Black Canary Talk on Her/His Dork World

Some time ago, I appeared on the April 17th episode of "Her Dork World, His Dork World", a live radio show on the VOC Nation Radio Network.  Show hosts Dean Compton and Emily Scott invited me on to take part in a discussion of Black Canary, her place as a superhero icon in comics, and her role in the gender dynamics of popular fiction.

Although the interview was conducted and broadcast live to Thursdays ago, you can listen to an archived recording of the whole show at PodOmatic right here, or download the podcast on iTunes by searching VOC Nation and the April 19th update of "Her Dork World, His Dork World."

The interview and thus my part of the episode begins at roughly the 15-minute mark, but I encourage everyone to listen to the whole episode because Dean and Emily have a nice discussion about female-driven stories and movies in the first segment, and they namedrop Paul Dini, the writer of the upcoming graphic novel Black Canary/Zatanna: Bloodspell.

I had a great time appearing on the show and talking Black Canary with two passionate and involved fans.  Dean and Emily were wonderful, professional, and respectful hosts and they've made me a fan of not just Black Canary, but "Her/His Dork World".  Check it out and enjoy the show!

Previews Interviews Paul Dini About BLOODSPELL

Last month, Previews World ran an interview with writer Paul Dini on his upcoming graphic novel, Black Canary & Zatanna: Bloodspell.  With the holidays and other posts occupying my time, this one kind of slipped through the cracks.  But since I'm reviewing comics for the next couple days, I wanted to push this one out and share it with anyone who missed the story.

My favorite part of the Q&A is when Dini describes the versions of Black Canary and Zatanna as outside the current New 52 continuity.

PREVIEWSworld: Your book features Black Canary and Zatana in their more traditional costumes. Is this because the book was conceived and started production too far in advance of the New 52 overhaul?  Or were you "in" on the changes to come, and decided to plow ahead anyway with original costumes as you wanted to keep the book old school?

Paul Dini: At the time I conceived the story, the New 52 DC Universe was years away.  But the story never changed even as the Universe did.  It was always intended to be a stand-alone, a story that takes place in no particular DC continuity, but is familiar to all readers of DC comics over the years.  If bits of Black Canary and Zatanna's relationship as depicted in Bloodspell later find their way into ongoing continuity, then I'll know that readers and creators have found something interesting in their relationship, and I think that's a good thing.

You can read the full interview here at Previews.

And don't forget to buy Bloodspell on May 21st!

Caity Lotz Interview from the Hollywood Reporter

Last week, CW Network aired the mid-season finale of Arrow.  The episode resolved several mysteries while opening up a can of new ones.  One of the ongoing threads of the second season has been the duel sagas of Sara Lance played by Caity Lotz.  There's her current flight from the League of Assassin's and her five-years-old captivity on the island with Oliver.  I'm guessing Sara's situation on the island will be resolved by the end of this season with Ollie thinking she's dead somehow.  Her ongoing flight from Ra's al Ghul's forces, however, could play out over several seasons.

The Hunter and the Bird of Prey

About a month ago, Lotz gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter where she revealed some behind the scenes information on how she read for the part, and her character's development, past and future.  I've highlighted some of the questions I liked with my commentary below.

You can (and should) read the full interview here.

THR: When you were cast as Black Canary, did you know what her identity would be and where she was headed?

CL: No, I had no idea. I actually auditioned for a character named Lisa. (Laughs.) There were fake sides, even what I was reading wasn't the actual character. I had no idea, I just thought I was playing some character named Lisa and then afterwards, I met with [executive producer] Andrew Kreisberg and he told me about it and, yeah, I was really excited.

The fact that the producers were keeping the character's identity under wraps during the casting stage tells me they really had big expectations for not only how the fans would respond to Canary, but to the character's longterm status on the show.

THR: How surprising is Black Canary's past?

CL: It is constantly a surprise for me. All of a sudden I'll get a new script or one of the producers will talk to me and it's like the shock of something new they've created for the character. (Laughs.) The show evolves while it's going, so there are a lot of new discoveries that even the writers are finding so I'm constantly surprised. Where they're taking the character is impressive.

Fans of the Canary are in uncharted territory here.  Her history, her whole identity has been completely altered for the show, so there isn't any roadmap to go on.  We can't assume the writers will revisit familiar stories from the comics because none would apply to her status in the show.

