Dragon Con 2014 Cosplay Crossover

My best friend, Shag Suarez of Firestorm Fan, recently returned from Dragon Con 2014 with tons of photographic evidence that will eventually be used against him in court.  I have never attended Dragon Con, nor have I seen any pictures of actual dragons there, but what the con definitely has an abundance of is cosplayers.  Dedicated, talented cosplayers.

If you squint, you might find Brother Power the Geek in the above photo!

There were, of course, a handful of Black Canary cosplayers in attendance.  At least one woman wore the classic fishnets, but the new standard for Canary cosplay that I've noticed in photos from every convention is the version worn by Caity Lotz in CW's Arrow.

At least it's a cool, sexy costume.  One of the cosplayers even brought a version of the character's handheld sonic weapon, her own little take on the Canary Cry.

The Arrow Canary might be the new norm in cosplay, but that doesn't mean there aren't adventurous women willing to think outside the box when it comes to dressing like the Blonde Bombshell.  One woman even dressed as the DC Bombshells nightclub singer version of Black Canary.

The photos used in this post were taken by Shag.  You can see dozens more at his Flickr and other pages for Dragon Con 2014.

But hey, this is a DC Blogosphere crossover!  For more iconic DC heroes and villains, check out the veritable Justice League of Bloggers listed below.

• Aquaman Shrine
• Being Carter Hall
• Captain Carrot's Burrow
• Firestorm Fan
• Kord Industries
• Legion of Super-Bloggers
• Speed Force

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Banshee

It's Thursday and that means I get to lazily graciously repost one of Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Last December, Ross celebrated his 600th crossover cover with a four different mash-ups, including Black Canary and Banshee's final scream!

I love all of these team-ups, from the Avengers and Star Trek crew, to Wolverine and Lion-O of the Thundercats, to Deathlok and RoboCop.  But naturally my favorite is the sonic power-couple of the X-Men's Banshee and Dinah Lance.

The Black Canary image above is by Nick Cardy and comes from the cover to The Brave and the Bold issue #91.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Spider-Girl

It's time again for me to steal repost one of Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  This one is a little more timely, though, as Ross just put this mash-up of Black Canary and Spider-Girl on his site earlier this week.

The Black Canary in this piece was originally penciled by George Perez, while Spider-Girl was drawn by Mark Bagley. 

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary, Green Arrow, Man-Thing

It's Thursday and that means I get to plagiarize pay homage to one of Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Below, Ross had depicted Black Canary and her lover, Green Arrow, running through the swamps from the burning touch of the Man-Thing.

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

There is so much going on in this cover that I simply adore.  First there is Dinah partnered with her longtime beau/onetime hubby, Oliver Queen.  For the image of Dinah and Ollie, Ross sampled a page drawn by the incomparable Brian Bolland from the historic Justice League of America #200.  Bolland's style is pretty identifiable from his well known covers and interiors on Batman: The Killing Joke.  His work on this image, though, is less obviously Bolland.  In fact, at a glance I assumed this was from Neal Adams and/or Dick Giordano.

The next best part of the cover is the inclusion of Man-Thing.  Boy do I love me some Man-Thing!  I found an old dogeared copy of Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 when I was a kid, I don't think a day went by that I didn't go down to the basement and pull out my Giant-Size Man-Thing and have fun.  As soon as I got home from school I couldn't wait to get my hands on my Giant-Size Man-Thing.  I even scared some little girls by showing them my Giant-Size Man-Thing in the park.  Good times.

Lastly, I get a chuckle out of the tag "Burn in the Bayou".  It reminds me of the Creedence song "Born on the Bayou".

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Conan

Another Thursday is upon us, and another opportunity to showcase the stellar work of Ross' custom crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Below, Ross has depicted a jealous and vengeful Black Canary flirtatiously offering herself to Conan the Barbarian.

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

If you're not reading the current Conan series published by Dark Horse Comics, you're really missing out on a fun, adventure story.

The Black Canary image that Ross used for this custom job was originally painted by Dan Brereton, whose work is moody, atmospheric, and sensual in a pulp magazine style.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and the Beast

It's Thursday and that means I get to lazily graciously repost one of Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Almost a year ago to the day, Ross depicted Black Canary struggling to free herself from captivity at the hands of my favorite mutant, Hank McCoy, better known as Beast.

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issue blog.

The Black Canary image originated as a black and white John Byrne sketch, but I don't know who colored it--Ross?

While researching (re: Google Images) where the image came from, I made the following discovery:

Why, hello there, every woman designed between 1983 and 1990!

Read the description on that page from Modern Masters 7: John Byrne.  Yes, Byrne pitched a Black Canary series post-Crisis on Infinite Earths!  I never knew that, and now that I do, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

A Black Canary series helmed by John Byrne would have elevated her status immeasurably, especially at the time when Byrne's star was maybe burning brightest thanks to his rebooting of Superman.  I don't think anything could have boosted her popularity more than that.

