Birds of Prey | Book Club | More ORIGINS: Black Canary

[Mae]

Are you going to go onto that 1993 series or have you read it before?

[TheCosmicMoth]

I’ll definitely be back for it! I don’t believe I’ve read it before.

[Jay_Kay]

@TheCosmicMoth

What I loved about Dinah’s first appearance was her original MO. The fact that she would rob criminals of their ill-gotten gains made me think that she started as a combination of Golden Age Catwoman and a Lev Gleason character known as Young Robin Hood. I was a little disappointed that they dropped that aspect of Black Canary’s character so soon. It made her more of a Robin Hood character than Ollie was at the time.

I definitely feel this – not sure about the timing of everything, but I wonder if maybe she was reverted into more basic heroic stories because of Wertham and the Senate hearings about comics going on? After all, all that stuff is why Catwoman herself was virtually absent in the late 40s and 50s.

I do know she does go back to a more Robin Hood/Green Hornet style in the mid-80s. It’s also the period that debuts one of more infamous costumes:

Detective Comics (1937-) #554

@TheCosmicMoth

Canary would get knocked out by being hit on the back of the head with a gun (apparently her only weakness).

I think that was just a Golden Age staple in general. I’ve read a good chunk of early Batman stories and he got clobbered in the back of the head so often I was stunned he didn’t develop a traumatic brain injury.

@TheCosmicMoth

We loved our formulas in the Golden Age…

I mean, I imagine even our current books have a certain degree of formula to it.

@TheCosmicMoth

Also, I got to see where Dinah’s love of jerks came from. A recurring theme of my posts for these BoP discussions is to marvel at Dinah’s poor choice in men. I present to you the original creep Dinah fell for:

Yeah, Larry was comically awful. I did love the next panel after where we see Dinah contemplate braining him with a vase.

@TheCosmicMoth

Really, Starman??? Are we sure that’s the ONLY cheating going on???

Wait, is that implying that Ted had a tryst with Dinah? That’s…surprising. Never would have thought that would be a thing.

[TheCosmicMoth]

@Jay_Kay

I definitely feel this – not sure about the timing of everything, but I wonder if maybe she was reverted into more basic heroic stories because of Wertham and the Senate hearings about comics going on? After all, all that stuff is why Catwoman herself was virtually absent in the late 40s and 50s.

My guess would be that it wouldn’t have specifically been because of Wertham and the Senate hearings as Seduction of the Innocent hadn’t been published until 1954 and that’s what kicked it all off. However, maybe they felt things were headed in that direction…? More likely, they probably realized they had a popular character on their hands and wanted to go “full good guy” with her.

@Jay_Kay

I think that was just a Golden Age staple in general. I’ve read a good chunk of early Batman stories and he got clobbered in the back of the head so often I was stunned he didn’t develop a traumatic brain injury.

It was the same with Blue Beetle. In almost every episode of his radio show, the bad guys would knock him out by striking him on the back of the head. It happened a fair amount in his Golden Age comics, too. It got to the point where he was even knocked out by a shot to the back of the head by The Red Robe of Death:

OW!

@Jay_Kay

I mean, I imagine even our current books have a certain degree of formula to it.

Probably true enough. However… it was a bit more excessive in the Golden Age. Kinda like reading the exact same story over and over again…

@Jay_Kay

Wait, is that implying that Ted had a tryst with Dinah? That’s…surprising. Never would have thought that would be a thing.

I never really saw it, either, but it happened! It’s a pretty good issue, too. Good commentary at the end about the kind of “boys’ club” that existed among the authorities back in the “good old days.”