JLA: Incarnations is a seven-issue series. I like them all, but #1 is the only one I have read multiple times. It is representative of the kind of post-Crisis continuity I generally have to hold in my head. The DCU has changed multiple times over the years, sometimes obviously (such as Crisis on Infinite Earths), sometimes more subtly (such as Zero Hour). Other times the change is so imperceptible that it is not even tied overtly to any external event. There are three main criteria to judge these changes in the DCU.
- SUPERBOY: Did the "Man of Steel" have a career as the "Boy of Steel" or not?
- WONDER WOMAN: Was she a charter member of the Justice League of America or not?
- TIME TRAPPER: Who is the Time Trapper?
These three criteria may overlap or switch back and forth depending on which way the editorial wind is blowing. [Also, the Legion of Super-Heroes is a good indicator of when the DCU itself has changed (see Legion of Three Worlds).] Today I'm gong to look at Black Canary and her role in the Justice League of America. (For the purposes of this discussion, I am going to assume a post-Crisis stance, that the original Black Canary was Dinah Drake and that her successor is her daughter, Dinah Lance.) There have been several post-Crisis retcons over the years which more-or-less assign Wonder Woman's role to the (second) Black Canary (which is not as implausible at it might, at first, sound).
But there are very few comics (apart from JLA: Incarnations #1) which deal with what that might have looked like. If we are going to assume that Dinah Lance was the JLA's Black Canary, what about any JLA/JSA team-up which might have included Black Canary in the JSA? Those cases simply included two Black Canaries, mother and daughter, each on their respective teams (as depicted in JLA: Incarnations #1). The JSA's Black Canary was Dinah Drake through #74, and Dinah Lance thereafter. (Of course, the pre-Crisis events of JLA #74-75 played out somewhat differently post-Crisis, as depicted in JLA: Incarnations #1.) If nothing else, this interpreation of events removes the disturbing JLA #219-220 from continuity.
JLA: Incarnations #1 also shows how the Hawkman of JSA became liason to the JLA of the cave era. (Again, for the purposes of this discussion I am assuming a post-Crisis stance.)
SECRET ORIGINS #50 - "Infinished Business"
Little attention was paid to the JSA version of the Black Canary post-Crisis... until Secret Origins #50. "Unfinished Business" by Alan Brennert and Joe Staton (special thanks to Mark Waid, with acknowledgment to the works of Robert Kanigher, Gardner fox, Gerry Conway, Paul Levitz, Frank Miller, Mike Barr, Denny O'Neil, and Mike Grell) is one of the most touching comic book stories I have ever read, and is probably the only "real time" appearance of the pre-Crisis "Earth-2" Black Canary post-Crisis. Just as JLA: Incarnations #1 did for the both Black Canaries 1960-1969, so too did Secret Origins #50 do for the original BLack Canary, 1947-1990. The gist of the story is that the original is terminally ill, and her daughter wants to reconcile with her before she passes away, but her mother is in a coma. Black Canary is Tracy's favorite character, but she's never read this story. I myself didn't discover it until fairly recently, but i didn't recommend it because I think it would strike too close to home in regard to tracy's relationship with her own mother. It's a good story, but I think it would make her sad. Maybe I'm not giving her enough credit.
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I don't know where you're going with this thread, but I'll contribute some Black Canary milestone issues.
Flash Comics #86 (Aug 47): First appearance of Dinah Drake, the first Black Canary.
Flash Comics #92 (Feb 48): Black Canary takes Johnny Thunder's place with her own strip in Flash. This issue introduces Larry Lance as Black Canary's Steve Trevor, a male damsel in distress and occasionally an equal crime-fighting partner.
All-Star Comics #57 (Feb-Mar 51): Last Golden Age appearance.
The Flash #129 (Jun 62): First Silver Age appearance (flashback).
Justice League of America #21 (Aug 63): First full Silver Age appearance.
Showcase #61-62 (Aug-Sep 65 and Oct-Nov 65): Try-out issues featuring Starman and Black Canary team-ups. Larry Lance appears in both, but I don't believe he and Dinah were married yet, although post-Crisis stories would establish that they got married in the '50s. James Robinson revealed in Starman that Dinah Lance and Ted Knight had an affair during these issues. Honestly, I think the subtext is there if you look for it.