On the other hand, I hate that costume design.  Hate it.  I'm also very hot-and-cold, hit-or-miss when it comes to John Byrne.  I loved his stuff on Uncanny X-Men, but his Fantastic Four is highly overrated. I liked his work on Superman, but the Man of Steel miniseries that launched right after Crisis was pretty underwhelming.  And was Byrne going to write and draw the issue?  Because I'm a lot more cold/miss on his scripting than his pencils.

And really, I hate that costume design!  But there's no denying he can draw an exciting classic Black Canary.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Elektra

Another Thursday is upon us, and another opportunity to showcase one of my best friend Ross' custom DC/Marvel crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Below, Ross has depicted Black Canary teaming up with the sexy ninja assassin, Elektra, better known as "Electric Nachos" to anyone who saw the Daredevil movie.

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

I'm not sure where exactly the Elektra part of the image comes from, but Dinah and the shadowy brutes closing in on them come from the cover to Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #34, drawn by Aaron Lopresti. This issue was the first of a two-part Wonder Woman adventure guest-starring Black Canary.  I had completely forgotten about this story, but I now remember really enjoying the interplay between the Amazon Princess and the Blonde Bombshell.  I might have to dig those issues out and review them sometime soon.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Mockingbird

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming to the small screen this month.  As I understand it, the core cast of agents, besides Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson, are all brand new characters created for the pilot.  That was disappointing to learn, given that S.H.I.E.L.D. has so many terrific existent characters.  Mostly, I thought a Joss Whedon-helmed spy series for television would be the perfect launching point for one of Marvel's female superheroes who has yet to grace movie theaters.

I thought maybe the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman could lead the show, or possibly a pre-Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers.  But the best option, I thought, was Mockingbird.

Which segues adequately enough with today's post: another one of Ross' DC/Marvel custom crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog.  Below Ross has depicted Black Canary and Mockingbird teaming up to save their bow-wielding beaus!

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

Ross points out the similarities in character design, motif, and taste in men, so much so that Dinah and Bobbi could be alternate universe versions of the same character.  This cover, like all of Ross' work, is outstanding.  It helps when he uses a Black Canary model drawn by the dude, Steve Rude.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Out This Week: TALON #9

DC continues to try and shore up sales for Birds of Prey by tying it to the Batman universe through peripheral Batman characters like Batgirl, Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze and the Court of Owls.  Seemingly everyone but Batman.  And now BOP is crossing over with Talon.

Cover by Sepulveda

TALON #9

In the aftermath of his encounter with Strix and the Birds of Prey (continuing from this month's BIRDS OF PREY #21), Calvin is sent on his deadliest mission yet: Retrieve one man from the deadliest island on Earth, Santa Prisca, the home of Bane!

Written by James Tynion IV
Art and cover by Miguel A. Sepulveda
On sale June 26
32 Pages
U.S. Price: 2.99

From the solicit, the Birds might only appear in two pages of this issue of Talon.  However, I'm looking forward to it more than any issue of the New 52 Birds of Prey, if only because I like Tynion's writing more than that of Swierczynski or Marx.

UPDATE:  I just read the issue and… I was wrong.  The Birds of Prey appear in less than two pages.  Black Canary only appears on the cover.  Batgirl appears in one panel falling off a building.  None of them have any dialogue, nor are any of them referred to specifically or even obliquely in the script.

I'm pissed off that I paid for this $#@%!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and She-Hulk

The last time I posted one of Ross' DC/Marvel custom crossover covers from the Super-Team Family blog, I timed it with the theatrical release of Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3.  This time, I don't have a pop-culture event to use as a convenient segue; all I have is an appreciation for these awesome covers and a fan blog to share them on!

Below is the custom cover of Black Canary facing off against one of my favorite Marvel characters, the Savage She-Hulk!

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

Ross' work is, as always, terrific.  This rendering of Black Canary, however, isn't the most flattering.  She looks a little long in the tooth, and the bleached-out big hair coupled with an awful mascara job says truck stop hooker in a way that--ironically--her black leather and fishnets never have before.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!

Super-Team Family: Black Canary and Black Bolt

With this past weekend's release of Iron Man 3 in theaters, I felt like dipping Black Canary's foot into the Marvel pond.  And what better way to do that than to spotlight one of the glorious DC/Marvel crossover covers created by Ross over at his Super-Team Family blog?

Below is the custom cover of Black Canary teaming up with the Inhumans king, Black Bolt…for a concert!  Terrific!

Courtesy of Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues blog.

The Dinah featured above was drawn by the wonderful Alex Toth, who contributed to the Black Canary back-up strip in Adventure Comics #418-419.

Check out Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues for many, many more DC/Marvel crossover covers!