Black Canary #12 - A Review

Black Canary #12 brings the series to an ending. It is not a satisfying ending but there is far more closure than I'd anticipated. I will give Brenden Fletcher that little credit.

Most of the issue is concerned with Dinah starting a career as a solo musician, ignoring the pleas of the superhero community in joining their battle against something called Ravedeath. She finds time in the middle of all this to meet and marry Oliver Queen (whom we are told died in space in the most forced reference to David Bowie's Space Oddity ever) and gave birth to a daughter who might be Ditto - the time-manipulating McGuffin child.

Oh, and it turns out Dinah's mother taught her some secret reality-breaking punch when she was a baby, but she doesn't remember it until she's on her deathbed, where her lifelong study of music and chords allow her to understand how to use said technique to undo what her mom did and beat-up an 1980s rock-and-roll vampire demon thingy.

Maybe I need to be on a higher quality of medication for any of this to make sense?



Personally, I'd much rather see the Justice League fighting some evil alien invaders than watching Dinah Lance sit around a studio and conducting interviews about her upcoming album. But whatever. At the end of the issue, Dinah abandons her singing career, trades her thigh boots for army boots and goes off into the world freed from the baggage of her previous life. Her husband is dead. Ditto has magically been erased from the memories of everyone but her. And Amanda Waller seems content to leave her be... for now.

Annie Wu returns to do some of the artwork for this issue but even she can't disguise what a convoluted train-wreck this book became as Sandy Jarrell continues to apply the minimum amount of effort in everything. Lee Loughridge, at least, continues to color everything expertly but even a prettily-painted turd is still a turd.



And so Black Canary ends - not with a bang but a whimper. It was a tale told by a idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.Thankfully, based on what we've seen of Green Arrow and Batgirl and The Birds of Prey, Dinah is in much more capable hands now.

Black Canary #11 - A Review

Yes, I'm still reading this book. At this point, I demand to see how this ends in the blind hope that there will be some kind of explanation for what in the name of Odin's Ravens was going on in this title. It may be a rushed explanation delivered in an information dump of exposition on one page, as is par for the course in Brenden Fletcher's writing, but at least it will be AN explanation.


The story is all over the place in this issue, with Dinah going to Berlin to rescue her band-mates (who we're told once again she loves like family, despite all evidence to the contrary) from an evil 80's rock star demon. Said demon is nursing a grudge because the ninja clan that Dinah's mother founded pretended to be background dancers in an effort to get to him. And Dinah's mother used this magical secret fighting technique that everyone thinks Dinah knows (but doesn't) to hurt him and he wants the secret of said technique so he can be healed.

...

I wish we'd gotten to read THAT comic instead, because that sounds WAY more awesome than what we get here - i.e. Dinah being randomly teleported around by said 80's rock star demon, as he throws exposition at her in an effort to disorient her.

Oh, and on that note, the demon says that he killed Dinah's father. And Vixen's manager used to be part of the same group as Dinah's mother. And that woman who claimed to be Dinah's aunt isn't really Dinah's aunt.

Yeah...


The artwork isn't much clearer than the writing. Sandy Jarrell phones it in again, with Wayne Faucher under-inking the four pages he was brought in to finish. Even Lee Loughridge seems to be waiting for a better gig to come along at this point, with most of the issue done in dull, muted tones that left me wondering if the printer was running low on every color but blue.

Black Canary #10 - A Review

The only kind thing I have to say about Black Canary #10 is that it gives a shout-out to John Constantine's old band - Mucous Membrane - in the form of Dinah's T-shirt. That momentary sight-gag allowed me to momentarily think of better comics than this one. It proved a welcome relief, given that I am hard pressed to think of any other thing this comic managed to do right.


Brenden Fletcher continues to "tell, don't show" with every bit of dialogue he writes. Over half of this issue is devoted to scenes of Black Canary and Batgirl telling each other things they already know or recalling conversations that took place off-panel during the action of previous issues. The vexing thing is that these conversations could have taken place on-panel if Fletcher had been buggered at any point in the previous eight issues to have written a straight-forward conversation regarding what the heck is going on!