Justice League of America #74-75 (Sep-Oct 69): Larry Lance sacrifices himself to save Dinah in a JLA/JSA team-up. I think they were married here, meaning Dinah Drake is now Dinah Drake Lance. And she moves to Earth-One to get over her grief, joining the Justice League in the process. She gains her canary cry super-power somehow when moving from Earth-Two to Earth-One. Tends to feature prominently in Denny O'Neil JLA stories.
Green Lantern (second series) #78 (Jul 70): Becomes a supporting character through the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams run on Green Lantern.
The Brave and the Bold #91 (Sep 70): Batman and Black Canary team-up. The Larry Lance of Earth-One is introduced, but he is a fixer for the mob and dies at the end.
Justice League of America #220 (Nov 83): The Thunderbolt reveals that the original Black Canary was placed in stasis after the battle with Aquarius in JLA #75 at the request of Superman of Earth-One, because she was dying of radiation poisoning. She was replaced by her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, whose memories were replaced by those of her mother, so she believed herself to be her mother. Because, sure, that's what friends are for.
Justice League #1 (May 87): First appearance of post-Crisis Canary (I think), with the Justice League of America #220 retcon retconned away. She is Dinah Laurel Lance now, and her mother is Dinah Drake Lance.
Secret Origins (second series) #32 (Nov 88): The Justice League origin is re-written with Black Canary in place of Wonder Woman. I think this had already been established, but I'm not sure where. Possibly Justice League #1, above.
Secret Origins (second series) #50 (Aug 90): Both Canaries receive new post-Crisis origins. See OP!
JSA #1 (Aug 99): Dinah Lance is a member of the JSA.
JLA: Incarnations #4 (Oct 01): Death of Black Canary I. This takes place right before the JLA Detroit era.
Birds of Prey (second series) #1 (Nov 11): The New 52 Black Canary is introduced, a solo heroine on the run from the law, as she is accused of killing her husband, Kurt Lance. (He turns up alive later on.)
I remember an issue of something beginning with JSA members returning from the funeral of Black Canary I. Or maybe it was Sandman. But I don't remember where I read that. Also, I don't remember post-Crisis events as readily as I do pre-Crisis events (you know, back when they mattered). I also don't know which issues of Starman revealed the affair with Ted Knight.
I don't know where you're going with this thread...
I don't, either (probably nowhere). I started to post it to "What Comics Have you Read Today" and, on a whim, broke it off into a thread of its own.
I remember an issue of something beginning with JSA members returning from the funeral of Black Canary I. Or maybe it was Sandman.
IIRC, the funeral of Sandman was in JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1 (which led directly into JSA #1).
I also don't know which issues of Starman revealed the affair with Ted Knight.
That was Starman Annual #2.
Actually, it was Wesley Dodds who first revealed the affair (to Jack) in "Sand and Stars" (Starman #20-23).
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1-3 (1987): Black Canary loses her sonic scream. It is also this mini-series in which Dinah tells Oliver that she doesn't want to have children: "I love you Oliver, and I'd love to make bibies with you. But I won't make orphans."
Black Canary was prominently featured in the subsequent Green Arrow series which followed The Longbow Hunters (the Mike Grell issues, anyway).
Her 1991 mini-series spun off from Green Arrow.
Longbow Hunters also established that as a result of Canary's kidnapping (and implied rape, or multiple rapes), Dinah was no longer able to bear children. Which bookended the remarks aout not having babies at the beginning. IIRC.
Say, when the Starman Annual revealed the affair between Canary and Starman, did anyone besides me wonder if Black Canary II was going to be revealed as the daughter of Dinah Drake Lance and Ted Knight? I don't recall that being mentioned even as a possibility, so eventually I let go of the suspicion.
Ted Knight.
No, I don't think so because, IIRC, both were depicted as married with children at the time of their affair.
OK. Man, I really need to re-read Starman.
Fixed Ted Grant, BTW. Thanks!