The second issue of Black Canary: Best of the Best – or should I say the “second round” – continues the battle between Black Canary and Lady Shiva, which takes some brutal turns. But it also turns the clock back to explore the relationship between Dinah Lance and her mother, the original Black Canary – including Dinah’s childhood and the moment that set her on the path to becoming a Black Canary.
These scenes underline one thing: Dinah and her mother have what I can’t even charitably call a “rocky” relationship. Tom King establishes a pattern: Dinah attempts to pull off an impossible feat, and her mother shifts the goalposts ever so slightly. Rinse and repeat. The most outlandish moment comes after Dinah swims a twenty-mile lap in freezing water. Her mother gets in the car, offering her breakfast, but breakfast is back at their house. And the car doors are locked, meaning Dinah has to run all the way home in freezing weather.
But the moments where Dinah is attempting to live up to her mother’s legacy as a child hit deep, especially in a moment where she catches her mother wounded. It’s a harsh reality for a child to learn that their parents are human, but even harsher to learn that they can bleed…yet this drives Dinah even more. In a way, King is underlying that for all the grief her mother gives her, Dinah has inherited a fighting spirit that refuses to be quelled.
Credit: DC Comics
The fight scenes grow even more brutal, as Ryan Sook displays Dinah getting pummeled with hit after bloody hit by Lady Shiva. But what’s even more striking is the fact that Sook shows off the damage to Dinah’s face: her nose is obviously broken, her lip is split and swollen, and she’s collecting a number of nasty bruises. Most comics tend to shy away from this kind of damage, but Black Canary: Best of the Best #2 is determined to show how brutal the life of a superhero can be.
However, what makes this artwork pop is Dave Stewart’s colors. There are a lot of solid colors used in the backgrounds: Canary and Shiva’s fight is surrounded by a dark wall, while there’s a greyish hue to the winter mornings. The standout moments are the flashbacks, where Dinah is depicted in a glowing blue hue; it’s only broken up when she dons her mother’s blonde wig, hinting at the birth of the Black Canary.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #2 doesn’t just highlight the brutality of superhero fights, but it also explores the relationship between Dinah Lance and her mother. The final pages also layout that no matter what, Dinah will fight to win. How rough things get before that victory remains to be seen.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #2 is available wherever comics are sold.
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