Golden Oldie: FLASH COMICS #96

Last month, Black Canary's regular strip received a three page promotion, bumping the story up to ten pages.  It must have been a one time trial, though, because her story is back to its now usual seven pages in Flash Comics #96.

"The Riddle of the Topaz Brooch" is written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Carmine Infantino.  As you can see from the teaser page, this story marks the first occasion where Black Canary is shown riding a motorcycle that would become her signature vehicle for most of the character's publication history.

When Larry Lance jumps over the counter, however, he finds the druggist dead.  Larry sends Dinah Drake to call the police, but when Dinah slips away, she changes into the costume of her alter-ego, the Blonde Bombshell called The Black Canary.

Black Canary returns to the drug store where Larry finds a newspaper clipping in the dead man's hand.  The article refers to the precious Gorham Brooch, which will make its final public appearance at a horse show that day.  But then the hired guns who murdered the druggist return to find Black Canary and Larry Lance there.

They trade gunfire for pies and ice cream, eventually pistol-whipping the heroes because Black Canary gets pistol-whipped in every damn issue.  When Canary and Larry wake up, the police arrive, assuming the fishnet-wearing vigilante killed the druggist.  So she's been framed yet again...

Black Canary and Larry Lance run from the drug store, eluding the cops, and heading toward their only clue--the horse show.

Carno and the Masked Riders naturally reveal themselves to be the killers from the drug store.  They steel the Gorham Brooch and ride toward the stadium's exit.  But not without pursuit!

The Masked Riders cause enough traffic congestion to prevent the police from following them, but Black Canary and Larry Lance have no trouble following on the motorcycle.  They trace the bandits to a private airstrip where the bad guys are taking off in a private jet.  Following no one's advice ever, they manage to grab onto the plane before just as it takes off.

The criminals send the plane into a trajectory certain to crash, and then they all abandon the plane with parachutes.  The heroes have only one play, to leap toward the crooks and float safely down on their parachutes.

At this point in her solo career, Black Canary's adventures are getting to be predictable.  It seems like every issue involves Dinah and Larry stumbling onto a body, Dinah changing to Black Canary, then getting framed for the crime, then going off and finding the real villain, then getting knocked unconscious, then saving herself (and Larry) at the last minute and stopping the criminals.

It's a good, classic hero tale for Golden Age storytelling, but repetitive as all get-out seeing as how the creators and publishers weren't banking on a lot of repeat readers.  Continuity wasn't so important at this time, which is good, because the number of times Black Canary gets knocked out would reduce her to nothing but a drooling vegetable.

On the other hand, it is great to see her on that motorcycle where she belongs!

Come back next Sunday for another Golden Age adventure of Black Canary in Flash Comics #97.

Pretty Bird: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #75

After Black Canary immigrated from her home dimension to the Earth of the Justice League of America, writer Dennis O'Neill wasted no time partnering the Blonde Bombshell with the Emerald Archer.  Dinah's first adventure as a member of the League co-starred Green Arrow, and within a couple of months, she would start appearing in the pages of Green Lantern/Green Arrow, also written by O'Neill.

Justice League of America #75: "In Each Man There is a Demon!" is written by Dennis O'Neill with pencils by Dick Dillin and inks by Joe Giella.

The story begins with Green Arrow narrating this month's tale, and what jumps out right away is Green Arrow's new look.  Neal Adams had already redesigned Oliver Queen's duds in The Brave and the Bold a couple months earlier, but this is the first time he appears with the Robin Good costume and Van Dyke beard in the pages of Justice League of America.

Oliver Queen is having some troubles in the beginning of the story as a business rival creates fraudulent documents that all-but ruin Ollie's reputation and his company.  He goes for a walk through the streets of Star City to reflect on the fortune he's about to lose... when suddenly, he hears a cry for help.  Quickly donning his Green Arrow clothes, he fires off an "instant sunburn arrow" that blinds and burns two would be muggers.  The almost-victim thanks Green Arrow, calling him the most useful man in Star City.

But Ollie isn't sure about that.  Should the costumed crime fighter be "more useful" than the millionaire businessman?  Ollie's having a bit of an identity crisis now.