And just what the heck is going on, you ask?

In brief, Black Canary is trying to find out the truth about her past and Batgirl is helping her. They get attacked by the same group of ninjas that abducted Black Canary a few issues ago, only now to learn that said ninjas want the knowledge of some secret technique that they think Dinah knows.

Why they didn't ask her for this information when they were forcing her to fight in their arena two issues ago is not explained. Nor is it explained why Dinah - who we're told thinks of her band-mates as a second family - hasn't bothered to make contact with her band-mates ever since escaping from an evil ninja clan's Arena of Death.

Of course I'm still waiting for an explanation as to why an ex-secret agent/vigilante trying who is wanted by the government and is trying to lay low would ever agree to become lead singer of a punk band with a major record label that uses her code name as the band name. I doubt we're over going to get an explanation for that one. The damnable thing is that Fletcher himself inadvertently points out the stupidity of it all, with the thugs that Dinah is beating up at one point recognizing her from the band!



The artwork is similarly troubled. Moritat seems to be trying (and failing) to emulate Annie Wu once again, with unusually forced poses such as Batgirl singing into a hair-brush despite not singing in the dialogue. Sandy Jarrell's pencils are better, but still uncharacteristically sloppy. Even the usually excellent Lee Loughridge seems off-form this month, with Babs and Dinah's coloration being mixed up in one panel (thanks to Jeremy Williams for pointing that one out to me) and the color art only serving to highlight rather than disguise how rushed the pencils and inks are.

The heck of it is I can't even blame the creative team for how thrown-together this issue feels. Given the approach of DC Rebirth and this issue's revelation that Dinah's parents were a private eye and a florist, coupled with the suggestion that Dinah was given implanted memories (exactly like what's going on in Batgirl right now), it seems likely that Fletcher was put over a barrel and forced to turn his Black Canary into the classic Black Canary and reestablish all the backstory that got thrown out the window five years ago.

In that respect, I wish I could be happy. But given that Dinah's apparent destiny is to be Green Arrow's muse, I can't. Problematic and contradictory as this book has been, it at least let Dinah be her own character.

Black Canary #9 - A Review

Normally the band Black Canary is willing to work a private gig for a lot of money but DD has to work extra hard to justify it when their latest gig is the birthday party of Julia Falcone - the granddaughter of crime-boss Carmine Falcone! Throw in the fact that the guest list for the party is a Who's Who of Gotham City's most respectable villains and DD can't get out of there fast enough! Until she finds out that the guest list also includes a number of assassins who are out for the price on Julia's head, then Hell and High Water can't keep her from playing the hero.


This issue proves a welcome change of pace from the previous issues.  Unlike Brenden Fletcher, writer Matthew Rosenberg knows how to set up a story and get to the point. We jump into the action of the issue almost immediately and not a single page of the story is wasted on padding.

The artwork by Moritat is fluid and vibrant, under Lee Loughridge's colors. There is a great sense of motion and clarity to Moritat's work here and the story flows naturally in a way it never quite did with Annie Wu's pencils and inks.



The only bad thing about this book is that Rosenberg and Moritat aren't the regular creative team. This is honestly the best issue of Black Canary so far.  Hopefully DC Comics will find some project worthy of their talents post-Rebirth and I fully intend to check out Rosenberg's Four Kids Walk Into A Bank.

Black Canary #8 - A Review

Trapped in a remote stronghold, Dinah is one of many being forced to fight in an underground arena. The good news is that Dinah is not alone, for the heroine Vixen is also a captive here and Dinah has learned that her mysterious guardian angel is her long lost aunt! But can Dinah really trust either one of them?
The artwork this month is something of a mixed bag. Guest artist Sandy Jarrell is competent but hardly outstanding. Jarrell's female figures all look like a stiff breeze could knock them over, which is something of a problem when most of the characters are meant to be experienced warriors. Lee Loughridge does their usual outstanding job on the colors but the whole comic looks drab and dull due to most of it being set in a prison.

