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First Appearance of Black Canary

Started by Flatliner1313,

32 posts in this topic

Crimebuster

Crimebuster

Posted
Posted

Oh man, I don't know how I missed this thread when it happened, but this is a question I have spent way too much time thinking about.

 

So, per recent news are we going with #73? #75 has the cover though. :cloud9:

 

In my opinion, #75 is the key book, both in terms of continuity and actual content, but it's very confusing. I'll explain in detail momentarily why I think #75 is important, and why I don't think #73 is.

 

 

 

If this is about her 1st SA appearance it's hard to argue against JLA #21. She is on the cover for Pete's sake!

 

 

No, it's about the first appearance of the Silver Age Black Canary, or Black Canary II, rather than the first Silver Age appearance of the original Black Canary. Two different people - depending what you believe.

 

 

In terms of the first SA appearance of the GA Black Canary, the original Black Canary appears - along with most of the rest of the JSA - in a flashback sequence in Flash #129. She then appears in a "present" day story in JLA #21 (I don't think she's in Flash #137, though I might be wrong).

 

In terms of the first appearance of the SA Black Canary as a separate character... Here's the break down of the Silver Age Black Canary and why it's just about the single most confusing mess I've run into in terms of comic book first appearances. Way more complicated than Teen Titans. ;)

 

 

Black Canary, along with the rest of the JSA, was brought back when Earth-2 was created. She appeared alongside her Earth-2 JSA compatriots in Flash #129, in several JLA/JSA team-ups in the pages of JLA, and in Brave and the Bold #61 and #62, where she was teamed up with Starman.

 

So far, so simple.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Denny O'Neil revamped and modernized several characters. One of which was Wonder Woman, who he wrote out of Justice League as a result. Another was Green Arrow, in Brave and the Bold #85.

 

As part of these efforts, in the JSA/JLA crossover in JLA #73-74, O'Neil decided to turn his attention to Black Canary. During the course of the story, Dinah's husband Larry is killed. At the end of the story, the distraught Dinah decides to go to Earth-1 to start her life over.

 

In JLA #75, several things happen:

 

1) Dinah moves from Earth-2 to Earth-1

2) Dinah joins the Justice League of America, essentially as a replacement for Wonder Woman

3) Dinah gains her iconic canary cry powers

4) Dinah begins her relationship with Green Arrow

5) not a story element, but not for nothing the issue has an awesome, iconic black cover that is a pain in the to get in high grade

 

For me, and I think for most Black Canary fans (though not all), just about everything we associate with Black Canary except the name and costume come from this issue, particularly her canary cry superpower and her relationship with Ollie. O'Neil writes her as a new, different character, which she is in the same way that the revamped Green Arrow is a new and different character [and by the way, JLA #75 is the second appearance of the new GA, as it came out right after B&B #85. The new Canary and the new GA I think were meant to be together from inception and were designed that way].

 

Personally, for all the reasons above, I consider JLA #75 to be the key SA issue for Black Canary fans, period.

 

Still, even though it was for all intents and purposes a new character, it wasn't actually a new character - she was still the same GA character, and occasionally bits of her Earth-2 continuity would show up (like in her appearance in B&B #91, which makes reference to her dead husband Larry).

 

This is where things really start getting weird.

 

The big problem later creators had is that throughout the 1970's the JSA was shown as having aged in real time on Earth-2, while Dinah - who should have been the same age as the other JSA members - was still apparently young and unaging on Earth-1. When the teams would get together, it would be weird; Alan Scott would look like he's 55, and Dinah would look like she's 25. The longer this went on, the weirder it got. It was like Dazed and Confused - they keep getting older, and she stays the same age.

 

So in order to address this, in 1983 Roy Thomas wrote one of those Roy Thomas continuity heavy, very special episodes, in JLA #219-220. In this, he revealed that the Earth-1 Dinah is not, in fact, the Earth-2 Dinah, but is actually the daughter of the GA Dinah and Larry. She had some sort of weird curse or something, so she had been stuck in a different dimension to protect her - which is why nobody heard of her, yet she suddenly appeared fully grown. In between JLA #74 and #75, she was revived. For reasons that I blissfully have forgotten, the good guys brainwashed her into believing she was her own mother - which really makes some of the stuff about her dead "husband" extra creepy, since the person she thought of as her husband was actually her father - then sent her to Earth-1. Yes, it's just as dumb as it sounds.

 

There was also an explanation as to why the GA Black Canary had vanished for the intervening 14 years as well, but I don't remember it. I've tried to black that whole story out as much as possible.

 

What we're left with is this mess:

 

1) Black Canary's first SA appearance is in Flash #129 in flashback

2) Black Canary's first SA appearance in the "present" is, I think, in JLA #21

3) Black Canary was revamped and modernized in JLA #75

4) until 1983, there was only one Black Canary

5) in pre-Crisis continuity, according to DC, JLA #75 is officially the first appearance of Black Canary II - the Silver Age, Earth-1 Black Canary

 

Complicating this further, of course, is the fact that Crisis came along just three years later and rendered all of the stuff in JLA #220 totally moot anyway!

 

Or it would have, except that in post-Crisis continuity, they kept the two Dinahs idea, with Dinah's mother being the GA Black Canary and Dinah being the current Black Canary. But since in post-Crisis they also made Dinah a founding member of the Justice League... oy, vey.

 

:facepalm:

 

 

Like I said, I've thought about this quite a bit - way too much. In my opinion, there's basically two ways to go:

 

1) just ignore all the continuity entirely, in which case Flash #129 or JLA #21 is the first SA appearance, B&B #61-62 are her only "solo" stories during the silver age, and #75 is still a minor key anyway, as it introduces important character elements including the canary cry, Ollie, and her JLA membership

 

or

 

2) treat #75 as the official first appearance of the SA Black Canary, which was briefly DC's position back when pre-Crisis continuity mattered

 

 

Either way, #73 and #74 aren't particularly important - either it's just another JSA crossover, or it's a different character entirely. And either way, #75 is important to some degree.

 

The question, though, is whether or not it's a minor key (updating an existing character), or a major key (first appearance of a new major character).

 

And that, I'm guessing, is something we'll never have consensus on.

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Crimebuster

Crimebuster

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Just so I understand correctly the #21 is the first SA appearance of the Black Canary/Dinah Drake and #75 is the first appearance of Dinah Lance/Black Canary II? I'd go along with that. Love that cover on the #75. Ill have to sniff out a couple of these. Thanks.

 

 

This is mostly right. The Golden Age Black Canary made her first Silver Age appearance in Flash #129. However, it's in a flashback. In JLA #21, she appears in a present-day adventure. To some collectors, this distinction matters.

 

She's more or less in the same boat as the rest of the JSA in this regard. If someone is collecting Black Canary appearances and doesn't care about the rest of the JSA, the only thing they need to know is that she apparently does not appear in Flash #137, so that can be skipped.

 

 

 

Now I'm really confused.... :P

 

The comic Marty posted is the first appearance of the mortal sin that was Black Canary's 80's costume.

 

Action_Comics_609.jpg

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Weird Paper

Weird Paper

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Pretty sure it's JLA #73. Below are pages 5, 6 and 8 from that issue.

 

2yvo491.jpg

 

 

 

I would be so cool if my wife would slip into a blonde wig and s&m outfit at the first sign of danger...or maybe just in the bedroom!!! :devil:

lol

Always liked that page...

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=839039

 

 

Though the first non-flashback appearance in JLA 21 is pretty nifty, too.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1175131

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