Hawkman argues that Black Canary is quite simply underpowered to go up against the threats faced by the Justice League.  Black Canary then begins thinking about the world she left, the world of the Justice Society of America and Earth 2... the world of her recently late husband, Larry Lance.

Green Arrow then describes how he sought help for his identity crisis by finding a Dr. Oyal who developed a kind of machine that could identify the true nature of a person.  When Ollie undergoes the procedure, however, something bizarre and unexpected happens.  A phantom of Green Arrow, a kind of glowing green shade leaves his body like a ghost and attacks Dr. Oyal.  It claims to be the warrior spirit from within Oliver Queen.

Meanwhile, Superman and the Atom run tests on Dinah Lance where they make a shocking retcon discovery about her physiology.

Batman speculates that Black Canary's new sonic powers may be the result of some residual radiation from their battle with Aquarius last issue.  She was close enough to the energy ball that killed Larry that her cells may have been irradiated enough not to harm her but to create a meta-human power that right now she has no control over.

At that point, the shade of Green Arrow busts in on their meeting.  The League tries to capture it, but when they touch the thing, it draws out the aggressive inner nature of all of them.

Well, not all of them.  Superman, it appears, has no dark half.  After the shades trash the League's headquarters and take off to cause more mischief, Superman has to conceive a plot to get the team's confidence and fighting spirit back.

Superman goes to battle against his mysterious shadow self and after a fierce combat, Superman wins, proving to his friends and teammates that they can in fact do battle with themselves...and win.

When they leave, Superman reveals to us that the phantom he fought was just one of his robots painted green.

Each of the League members goes off to face their evil self individually, and each wins.  First Hawkman defeats his phantom, then Batman his, then the Atom his.  Then Black Canary...

She leaps off the bike and tackles her shade, putting the dark Canary down with a sleeper hold.

Then it's Green Arrow's turn to fight his shade, but when the time comes, he chickens out.  His identity crisis has become a full-blown crisis of confidence.  However, as he's walking away, he comes across a kindly old couple that give him a nice pep talk.  So he goes out looking for his shade again, and when he finds him, they draw down.

Ollie is wounded, but when his arrow strikes the shade, all five of the phantom Leaguers are sucked back inside the heroes, ending the problem.

For Black Canary's first story as a Justice Leaguer, this issue does a lot to establish her as a visible and credible addition to the team.  First there is the creation of a new power set: her sonic scream, although at this point she has no control over the power and it doesn't really emanate from her mouth.  It will take some time for Dinah to master this power and direct it as her "Canary Cry".

For now, the power seems almost a burden as much as a gift.  O'Neill is merely seeding this super power in Black Canary in case she'll need it in later adventures when her Judo isn't enough.  But in this story, it is.  She uses her martial arts ability to fight her personal demon and succeeds, a great testimony to her abilities and her value to the Justice League.

Black Canary also gets her own mode of transportation.  The motorcycle may not be as audacious as the Batmobile, but it's as lithe and stylish as herself, and in time it will be her signature vehicle.  And what's more, the motorcycle was custom made for her by Superman.  How cool is that?!!

The third statement made about Black Canary in this issue is her unquestioned connection to Green Arrow.  There's nothing specifically romantic or overly flirtatious about their dialogue in this issue, but Dillin sure draws them to look familiar and comfortable with each other.  It won't be long before he has taken the place of her husband (that he sorta kinda killed).

Oh, the other cool thing about this story--Superman doesn't have an evil counterpart!  There is no bastard version of Superman.  He's that good!  Remember when Superman was good?

Back in Action: ACTION COMICS WEEKLY #632

Previously...

Every Wednesday, I review an issue of Action Comics Weekly featuring a backup story starring Black Canary among others.  Each installment of Back in Action will look at Dinah's story and touch on my favorite or least favorite moments from the rest of the strips in these issues.