The script for this issue is a showcase of everything Brenden Fletcher does right and wrong as a writer. Most of the action of the issue takes place off-panel and we are told rather than shown most of the information regarding what has been going on in a massive info dump regarding Dinah's past. (Incidentally, it turns out the mysterious blonde ninja is Dinah's aunt - not her sister, as I'd guessed.) What Fletcher gets right, however, is the relationship building between Vixen and Black Canary. You really want to see more of these two teaming up in the future. I just want to see it in a different title.

Batgirl #48 - A Review

Barbara Gordon's perfect memory is failing her and her friends have reported her acting strangely. This happened once before when an artificial intelligence born of Barbara's rage following her paralysis tried to take over her life. Could it have returned? Barbara's going to need some help figuring it out and there's only one person who can match her when it comes to solving mysteries and kicking butt - Black Canary!


I wish Batgirl was written like this on a more frequent basis. There's not a lot of chaff in Fletcher and Stewart's script this time around. And I'm in favor of anything that helps to explain away Barbara's out of character behavior.


Alas, it seems that this month it is the artwork's turn to be uneven. With two different artists working breakdowns and two colorists, there's not a lot of uniformity. None of it looks bad, persay, but the sudden shifts between Tarr's sketchy breakdowns and Rob Haynes thicker inks coupled with the brighter palette used by Lapointe conflicting with the more neutral one favored by Loughridge make it hard for the book to maintain a consistent visual tone.

Superman Annual #3 - A Review

There's two good comics contained within Superman Annual #3. One details the new origin of the immortal conqueror Vandal Savage, tying his origins indirectly into the Superman mythos.  The other showcases the problems Clark Kent faces as he continues to try and help people as Superman, despite his waning powers, lack of a secret identity and Lex Luthor running Justice League.

Unfortunately, these stories ultimately exist only as a set-up for the latest big crossover. And that proves to be to their detriment. It's apparently not enough to tell a story which shows that the meteor that empowered Vandal Savage came from a comet that was redirected from Krypton. We can't just tell a story where Clark Kent tells a teary-eyed Lana Lang that he can't just quit being Superman, even without his powers. It's all just build up for yet another excuse to boost sales.


It's a shame because there's some truly great writing on display in this issue.  The Vandal Savage story is just plain fun. And the modern story proves the point that what makes Clark Kent Superman isn't his powers - it's his ability to inspire other people to greatness. It also subtly disproves Lex Luthor's postulation  - that Superman's existence will cause common people to stop striving to be better - as Lex begins exploiting his power and authority to keep Clark Kent from trying to advance himself. Rarely has Luthor's evil and Clark's goodness been so well and simply exemplified.

The artwork, sadly, isn't quite so evenly handled.  The artwork for the Vandal Savage story is grand, showing a good deal of variety as we follow Savage through the ages.  The artwork for the Clark story, while skillfully done, utilizes a gritty, more realistic style that doesn't really seem appropriate to the story at hand.



Superman Annual #3 is a model for everything that is right and wrong with DC Comics since the New 52 revamp. There's a number of brilliant innovations and reimaginings of classic concepts and this comic showcases the ideal that the hero aspect of a character is more important than the super one. Yet all of that is undercut by a relentless grittiness that is grim for its own sake rather than to make the light shine brighter and the fact that this story exists only as introduction to yet another sales gimmick.

Black Canary #6 - A Review

I honestly want to like the DC You Black Canary series. Dinah Lance has always been one of my favorite heroines but I don't think The New 52 has served her very well as a character. And after six issues, I don't think this series is doing her any favors either.

The centerpiece of this issue is a literal battle of the bands between Dinah's band, Black Canary, and a new group fronted by Dinah's self-styled rival, Bo Maeve. Bo has a grudge against Dinah's band, who ditched her in favor of a lead singer who was less of a diva. And now, with the assistance of Amanda Waller, Bo is back with sonic superpowers to rival Dinah's and a bad-girl group with powers of their own.

