeless hostage; she thought she was rescuing him.  Well, it turns out the derelict was someone else undercover: the Star City Fire Chief that Ollie accused of corruption the day before.  The chief calls the police to take Bonfire away as Black Canary and Green Arrow walk away.

Okay, first I have to say that I never used to like this Black Canary costume.  I thought it looked too dated, too much like a tracksuit or something from the movie Flashdance.  The thing about that is, my exposure to this costume was mostly from the pages of Justice League International drawn by Kevin Maguire.  For all the strengths of that series and for Maguire's art, I never liked how he drew Dinah (or any other women, honestly).  I thought the costume looked too soft, it took away her edge.

Seeing how Moore depicts Dinah in the costume, though, is a whole 'nother matter.  She looks fluid, graceful, birdlike.  And plenty tough.  This Black Canary looks like an avenging warrior of the night. She could partner with Nightwing and clean up the streets of Gotham and Bludhaven.  It's definitely more of a superhero costume and it's not bad.  (I don't even mind the absurd white boots--I love 'em.  They remind me of Green Lantern's white gloves!)  However, I still prefer the classic black leather and fishnets Black Canary.

I love that Dinah II is reliving moments of her mother's tragedy and triumph, and struggling to exorcize that ghost.  She wants to live her own life, out of her mother's shadow, so she forces a separation by changing her identity.  It's a very natural occurrence for a daughter rebelling against her mother.  This two-part story delivers some great art and characterization for Dinah(s), but maybe my favorite part is that it gave her and her mother some villains.  Black Canary has a pretty pathetic rogues gallery, and I don't think Bonfire or Pyra are ever seen again after this, but they're nice benchwarmers.

Unfortunately, after this stunning debut of the All-New Black Canary, she dropped out of the Green Arrow backup strips in Detective Comics for a couple of months.  She turned up next in Green Lantern during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.  I might cover that story next week, in addition to recapping Ollie's solo efforts in Detective Comics #555 through #558.

Team-Up: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #141 (June 1978)

According to the Super DC Calendar from 1976, yesterday was the anniversary of the tragic but formative murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne.  That put the Dark Knight Detective on my mind, so I decided to review a Batman and Black Canary team-up.  Was that the smoothest introductory segue?  Perhaps not, but whatever.

The Brave and the Bold #141: "Pay--Or Die!" is written by Bob Haney with pencils and inks by Jim Aparo.  With Aparo on art, you know the characters will look absolutely terrific.  With Haney on the script, you know there's going to be some kind of implausible third-act leap in logic that demands more suspension of disbelief than usual.  The cover depicts the story's villain, the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker, as well as a dramatic threat to Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred.

In addition to calling Black Canary the Blonde Bombshell and "the Mistress of the Sonic Scream", the title page shows her lying death-like in a coffin, nearly covered in bundles of cash as Batman crashes through a window and swoops down to confront his greatest adversary.  Note that the Joker calls Black Canary Batman's girlfriend.  Note also the opening lines to the song "Mack the Knife" in Haney's introduction.

The story begins with the owner of Farber Hardware store in Gotham City closing up shop after a day of slow sales.  As Farber laments the state of his finances, a sudden explosion kills him.  Later, the head of Leggett Industries is having similar worries about his business when a nearly identical explosion kills him.  The explosions were identical, but contained enough to kill only those specific men.  The police are baffled, and Commissioner Gordon wonders if the deaths were suicides to collect on insurance policies.

Batman doesn't think so.  After digging through some financial records, he deduces that the victims were paying off a loan shark, and when they failed to pay, they were murdered.

Ahh, you can practically tell how excited Bob Haney got when he learned the term vig and said, "I'm going to put that in my next Brave and Bold script.  Yeah, I'm going to put it in there a lot!"

So Batman heads out into the underworld and beats up or terrifies everyone he can find to dig up information on the loan shark connected to Farber and Leggett.  What he comes up with and tells Gordon is that the shark's name is Longreen.

But elsewhere in the city, Dinah Lance is greeted enthusiastically by a famous fashion guru named Antonio.  Dinah, it seems, as designed a dress for his latest fashion show.

Hmm?  Dinah has given up her career as a florist for fashion design; maybe I need to change this blog to Fashion and Fishnets.  That seems appropriately Haney-ish.

