Many DC characters have had their backstories changed by the company’s reboots and revamps. Indeed, some characters have been erased from continuity completely. Thankfully, one key relationship will be restored for the upcoming Black Canary series published by DC Black Label.
Titled Black Canary: Best of the Best, the six-issue series is the brainchild of writer Tom King and artist Ryan Sook. The story finds Dinah Lance entering the match of the millennium, pitting her martial arts skills against Lady Shiva. To emerge victorious (or at least survive) in a fight with the world’s deadliest assassin, Dinah will need to train. This leads her to seek the advice of Batman, her mentor, Wildcat, and her mother, Dinah Drake, the original Black Canary.
The solicitation’s mention of Black Canary’s mother is notable, given the character’s overall uncertain status in the current timeline. The modern iteration of Dinah Lance was a product of Gotham City’s foster system, who never knew her biological parents. Some comics teased the elder Dinah Drake existing in some form. However, most modern comics make Dinah Lance’s status as a homeless orphan a major aspect of her backstory and personality. This change has displeased many fans of the character, particularly since Black Canary constitutes one of the few mother/daughter legacies in American comics.
Black Canary has a complicated history
Despite its prominence, the idea of Black Canary being a mother-to-daughter mantle is relatively recent. The character of Dinah Laurel Lance, daughter of Dinah Drake, was introduced in 1983. This occurred after someone at DC Editorial realized that Dinah Drake should be in her 60s, like the rest of the Justice Society of America, yet looked far younger.
This led to a wild story in which it was revealed that Dinah Lance had been cursed as an infant with a sonic scream. She was put into suspended animation and later given her mother’s memories after Dinah Drake was mortally wounded. This explained away her superpowers and averted the apparent scandal of Green Arrow dating an older woman.
Thankfully, this convoluted history was retconned into something simpler following Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the new timeline, Dinah Lance was a mutant with a sonic scream power. She took up her mother’s mantle as Black Canary against Dinah Drake’s wishes, aided by her uncles in the JSA.
Unfortunately, this history was once again retconned by the New 52 revamp of 2011 and further complicated by the 2015 Black Canary comic. It is unclear if the new DC Black Label book might be considered canon to the current timeline. In any case, most Black Canary fans will surely be glad to see mother and daughter together again, however briefly.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on November 27, 2024.