This should be awesome and taken in terms of pure visuals, it is.  The artwork by Annie Wu is amazing and the strongest aspect of the series. The action of the issue flows smoothly throughout and the color art by Lee Loughridge is as vivid and wild as a punk rock guitar solo.

The effect is not unlike the band battles in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, save that we don't get any lyrics for the songs here. And I find myself wondering if the lyrics were left out so as the reader could imagine Black Canary's sound for themselves?  Or if writer Brenden Fletcher just didn't bother to write them?  This is just one aspect of the script that seem incomplete and I fear it's because this may be because it's easier to pass a lack of explanation off as mystery than to write a proper plotline.

For instance, I originally thought Fletcher avoided discussing Dinah's past with the Birds of Prey and Team 7 in the early issues of this series to make it more accessible to new readers. Now that the series has referenced that past without answering various questions about it, I wonder if Fletcher just wanted to milk the mystery out long enough to decompress the story to trade-paperback length. The end of the issue suggests some answers may be forthcoming but at this point I'm skeptical of a satisfying resolution.


Ironically, for all my complaints about the series not telling us enough about what is going on in its world and backstory, the book simultaneously violates the "show, don't tell" rule.  We're told that Dinah loves her band-mates but there's little to indicate that.  Dinah is a generic strong female protagonist, who doesn't display any emotions beyond anger.

The supporting cast is even worse in this regard. I can't even remember any of character traits or names apart from Ditto, and Ditto is a MacGuffin rather than a character!  Come to think of it, there's no real definition to any of these people apart from Bo, whose character can be summed up as "jealous diva".

That's my problem with Black Canary in a nutshell. It's got visual style but there's no substance to the writing or characters.  And the only reason I'm picking up the next issue is the hope that there will finally be some kind of resolution to this drawn-out opening arc.

Superman 47 - A Review

The notorious hacker known as HORDR_ROOT has stolen Clark Kent's secret identity and with it his job, his life and a goodly portion of his power. But nearly killing Jimmy Olsen was the last straw. Now Superman is going to take the fight to HORDR_ROOT and bring him down to Earth, with a little help from his friends.


The artwork for this issue is all over the place, with three different artists with completely different styles. Howard Porter has done good work in the past but he seems to be channeling the spirit of Rob Liefeld for the better portion of this issue, with his male figures overlarge and the perspective forced to hell. This is somewhat better than Raymund Bermudez, whose contribution to the issue seems half-finished, being sketchy and under-inked. Only Tom Derenick delivers consistently, but even his work seems ill treated by the two conflicted colorists.


This is a shame because this may be the best single issue of the series Gene Luen Yang has written snice taking over Superman. It's a rare treat to see an issue where Clark fights with his head more than his fists and the fight with HORDOR_ROOT necessitates that. And let's give Yang credit for a truly novel plot twist regarding HORDOR_ROOT's connection to a classic DC Comics villain and a rather nifty origin story.

Black Canary #5 - A Review

Normally I start my reviews with a set-up for the media in question. A plot summary, more often than not. I can't do that with Black Canary #5, however, because there's no plot to speak of. In fact, looking back on the past issues, I realize that there hasn't been a lot going on overall. Events occur but there's very little rhyme or reason behind any of it and there are more mysteries than there are solid facts.

Most of this issue is devoted toward the characters discussing all the mysteries but no progress being made on any of the on-going story-lines.  There's the mystery of who the mute guitarist Ditto is, what connection she has to the government group that gave Dinah her sonic scream power and what any of this has to do with Dinah's amnesic ex-husband and the second group that he's apparently part of now that is also interested in Ditto.


This issue reveals two new mysteries - the revelation that Dinah's entire family died under strange circumstances when she was young and the idea that, somehow, her record label is involved in all of this madness as well and that Dinah's discovery as a singing talent was no accident. And all of these mysteries ignore further mysteries such as who is the white-clad ninja woman who saved Ditto in the last issue and spends this issue trying to steal Dinah's blood in the issue's one action sequence?