This issue's cover by Tom Grindberg shows Nightwing and Speedy under fire from the one or more of the warring factions of Northern Ireland.  I'm not sure if the toddler in Speedy's arms in this image is supposed to be his daughter, Lian, or the Irish scamp named Button that he's taken under his wing.  Likewise, I'm not sure he's trying to protect the child or use her as a human shield from the semi-automatic weapon pointed at him.  Also, I have no idea what emotion I'm supposed to be getting from his face.  Fear?  Pain?  Shock?  Did the baby just poop on his leg?  I guess I've seen better.

Black Canary

"Knock 'Em Dead" Part 9: written by Sharon Wright, pencilled by Randy Duburke, inked by Pablo Marcos, lettered by Steve Haynie, colored by Gene D'Angelo, and edited by Robert Greenberger.  Black Canary's story is printed third out of six features in this issue, coming after Green Lantern and Phantom Stranger.

Last chapter we finally received confirmation that the killer hunting Ken Glazier's old friends and acquaintances wasn't the prostitute named Deb.  The killer is, in fact, Ken's ex-wife, Cat, a popular actress appearing as Peter Pan in a local Seattle stage production.  Part 9 opens with Cat holding the Deb prisoner in the sewer.  She claims to be doing this because Deb killed Cat's daughter.  Deb denies this, but it doesn't seem to affect Cat, who kicks her into the water, leaving her to sink and drown.

Black Canary and Ken Glazier go to see Peter Pan in order to identify Cat.  The police surround the theater and Lieutenant Cameron joins Canary to make the arrest when Ken points out his ex-wife.  They watch the show and and Ken ID's his wife playing Pan.  Cameron says they'll arrest her after the show.

Cat, however, recognizes her husband, and during the climactic sword fight between her character and Captain Hook.  They take the fight off the stage and into the audience, and when Cat is close enough, she leaps at Ken, fully attempting to kill him in front of the whole audience.  But Black Canary is there to stop her.

They fight while the audience reacts in panic, storming for the exits.  Cat slashes Canary's arm with one of her knives and runs backstage.  Cameron checks to see that Black Canary is okay, and then they chase the killer.  Canary follows Cat through the men's bathroom and out a window, but there loses track of the killer.  Cat slipped into a sewer grate and spies on her pursuers from underground.

Unsure of whether Cat escaped through the police cordon or if she's just holed up and hiding really well somewhere in the theater, Cameron agrees to send Ken Glazier out of there to a hotel.  But when Ken gets in his car, Cat is waiting for him and makes him drive away at knife-point.

[Click the images below to enlarge.]

Randy Duburke's art is immeasurably better in this issue than it was back in the first Black Canary story from issues #609 through #616.  Black Canary still looks great even wearing solid black leather pants instead of her fishnet stockings, and her hair seems to fill up the pages like Batman's expansive cape.  The action is highly exaggerated but never confusing.

This story has been as great as any classic suspense thriller and really reminds me of certain types of movies from the '80s and '90s like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, except without the explicit sex scenes and with a costumed vigilante.  The body count continues to rise as the story ramps up with two more chapters to go!

The Rest

From the pages of X-Force comes... BluddFire!!!

James Owsley and M.D. Bright continue the story of Green Lantern as Hal Jordan pursues the alien shrine-ship into space, reflecting on the fact that the alien only learned violence and aggression when it came to Earth.  Then something strange happens and Hal seems to be warped through time and space to a different star system with no way to find his way back to Earth.  He investigates a strange alien planet and finds its ruler, a human going by the name Malvolio of the Green Flame.

But as you can see, he looks a bit more like Alan Scott reimagined by an X-Men artist in the '90s.  Oh, and he's needlessly angry, too.

In chapter two of The Phantom Stranger's tale by Paul Kupperberg and Fred Carrillo, the titular character chases Tannarak across the skies of New York, learning that his recently deceased foe was resurrected by the Lords of Chaos.  Cassandra Craft tries to get him to stop but he doesn't listen to her because no one ever listens to women named Cassandra.  Tannarak goes to the Bronx Zoo, calling all the big cats to him.  After he summons lions and tigers and such, he draws in his energy and fuzes them all into one giant bipedal felinoid monster.