As Antonio begins his show, a stranger wearing a hat and beard pushes Dinah to the ground, and a second later, Antonio explodes in the same manner as Farber and Leggett.  Unsure whether the man who pushed her meant to save her, she figures he knew about the explosion and chases him through the back of the studio.

Wow... stymied by mannequins.  That's embarrassing.

Black Canary chases him to the roof, but he manages to get to the ground safely.  Batman arrives and similarly pursues him, but the mystery man escapes from Batman whilst making a brutal pun about "assault and battery."  Then the mysterious villain escapes... laughing as he does so.

Batman and Black Canary return to the studio and question Antonio's poor seamstress/assistant.  In her broken, Eastern European-accented English, she confesses that Antonio used a loan shark whom she calls Mr. Long Grin.  The phonetic coincidence alarms Batman and he realizes that the killer must be the Joker, who saved Black Canary because of a connection they had back in her earliest days with the Justice League of America.

The Bat and the Canary go to Wayne Manor, where Batman lays out his plan.  Bruce Wayne can't approach the Joker/Longreen about borrowing money, not without arousing too much suspicion.  But Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth could do it.  They plant the tip amongst Batman's underworld network that Alfred needs money, and before long he gets a call from Longreen arranging a meeting.

Alfred is picked up by a taxi.  Batman and Black Canary follow, but they're tricked and led around town by the wrong taxi.  Alfred, meanwhile, is taken alone and helpless to the Joker's secret hideout at a funeral home.

After explaining the rules of their arrangement, the Joker pours Alfred a glass of wine and eyes him carefully as Alfred drinks it.

When Alfred returns to Batman and Black Canary, he confesses that he does not know where the Joker's hideout was.  He can't remember any sounds he heard coming from outside the funeral home that would point Batman in the direction of his nemesis.  Batman is furious about Alfred's failure to get them the clue they need.  Black Canary tries to redirect Batman's focus on Alfred's safety, and Batman shows her the scan that reveals no explosives or hidden bombs on Alfred's person.

A week passes with no word until the Joker finally calls Alfred demanding his money.  Batman tells Alfred to say he will pay, hoping that they can catch the Joker during the drop-off.

Alfred puts fifty-thousand dollars of Bruce Wayne's money on the underside of a sewer manhole cover.  Black Canary stakes out the drop-off site, and notices a funeral procession driving over the manhole.  When the hearse drives over, Black Canary hears laughter coming from the car, and then springs into action.

Of course, she gets captured.  Black Canary always gets knocked unconscious and captured since her Golden Age stories in Flash Comics.  

Later, the Joker wants more money from Alfred and threatens to kill Black Canary if Batman tries to stop him.  Batman shouts at Alfred that he must remember what he heard and saw when he was with the Joker... and now Alfred remembers that he heard far-off mechanical laughter and that he drank wine with the Joker.

This timely intelligence informs Batman that the wine was laced with some kind of chemical compound that would explode at a certain time, and that the Joker's funeral home hideout is next to a burger joint with a big clown mascot.  Gee, you wouldn't have thought of that earlier, Batman?  Classic Bob Haney.

At the Joker's hideout, Alfred bursts through a window and grabs the Joker, threatening to blow them both up if he doesn't surrender.  The Joker's goons start to run, but Black Canary nails them with her sonic scream.  Wait, what was she waiting for?  Classic Bob Haney.

Then the Joker struggles and pulls off an Alfred mask, revealing that the man holding him was actually Batman.  Then the real Alfred comes in and Batman says they'll both explode if the Joker doesn't give him a blood transfusion to cure him of the chemical explosives in his system.

The issue ends with Alfred having the Joker's blood in his veins and that makes him susceptible to horrible puns.

Wait, why did Batman have to dress as Alfred and fake the threat when the real Alfred was there and capable of doing the same thing?  And why didn't Black Canary get up and knock out Joker and the others with her scream earlier?  Why wasn't she tied up and gagged or incapacitated?  The answer to all of these questions is: classic Bob Haney.

Jim Aparo's art is gorgeous throughout the story.  I started reading Batman comics in the late '80s and early '90s, and his models for Batman, Gordon, and the Joker are the versions of the characters I think of when I close my eyes and picture them.  Aparo's work is as iconic and merchandisable for my generation as the stock art culled from the talents of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Praise Be His Name.