Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance are one of DC Comics‘ power couples. However, the circumstances of just how Green Arrow met and won the heart of his “Pretty Bird” have varied wildly over the years. Black Canary: Best of the Best #4 offers yet another meet cute for the crime-fighting duo.
Written by Tom King with art by Ryan Sook, Black Canary: Best of the Best #4 continues the pay-per-view battle between Dinah Lance and Lady Shiva. Oliver Queen is watching the fight from home with his Justice League allies, unconcerned about his lover’s safety. The reason for this is explained through a series of flashbacks, which detail Green Arrow’s earliest days as a costumed crimefighter.
Black Canary trained Green Arrow in combat
The flashback reveals that Oliver Queen sought further combat training when he got back to civilization after being shipwrecked. To that end, he hired former heavyweight champion Ted “Wildcat” Grant to teach him how to fight. Ollie was less than pleased when Grant showed up with an attractive blonde woman.
Ollie was astonished, however, when the woman called Black Canary put him on the mat in seconds. Grant explained that Dinah was one of his former students and that now she was teaching him. The retired champ thought Dinah could also teach Ollie far better than he ever could.
Queen learned his lesson in more ways than one. Dinah, for her part, was not impressed by the brooding billionaire. Black Canary thought Ollie was just another rich jerk who wasn’t interested in putting in the work, thinking he just wanted to pay the money to say he’d had a professional fighter train him.
Black Canary changed her tune as she watched Ollie over the next month. Despite getting knocked down repeatedly, the future Green Arrow never stayed down. He always got back up and never complained about being outclassed by Ted or by Dinah. This apparently led to her seeing the good man trying to be better and the two eventually falling in love.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #4 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