This week's two-page Superman strip by Roger Stern and Curt Swan is entitled "Holy War" and we learn that not only does the group known as the Followers believe Superman is a god, but their enemies, the evil organization determined to destroy them, actually views Superman as a devil.  They call him the Beast of the Apocalypse, which is all sorts of amusing to me to think of Superman that way.

The adventures of Nightwing & Speedy by Cherie Wilkerson and Vince Giarrano continue to deliver the action as our heroes from America find themselves beset by the Sanas and the F.O.E.s.  The girl named Moira is nearly killed in a bombing near the parade, Nightwing takes out some corrupt cops, and Speedy shoots down a helicopter gunship with his bow and arrow.  But the violence isn't limited to the streets, as even government officials poison each other to take power.

The latest installment of Blackhawk by Martin Pasko and Rick Burchett finds the Blackhawk crew
escorting a beautiful woman who fends of the flirtatious advances of Jan Prohaska.  However, when the Blackhawks let their guard down, the woman is murdered by the Nazi babe who takes her place and looks enough like her to sleep with Jan that night.  She infiltrates their group and when they take flight, she starts to poison their coffee.

Next week, I'll look at Action Comics Weekly #633, which continues the adventures of Black Canary, Superman, Green Lantern, Phantom Stranger, Nightwing & Speedy, and Blackhawk.

Team-Up: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #62 (Nov 1965)

I know that last Tuesday I promised a review of the first issue of the Birds of Prey ongoing series, but  I'm pushing my coverage of that series back until at least the second week of April.  In the meantime, I've got a Black Canary team-up I've been sitting on for a while.

The Brave and the Bold #62 pairs Black Canary with Starman for the second consecutive issue in "The Big Super-Hero Hunt" written by Gardner Fox with art by Murphy Anderson.  Click here to check out my review of their previous team-up.

Boy, the upper half of this cover is really, really busy.  There's a whole lot of text up there contrasting with the rest of the cover, depicting relatively small characters in battle against a pretty stark background.  As we can see, Starman and Black Canary are confronted by the villainous coupling of Sportsmaster and The Huntress (who would later be known as Tigress).  And the other great thing about this issue, as advertised on the cover, is it features another one of my favorite Golden Age heroes: Wildcat.

As with the last issue, we get a teaser page divided into two columns, but this time Starman and Black Canary are on one side and their adversaries on the other.

The story begins in Federal City where the upper crust of society has come to view wax mannequins of ancient sports figures.  Suddenly, the statue of Discobulus cracks and falls away from a living man dressed as a fisherman.  Using a fishing rod, the stranger snares a valuable trophy and sets off some sports-related traps for the shocked onlookers and local cops.

As luck would have it, however, the director of the sportsman's display is having dinner in the building with Dinah Lance, wife of private investigator Larry Lance, and secretly the costumed crime fighter known as Black Canary.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city, Ted Knight, astronomer, businessman, and superhero called Starman, enjoys a quiet night at home.  On his estate, Ted has crafted scale models of some the great astronomical observatories from around the world.  When Ted walks by the life-size reproduction of the Pekin Observatory, though, he hears a voice calling out for help from inside.

The Pekin Observatory is a maze designed by ancient Chinese engineers, and despite the fact that Ted had it rebuilt on his property, he doesn't know how to get through the maze.  So he dons the disguise of his adventurous alter-ego, Starman, and uses the Cosmic Rod to fly over the maze.  Inside, he finds Wildcat, his one-time teammate from the Justice Society of America, knocked unconscious.

But Starman and Wildcat aren't alone there.

Attacked by the falcons, Starman flies high up in the atmosphere where he happens to spot a shooting star falling through the night sky.  He uses the Cosmic Rod to smash the meter, sending its firry debris at the birds, scattering them at first.  When the falcons regroup, he uses the Rod to transform the moonlight into energy that freezes the birds in ice blocks.  And after that he creates an Aurora Borealis effect to distract the remaining birds.  Yeah, all of that makes perfect sense.

Starman pursues Huntress, but the lady was en route to meet her boyfriend, Sportsmaster, returning from his heist of the sportsman's show.  Sportsmaster sees Starman first and throws a ski at poor Ted.

