InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "el pollo loco"

thebigapricot (thebigapricot) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-13 20:21:00

Entry tags:

char: black canary/dinah drake, char: black canary/dinah lance, creator: john ostrander, group: justice league of america, group: justice society of america, publisher: dc comics

Black Canary Showdown!
With the recent retcon of Dinah's youth, I thought I would post some scans from JLA Incarnations #1 where Black Canary I and Black Canary II have quite the mother/daughter battle. Sure Cass and Shiva's fight was bloodier, but they weren't both wearing fishnets! 7 scans from a 35 page book.

JLA Incarnations by the great John Ostrander focuses on previous adventures of the JLA -- the JLA where Canary was a founding member. And the issue starts dramatically:

Yep, they are all dead. A Bronze age foe of the JSA, Wotan, lured the JSA's JLA successors to an island and killed them.

Obviously Dinah Drake Lance is devastated.

But it turns out the JLA aren't dead! At the last minute the Atom shrunk them all down into Green Lantern's ring.

So Black Canary II is alive! And Black Canary I is happy.

But the JSA is not happy with the JLA when the JLA's plan is revealed. In particular, Black Canary I:

How mad? Well she (and the other JSA folks) are no longer willing to succeed their positions to the JLA.

So you have Alan Scott battling Hal and Barry fighting Jay and Atom Man fighting the Atom.

But let's get to the battle of the Canaries! It starts with dissing and kicking:

And then there is more kicking And the sound effects are great - KKKKRAK and SPAK. Uh oh, then Mom kicks Dinah just a little too hard. Oh and now don't you feel bad Dinah Drake Lance?

God and I thought my mother and I used to have throw downs!

Oh, dang. It turns out, in classic JLA storytelling, the JSA weren't really mad at the JLA but were under a spell cast by Wotan. (At least it wasn't the "robots were impersonating us" explanation that seemed to be in every other Silver Age JLA story)

So Wotan is defeated. And now it is time for two Canaries to make their peace. And for the JSA and JLA to realize just how much they have in common.

I am not crazy about the artwork in this. You can see the inconsistencies in how the two Dinahs are drawn in that last scan. It's clear one is older and one younger in the top left panel, but down in the bottom panel above it's hard to tell the difference between the two beyond the color of their hair.

(Post a new comment)

	jlroberson 2009-07-14 01:16 am UTC (link)
	Wow, bad art. So the way to make BC1 different is to make her face not just older, but hardened and grotesque? (Reply to this)

	bluefall 2009-07-14 01:25 am UTC (link)
	Dinah really spends a lot of time not being allowed to leave places, doesn't she? If it's not her mom freaking out over her father's death and keeping her in the house, it's Babs freaking out over Ra's and keeping her in the tower. Seems she's big on consistency in her relationships. (Reply to this)

	parsimonia 2009-07-14 02:17 am UTC (link)
	I am amused by Aquaman's distracted, glazed-over expression in the last panel. Like he's ogling the cameraperson instead of looking into the camera like everyone else. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	superfan1 2009-07-14 10:42 am UTC (link)
	Ha, orion trying so hard yet can't quite get it right to attract attention from the camera person (Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-07-14 02:42 am UTC (link)
	Wotan came back and I missed it ???!!!??? (Reply to this)

	greenmask 2009-07-14 07:47 am UTC (link)
	Oh, rubbish. They should be that angry and I hate induced anger from a supervillain. BOOOOO! (Reply to this)

	kenn_el 2009-07-14 09:17 am UTC (link)
	It's always unnerving to me to see the two Canaries together when they were originally the same person. Dinah being the original 'cougar' with Ollie was too far ahead of its time for TPTB at DC, though. (Reply to this)

psychop_rex
2009-07-14 09:51 am UTC (link)

I actually like the artwork here. Granted, that last panel is a tad sloppy - Dinah actually looks older than her mom - but everywhere else, it actually works pretty well. DDL looks older, but still good-looking - she's not a hag, just a bit older now; she still has her beauty, plus a few lines. Beauty in older women is not always easy to convey, but I'd say the artist pulled it off fairly well here. (Especially considering that she's not exactly being shown off at her best - at first she's weeping, then she's angry, then frightened. Only at the end do we see her calm and composed.)

(Reply to this)

khaosworks
2009-07-14 11:27 am UTC (link)

Speaking of Ostrander, he's been suffering from glaucoma for many years now, and currently his medical expenses are overwhelming him. To help, a group is holding an auction at Chicago Comic-Con, with anything left over going to the Hero Initiative.

So, if you can go to Chicago to bid, or even if you can't and just want to donate a little something, please go to http://www.comix4sight.com and see what you can do. And spread the word around, please.

Maybe we should do an Ostrander week...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	khaosworks 2009-07-14 11:29 am UTC (link)
	Also... Atom Man? You mean Al Pratt? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thebigapricot 2009-07-14 11:41 am UTC (link)
	Yes, Al Pratt. For some reason I think of him as Atom man but I guess he is just the Atom. Also thanks for adding the info about Ostrander. I saw that after I posted and was going to add it in. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jarodrussell 2009-07-14 02:55 pm UTC (link)
	Sure Cass and Shiva's fight was bloodier, but they weren't both wearing fishnets! It's nice to know that even on Scans Daily, the true value of any Black Canary are how sexy her legs look. :~) (Reply to this)