All this ambiguity might be tolerable if the characters were at least interesting. Unfortunately, they aren't. Dinah's band-mates all have the personality of dishwater and Dinah herself is a total cipher beyond being the standard "tough chick". At first I thought writer Brenden Fletcher had been trying to keep this book free of any previous continuity but now I find myself wondering if he had any direction from editorial for this book other than "Black Canary becomes a punk singer" or if there is any eventual direction for where any of this is going.


At least the artwork is good, even if there's precious little action for it to depict. The talents of Pia Guerra of Y: The Last Man fame are completely wasted here. Sandy Jarrell closes the book out in a memorable fashion with Lee Loughridge offering up the usual stellar color art.

Black Canary #4 - A Review

With all the people chasing after Dinah Drake's band-mate Ditto, it seems ironic that she should finally be kidnapped by Maeve - the former lead-singer for Dinah's band before they became Black Canary. But Maeve has motives beyond simple jealousy!  She's cut a deal with another figure from Dinah's past to trade Ditto for a chance to be special. But as Dinah hits the road to save Ditto, little does she realize that she has an unseen ally.


The script for this issue of Black Canary is somewhat lackluster, as Dinah doesn't really do anything apart from a brief scene where she stops a carjacking while searching for a lead on Ditto. Most of the issue is focused on Maeve and much as Maeve is nowhere near as interesting as she thinks she is, so too is her subplot dull as dishwater. And the idea of turning Maeve into a super-villain with the same powers as Dinah - as the end of the issue suggests - reeks of the worst kind of hackery. The white-clad ninja woman who saves Ditto from Amanda Waller is far more interesting and one wonders if we're about to learn about Dinah's younger sister the assassin in coming issues.


Pia Guerra proves a capable substitute for regular artist Annie Wu. Guerra's work on Y: The Last Man was amazing and she's in equally fine form here. Colorist Lee Loughridge also does a stellar job.

Black Canary #3 - A Review

Dinah Drake and the rest of the Black Canary band are still on-the-run from government agents that seem unusually interested in their guitarist, Ditto. It's shocking enough when D.D. finds out that one of the agents is her presumed-dead husband, Kurt Lance, but shocking is too weak a word to describe the revelation that Ditto was involved in the government program that gave Dinah her sonic scream! Worse yet, the government aren't the only ones after Ditto...


The artwork by Annie Wu and Lee Loughridge remains this book's strongest selling-point. Wu is an amazing artist with a true gift for artistic fight choreography and the opening car-chase sequence would not look out of place in a Mad Max movie.  Her art is further enhanced by Loughridge's colors, which subtly enhance and emphasize key panels with sudden palette shifts and tints.



This is not to say that the scripts by Brenden Fletcher are not as god as the artwork. They are good though they are more subtle in their brilliance. Fletcher has spun an engaging tale around Dinah's mysterious past, slowing unveiling it to the readers who might not be familiar with Black Canary. Or at least not with the New 52 version of her. The fake magazine articles reporting on the band offer further details as well as insight into Dinah's character.

Constantine The Hellblazer #3 - A Review

The loss of the ghost of his friend Gary has John Constantine in a nostalgic frame of mind. As he remembers a concert from better days, he seeks out an old... let's say contact, who has made good and become a ghost-hunter for The Crown.  And she just happens to be having a problem with a succubus gone wild that John might be able to lend a hand with...


The scripts for Constantine The Hellblazer seem to be improving with every passing month.  This month's issue gives us our first in-depth glimpse at John's troubled past and show that John was trouble even before he knew enough to be dangerous. The dialogue by James Tynion IV and Ming Doyle is the high point of the book, with a good deal of wit and humor amid the horror.