Black Canary lifts Sportsmaster over her head and spins him around before heaving him off.  Proud of this miraculous physical feat, she doesn't see the Huntress sneaking up behind her.

Black Canary sends the tree branch back at Huntress, taking the wind out of her.  But when the Canary moves in to keep the woman down, Sportsmaster trips her with one of his skis.  Black Canary falls headfirst into the tree, knocking herself out.

Sportsmaster and Huntress escape to water where Sportsmaster has a boat waiting for their getaway.

Starman and Black Canary stake out Sportsmaster's skis, waiting for the villain to return and claim them.  Instead, however, the skis are remote activated by jets that fly them off into the sky.  Starman grabs Black Canary and uses his Cosmic Rod to fly after them.  They follow the skis to an isolated chalet in the countryside.

The heroes search the house, and when they come to the underground cellar, they find cages of animals...and Wildcat, too!

Wildcat fights the polar bear while Starman tussles with a black panther and wild boar.  He uses his rod to send the panther flying and locks the boar in another cage.  Black Canary uses her famed judo mastery on a giant gorilla.

While all of this is going on, Sportsmaster and Huntress play a round of golf outside on a green that somehow floats above the ground.  The green floats all the way to the Federal City Country Club where Sportsmaster drives golf balls at the golfers, knocking them out, so he can steal prize money from the club.

Starman engages Sportsmaster, with the latter throwing his golf hat and the pole, but Starman manages to dodge and deflect using his powerful rod.  Black Canary chases Huntress until she falls into a disguised hole in the ground.  Huntress grabs her and flips her out of the hole, sending her on a collision course with Starman.  But the Cosmic Rod sends Black Canary back at Huntress.

This story isn't as good as the previous issue where Canary teamed up with Starman to fight the Mist, but it's still pretty fun.  Sportsmaster demands a certain level of suspension of disbelief in order to take him seriously as a villain, but a few of his gimmicks were interesting if nonsensical.  We don't get much characterization from Dinah or Ted, and Wildcat doesn't do much of anything important.

Still, the best part of this issue is seeing Black Canary fight super villains.  In her solo adventures during the Golden Age, Black Canary never had a rogues gallery.  The only time she fought real costumed villains was as part of the Justice Society of America.  It makes sense then that in these issues of The Brave and the Bold she would piggyback on other heroes' foes.

I read this story in the collected Black Canary Archives.  If you can find it there or on its own, I highly recommend reading this issue!

Golden Oldie: FLASH COMICS #95

Just last week I was extolling Kanigher and Infantino for adding a seventh page to Black Canary's monthly adventures.  That extra page allowed the art to stretch out and breathe easier and the story to draw out greater insight into the characters.  But in Flash Comics #95, they do a lot more than that!

"An Orchid for the Deceased" is written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Carmine Infantino.  And it comes in at ten pages!

Black Canary's strip opens with a splash page, a sort-of mini-cover, featuring Black Canary and Larry Lance leaping from a giant gargoyle head-shaped rock as two gunmen try to kill them.  Black Canary is shown reaching for Larry as if trying to catch him or protect him.

The story begins with Dinah Drake returning to her flower shoppe, finding a crowd of enthusiastic people waiting for her.  Only they're not customers looking for flowers; they're waiting to meet with Lance, who has relocated his private detective agency into Dinah's store.

Dinah wants Larry and his business out of hers and demands he move out, even though he has already crudely painted his name and sign on her store's window.  Then the phone rings and Larry is eager to pick up and deliver his spiel about solving any cases.  Unfortunately for him and rather obvious to anyone else, the caller wanted to place an order for flowers.  Or rather, one flower.  The caller wants a black orchid delivered the Masters Estate...

And the caller identifies herself as... The Black Canary!

How can that be, though, since Dinah Drake is the Black Canary.  Determined to solve this mystery, the sends Larry Lance to the harbor to deliver a bon voyage wreath to a ship.  Then Dinah changes into her blonde wig, black jacket and fishnets and heads out to the Masters Estate.

