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.

Batgirl #49 - A Review

With Barbara Gordon's mind shattered in the wake of The Fugue's psychic assault, it will take a miracle to bring her back at all, much less as the woman she once was. Luckily, Frankie still has the digital back-up that Barbara made of her mind - the same one that took on a life of its own and became a hostile artificial intelligence. But even if Frankie can keep Babs' wandering mind under control, can it still be used to determine which parts of Barbara's memories are real?

This issue utilizes its multiple artists to marvelous effect. Having different artists with vastly varied styles draw the various aspects of Barbara Gordon's mind visually symbolizes the conflict of the issue perfectly. The final effect crafts a perfectly jarring counterpoint to the text of the story.


Unfortunately, the actual text of the story is still something of a mess. And while Fletcher and Stewart have finally given one of Barbara's supporting cast a distinct personality, it seems that Frankie has been given the personality of the pre-New 52 Oracle-era Barbara Gordon. And making me think of better Barbara Gordon comics while reading this one is never a good idea.

At this point, I am content to write off any incongruity I've noticed in this series regarding Batgirl's personality as being due to the manipulations of The Fuege. To that end, I'm dropping this title immediately and hoping someone else is writing the Batgirl books post-Rebirth.

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.

Batgirl #44 - A Review

The good news is that Batgirl has found the person responsible for killing several freelance techies and framing other people for the murders. The bad news is that the guilty party is an aspiring super-villain called The Velvet Tiger. And she's just as tech-savvy as Babs and armed with the tools needed to neutralize all of Batgirl's wonderful toys!


Brendan Fletcher and Cameron Stewart are to be commended for trying to expand Batgirl's rogues gallery as much as they've expanded her supporting cast of friends. A hero needs good villains to be effective and the revamped Velvet Tiger is shaping up to be a worthy arch-enemy for Batgirl. Ignoring the animal motifs, VT is just as smart as Babs and a dark mirror of what an evil Barbara Gordon might be like. Hopefully she'll be back for more fun in the future.


Am I the only one amused that Bengal is the guest artist on the same issue of Batgirl that introduces a tiger-themed villain?  Probably so. But Bengal proves a worthy substitute for regular artist Babs Tarr and the artwork for this issue looks amazing.

Batgirl #43 - A Review

Techies all around Gotham's Burnside district are dying from tiger attacks.  Even by the standards of Gotham City, this is a strange case. Unfortunately, between helping her ex-roommate plan her wedding and stopping her current roommate from taking to the streets to assist in Batgirl's crime-fighting, Barbara Gordon already has her hands full!


I enjoy Babs Tarr's art style. It reminds me of Bruce Timm's designs for the classic Batman: The Animated Series for all the right reasons while also maintaining an aesthetic that would not look out of place in a Shojo manga. Yet I have to praise her more than usual for her tigers, which are more realistic than I expected yet somehow blend in perfectly with the cartoonish people.


The story by Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart is a hoot. We've seen this broad story before - the hero has difficulty balancing friends, work and heroism in the face of a case only they can solve. Yet despite the trope-filled plot, the execution is handled very well and the sheer absurdity of the concept of techies being assassinated by tigers does much to mitigate any sense of familiarity.

Action Comics #0 - A Review

The origins of Superman are one of the most well-known stories in modern American culture. DC Comics has already told and retold this story several times in the last decade alone (Birthright, Secret Origins, Earth One). Just a year ago, Grant Morrison gave us a picture perfect introduction to everything Superman is in the New 52 universe with the first issue of the new Action Comics. One wonders then - what more needs to be said about how Superman became Superman? What CAN be said that hasn't already been said?

It is, perhaps, in answer to this question that Action Comics #0 breaks away from the standard template we've seen thus far in DC Comics's Zero Month issues. Morrison's focus in this issue is less upon the man himself and more upon the people he touches. More, it is an exploration of the idea of Superman and his greatest power - the power to inspire.



The Boy Who Stole Superman's Cape centers upon a young boy who, having witnessed Superman's first unsuccessful attempt at crime fighting and seen him survive close-range contact with an RPG, steals his cape. Why? Because he has an abusive step-father at home and he knows that cape can protect him and his family.

As with so many Morrison ideas, the conceit is brilliant in its' simplicity - take the conceit of so many children playing superheroes and make it into a practical reality. What comic fan didn't tie a blanket around our shoulders and pretend we could fly while stretched out across a bed or stand up to a hail of gunfire, fists firmly planted on our hips at some point in our childhood? Precious few, I'd think.

Morrison also adds a little polish to his development of the supporting cast. Jimmy Olsen's role as Clark Kent's "pal" (i.e. ex-roommate and only real friend in Metropolis) is expanded upon. Perry White is given a far larger role than I think he's had in the series until now (no surprise as he isn't Clark's boss yet). And Lois Lane - dear Lois Lane, I have missed seeing you be written to be this awesome.



Ben Oliver & Brian Reber - the regular art/coloring team on Batwing - deliver what is easily the best work I've ever seen from their partnership and that is saying something. Oliver's crisp pencils are perfectly painted and brought to life by Reber. Letterer Steve Wands also deserves high praise for his unique method of demonstrating drunken, slurred speech.

If this issue has a downside, it's that the back-up story seems like something of an add-on to the meat of the main part of the issue. Origin of the Species details the creation of this universe's version of Captain Comet. It's not a bad story. Sholly Fisch is as great a storyteller as ever and Cafu's art is grand. There's just little emotional investment in an origin story for a character who is supposed to be a superbeing developed far beyond humanity's ability to comprehend or relate to.

Overall, this is a damn fine comic and a good jumping-on point if you haven't gotten into Action Comics yet. Give it a try. You'll be glad you did.