The artwork for this month's issue is the best this series has seen yet.  Ming Doyle also provides the artwork for the flashbacks, establishing a unique timeless aura to John's punk past.  And the artwork for the present scenes, by Vanesa Del Rey, proves appropriately moody and dark - a perfect fit to the story.

Black Canary #2 - A Review

The band called Black Canary is on the road and "D.D." is trying to teach her band-mates something about survival. They take to the gun lessons somewhat better than the martial arts, but everyone agrees they want to be ready in case more of the weirdness that seems to be following them shows up. Thankfully the only thing that seems to be stalking them now is Maeve -their jealous ex-lead-singer. But that could change...


The most impressive aspect of Brenden Fletcher's scripts for this series continues to be his ability to allude to D.D.'s past while still making this series accessible to new readers. Indeed, I envy the new readers for the wonderful mystery this series must be from their perspective, as more and more details of D.D's secret past are revealed.  Those who have read Batgirl, Birds of Prey and Team 7 already know the details, of course, but the story is also enjoyable from that informed perspective.


The artwork for this issue is equally delightful.  Lee Loughridge's color art adopts unique palettes between pages - and occasionally panels - to signal subtle differences between indoors, outdoors and club lighting. This perfectly enhances the art of Annie Wu, which looks equally amazing in black and white, as we see in a fold-out magazine in the middle of this issue.

If you aren't reading Black Canary, you are missing out on one of the most unique reading experiences in recent memory. Treat yourself immediately!  You won't regret it.  

Black Canary #1 - A Review

A hot new band called Black Canary is busting up the charts nearly as fast as their new lead singer D.D. can bust heads. Trouble seems to follow D.D. like a shadow and her past is a mystery even to her band-mates. Still, whatever their misgivings about a front woman who acts more like an MMA champion than a diva, there's a long road ahead of them and a lot of dates left to play on their tour. Assuming they don't all get killed first...

Despite this book being a spin-off of sorts, Brenden Fletcher wisely keeps this book free of any burdensome backstory. Those who followed Batgirl and Birds of Prey will know something of D.D's troubled past and what her initials stand for but such details aren't necessary to enjoy the story at hand. Everything we need to know is revealed deftly through Fletcher's script without seeming the least bit expository.


The artwork for this issue is amazing.  Annie Wu 's style is a perfect fit for the bombastic world of Indie Rock and her design for D.D. proves to be a nice twist on the classic design. This edge is further emphasized by the colors of Lee Loughridge, whose limited palettes and tints give each page a unique look.

This book is a welcome makeover for a heroine who has sorely needed a new direction. No longer a sidekick or part of the ensemble, it's time for Black Canary to take center stage!

Batman #34 - A Review

One of my favorite Batman stories of all time is an oft-forgotten tale called "The Nobody" from Shadow of the Bat #13.  The story in this months's issue of Batman - titled "The Meek" - reminded me of that story, despite there being no direct links between them nor any common plot points.  The only real common thread between them is that both stories showcase Batman's concern for even the lowest members of society and how Bruce Wayne is truly a modern-day knight.


The plot here concerns a serial killer who targets the homeless.  The twist here is that unlike the vast majority of Gotham City's murderous madmen, this killer wishes to be as anonymous and unknown as the people he kills.  This adds a horrific aspect to the story not found in most modern Batman stories and this too reminds me of the old Shadow of the Bat series from the 1990s.  It is to the credit of co-plotters Scott Snyder and Gerry Duggan that they are able to make so mundane a story work within the context of Batman's world.  Not because his world cannot abide such horror but because the idea of a mad killer working without a gimmick in Gotham City is a surprisingly novel one.

The artwork by Matteo Scalera also reminds me of the gothic-horror based Batman comics of yesteryear.  Scalera's style is exaggerated without seeming cartoonish and the inks are used to great effect, particularly in the scenes with Batman exploring crime scenes.  Colorist Lee Loughridge also deserves praise for a uniquely limited palette that makes use of muted blues, yellows, oranges and grays to subtly suggest sudden intensity and mundane ennui in equal measure.