She sneaks over the wall, but is almost immediately spotted by security to open fire on her.  She uses her signature Judo toss to flip one of the gunmen over her shoulder like she does in every issue.  Then she does the other thing that happens in every issue.  She gets pistol-whipped and knocked out.  The guards bring her to the mansion.

Someone is framing Black Canary for the murder of Andrew Masters.  But who and why?

At that point, the security goons bring in Larry Lance, who, after delivering flowers at the harbor, chose to swing by the Masters Estate hoping to find Black Canary.  Sensing the optimal time for a distraction, Black Canary grabs Larry by the wrists and swings him around the room like he weighs no more than a doll.  Larry's feet and body club the rest of the guards, giving Black Canary enough time to jump out the window, dodging their gunfire.

She leaves Larry Lance in the Masters house with the trigger-happy guards and escapes.  Then she sneaks over to the district attorney's house to consult him about the case.  Once there, however, she overhears the D.A. talking about how Andrew Masters amended his will to leave everything to Black Canary for once saving his life at Gargoyle Head Lake.  That gives her a motive to kill him if she's caught.

So Black Canary returns to Gargoyle Head Lake where she finds Larry Lance trapped in the crevice on the Gargoyle's stony head.

Black Canary swims over and saves the real killer, Masters' niece, and pulls her to shore with Larry's help.

Okay, I have to question one bit of physics and one bit of logic where Black Canary is concerned, even though traditionally Golden Age comics cared about neither.  The fact that Black Canary could grab Larry Lance and swing him around off the ground without any kind of momentum built up is  ridiculous.  He probably weights close to 200 pounds.  Judo expert or not, I find it extremely difficult to reconcile Dinah Drake pulling that feat off without being a meta-human with super strength.

Then there's the way she abandons Larry Lance in the Masters Estate when the guards believe him part of her plot to kill the patriarch.  She might have been leaving him to die for all she knows, and then he just happens to show up at the lake in the climactic scene?  Doesn't seem like the most noble, heroic thing for the hero to do.

Kanigher uses the extra pages in this story to play more with Dinah and Larry's amusing work-play relationship.  The mystery isn't that much more complicated than normal, and just as ridiculous as most Golden Age mystery tales Black Canary investigates.

Come back next Sunday for another Golden Age adventure of Black Canary in Flash Comics #96.

And I'll tell you right now it's back to seven pages.

Pretty Bird: DETECTIVE COMICS #559

You might know I'm fond of coordinating blog posts with celebratory events from DC's Super Calendar from 1976.  And according to that calendar, March 14th is the birthday of Selina Kyle, also known as Catwoman!  So today's installment of Pretty Bird Friday looks at a comic that not only showcases Black Canary working with her boyfriend, Green Arrow, but also guest stars Catwoman (and some guy named Batman, too).

Detective Comics #559: "It Takes Two Wings to Fly" is written by Doug Moench with art by Gene Colan and Bob Smith.  As you can see from the cover, Black Canary is dressed in her sweatsuit costume generally known as her Justice League International costume.  This look--which I've never preferred although I will admit it has grown on me over the years--designed by Klaus Janson, debuted in Detective #554.  After that, Dinah wore it in a couple issues of Green Lantern, but I'm fairly sure this was only the fourth or fifth published appearance of the costume.

The story opens with Batman chasing a suspect across the rooftops of Gotham City*.  The crook manages to escape the Dark Knight by leaping onto a train, and Batman's pursuit is disrupted by the intervention of Green Arrow.  The Emerald Archer tries to convince Batman that the crook, Curtis Sample, isn't such a bad guy, he's just fallen on hard times as a result of a broken and corrupted financial system.  Batman argues that's no reason to allow criminals to get away with committing crimes.  Green Arrow, of course, calls Batman a Nazi and that's when things are about to get punchy.

Green Arrow prevented Batman from stopping a potential murderer and claimed that the guy was a victim of circumstance?  I don't think he has much chance of swaying the Caped Crusader to his position.

The three costumed crime fighters go for coffee--yes, they go sit down at a table in a coffee shop.  Batman and Green Arrow call each other names but Black Canary tries to keep the peace and tells Batman what they're doing in Gotham.

