Black Canary by Greg Moutafis

Last weekend, at Boston Comic Con, I commissioned my first sketch from an artist.

Now, the Con had some legendary artists in attendance, including Neal Adams, George Perez, Howard Chaykin, Lee Weeks, Mark Bagley, Michael Golden, James O'Barr, and dozens of others, including Tim Sale, who might be my favorite living artist in the industry right now.

Sadly, the greats like Adams, Perez, and Chaykin were so swamped by fans seeking autographs that they wouldn't have had time to draw a custom sketch for me, and I didn't have the hundreds of dollars it would have cost to commission them.  Also, Howard Chaykin scared the $#@% out of me, but that's a story for another day.

However, tucked away in the periphery of Artists Alley with the smaller venders, I met a man named Greg Moutafis.  Greg had a lot of prints and sketches on display, and I liked his work.  I asked him if I could commission an original sketch of Black Canary and he said sure.

He was very gracious and accommodating.  I paid in advance--I won't say how much I paid, but it didn't my bank--and returned an hour later to find this wonderful piece of art that was all for me!

Greg was incredibly nice.  He said this was the first commissioned piece he was ever asked to draw at a convention.  I even had to remind him to sign it before he handed it over.  Thanks, Greg!

The Origin of Black Canary: 2006

Back when DC was publishing 52--not the New 52, but the weekly series chronicling the year after Infinite Crisis--each issue included a backup two-page origin of a DC hero, villain or team.  Well, ComiXology has them all available for digital download for free!

Black Canary's origin, like most of them, was written by Mark Waid.  In a Word Balloon interview, Gail Simone once said that Mark Waid doesn't know how to write a bad comic book, and I tend to agree with her.  Waid is my favorite comic writer so it's nice to see him script this two page little origin for Dinah Laurel Lance.

The art, which surprised me, is supplied by the legendary Howard Chaykin, who blew my young, impressionable mind with Black Kiss.  His depiction of Dinah captures her physical strength, her loveliness, but also a sense of fun.  Plus, he draws her kicking Deathstroke in the crotch, and really, what else do you need?

So, since the origin is free and ComiXology and was once, if not now, available for free on DC's website, I'll include it here for your pleasure.  Enjoy!

[click to enlarge]

Costume Changes Through the Years

Newsarama used to be a site that offered informative and insightful, well, news about the comics publishing world.  About a year ago, the content shifted to a seemingly endless unveiling of recycled Top 10 lists that are as subjective as they are asinine.

Great, worse, worst, better.

Other than Vaneta Rogers, the only contributor to the site I follow is a gentleman named Alan Kistler, whose regular column "Agent of S.T.Y.L.E." chronicles the visual history of superheroes and how their costumes change over time.  In March of last year, Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. examined the "Hyper-Sonic Fashion" of Black Canary.

Cover art by Brian Bolland--channeling Howard Chaykin, I think.

Unfortunately, some of the image links have broken down in the nineteen months since the article was originally published, but you can still get a sense of Dinah's costume continuity.