"Isn't there enough S&M stuff going on
with her costume - now we gotta get
ropes involved?"

THR: Oliver has declared that he won't kill anymore, but with Black Canary around, how difficult is that going to be?

CL: With or without Canary, that's a difficult thing, but as of now, Canary's M.O. doesn't include not killing. That's a foreign concept to her. Where she's been trained, killing is all but necessary in her mind. Those philosophies will come at odds between the two of them.

I prefer the hero that doesn't employ lethal force, especially a hero for whom it would come so easy, like Superman and Batman, but as I've said before, Arrow has a different set of rules and expectations.  I don't mind that Black Canary kills right now because she's a damaged person for whom killing is a survival trait.  I'm hoping that part of her character evolution will be Ollie teaching her how to fight without killing, in much the same way that Batman in the comics had to condition his son Damien not to kill after growing up with the League of Assassins.

For more questions and answers with Caity Lotz, read the whole interview.

CBR Interview with Christy Marx

Next month, a handful of DC titles join Batman's "Zero Year" to tell stories of the heroes before they were heroes.  These stories, I think, predate even the #0 issues that came out in September, 2012, and include the 25th issues of Action Comics, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps... and Birds of Prey.

Yesterday, Comic Book Resources posted an interview with Birds writer, Christy Marx, about her "Zero Year" story, which follows the adventure of a young Dinah Drake.  You can check out the full interview right here, but I've posted a few snippets and my thoughts after the image.

CBR News: While the Birds are obviously connected to Gotham, what was it about "Zero Year" that interested you enough to write a tie-in?
Christy Marx: It was presented to me by my editor as an opportunity to do something cool and different for that issue.  It's always beneficial to tie into a larger event, not only for the individual book, but for the overall richness of the larger world of the DC books.  It was especially alluring to have 28 pages to play with.  I wish I could have 28 pages for every issue.

This is exactly the answer I expected, and the answer I dreaded.  I have said for a long time that Birds of Prey feels like a book dictated by an editor with the "talent" filling in the dialogue.  That Marx says her editor "presented" the tie-in to her tells me it was never her choice.

As readers, we've already seen a little of Dinah's back story in Team 7.  That in mind, how is this younger Dinah in "Zero Year" different from the Team 7 version, or different from the person she is in the "Birds of Prey" present?
This story covers her early years and reveals more of what was driving her at the time. It covers the gap between who she was then and how her connection to Team 7 came about.  It lays the groundwork for the person she is in the present and will help us understand why she reacts as she does to the changes she's going through.

The Team 7 series took place roughly five years before the present Birds of Prey.  And Batman's "Zero Year" is taking place six years before present, I understand.  I'm not sure if Dinah's "Zero Year" tale takes place at the same time as Batman's or not.  Considering how much emphasis was put on her experience in Team 7, I would think that one year is not a lot of time to position her that way, but I could be wrong.  If anything, I figure this is the story where she meets and falls for Kurt Lance.

Do you have any interest in bringing back old team members, like Poison Ivy or Starling?
I don't have an interest in bringing Ivy back. She is, pardon the pun, a toxic character.  I definitely want to have a rematch with Starling and have some plans for that.

Yay!  Using Starling as a villain--I'm cool with that.  Not bringing Ivy back into the team--I'm really cool with that!

Check out the rest of the interview over at CBR.  Birds of Prey #25 comes out November 20th.

N'Rama Interview with Ladies of ARROW

For today's Media Monday, we're going back a couple weeks to a Newsarama interview with the ladies of CW's Arrow, Willa Holland and Katie Cassidy.  Holland plays Thea Queen, sister of the heroic Oliver Queen, I think (I haven't watched any of the series yet, though I'm told it's pretty good and that I would enjoy it).  More germane to this blog, however, is Cassidy, who is credited--in the interview, at least--as Dinah "Laurel" Lance.

Having not seen the show, I don't know anything about the Dinah character in this series.  I don't know if she has any vigilante tendencies, or whether we'll see her become the Black Canary during the run of the show or what.  I don't even know why the name "Laurel" is in quotation marks in her credit.  Does she go by the name Laurel?  Would that possibly leave the name Dinah free to to be used by her mother, Dinah Drake?  I guess time will tell.

Look at all the pretty people...