Curtis Sample's father worked for Kemson Corp for twenty years handling hazardous waste.  When dad died of cancer, Sample tried to sue Kemson Corp for their dangerously negligent practices concerning toxic waste and such.  Oliver Queen wrote articles in the Star City newspaper to help Sample's crusade against the environmental polluters, but it amounted to nothing.  Sample lost his case.  And Kemson retaliated against Sample.

Green Arrow and Black Canary explain to Batman that Sample's scheme is to rob Kemson's Gotham division of enough money that he can front as a representative from an international chemical conglomerate, lure Kemson into a deal for some illegal product, and prove in court that they're dirty.  Ollie and Dinah are allowing him to go along with this overly complicated scheme while watching over him to make sure he stays safe.

Batman can hardly believe what he hears.  They continue to bicker...in a restaurant surrounded by night owls drinking coffee.  Batman makes it about pride and territory, that they didn't inform him they were coming to operate in Gotham.  Green Arrow makes it about left-wing/right-wing politics.  Black Canary, for her part, makes it about innocent people being poisoned by this company, and that's enough to settle the argument.

However, as the altruistic trio make their way outside, one of the coffee shop's patrons follows them out with a gun.

Black Canary kicks and punches the would-be shooter, Batman disarms him with a batarang, and Green Arrow pins him to the wall with an arrow through the man's jacket.  Ollie questions the guy who claims to be hired muscle from Kemson Corp paid to follow Sample.  There are others who stayed on his trail while this guy went after the heroes.

Black Canary worries that Sample is in grave danger while they've been fighting amongst themselves.  Green Arrow and Batman blame each other for that.

Batman meets Commissioner Gordon at the hospital where Curtis Sample was admitted after taking a serious beating from the Kemson hoods.  Outside the hospital, Catwoman approaches Batman, who introduces her to the others.

Batman vows to continue with Sample's plan to entrap the Kemson Corp in an illegal sale of hazardous chemicals.  Green Arrow refuses to go along with it because he doesn't want to admit Batman's plan makes sense.

So Bruce Wayne gets Lucius Fox to set up the deal through a subsidiary and uses Selina Kyle as the front for the deal with Kemson.  Selina goes to the Kemson plant in Star City to inspect the plant, but when she gives them the money, the Kemson officials betray her.  One of the men is the hood who ambushed Batman and the others outside the coffee shop.  He was bailed out of jail and told his superiors about Batman's plan.  Before Kemson hurts Catwoman, however, the Dark Knight makes his dramatic entrance.

One of the hoods threatens to shoot Selina, but he's struck by an arrow.  A green arrow.

Batman, Catwoman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary work together to stop Kemson, retrieve the money, and put down all of his hired guns.  Batman thanks Ollie and Dinah for showing up to lend a hand, and then Dinah and Selina go get some coffee to gossip about their men.

So as a birthday tribute to Catwoman, this isn't the greatest example, but I already reviewed Birds of Prey: Manhunt.  She doesn't do a whole lot in this story; it's really about Batman and Green Arrow bickering about their approaches to society's evils, calling each other stupid names, and generally being childish brats.

On the other hand, Catwoman and Black Canary are the only characters who come out of this issue not looking like idiots.  Dinah is able to keep Batman and Green Arrow from physically brawling and she's able to keep them focused on the only thing that really matters in their line of work: protecting innocent people.  Her level-headedness is what makes this team-up work both for the characters and for the reader.

As for the art, I am and will always be a huge Gene Colan fan.  He's one of my all-time favorite artists in the business.  Now I don't think this issue was one of his better outings, but it's not bad, and once again, I think Black Canary comes out on top.  Colan has drawn a better, darker, more striking Batman, but I don't know if Black Canary ever looked better in her blue sweatsuit costume than she did in this issue.

* The first part of this story is supposed to be set in Gotham City.  But on the first page, there is a sign on one of the buildings that says "I Love the Big Apple" with a heart standing in for the word love and an actual apple for the word apple.  Is this a sign for New York City in Gotham?  Was Colan referencing actual buildings and drew the sign forgetting that in the DC Universe, the cities aren't actual representations of real life cities?