Origin of the Canary Cry

[arbre_rieur]

Three pages from Secret Origins #50, in which they finally got around to Black Canary...









title: secret origins, creator: alan brennert, creator: joe staton, publisher: dc comics

Comments

[tornadotwin.blogspot.com]

The art is really, really awesome in my opinion!

[foxhack]

They just don't make 'em like that anymore. :(

[sherkahn]

"Without powers or abilities.."

You guys do live in Batman's world, right?
The guy who countless time saves the day with his body, mind and will?

[cricharddavies]

Uh ... you do see the panel to the right of that, yes? The one that implies that Batman is just starting up when the statement is made?

[thanekos]

yes, but they've also lived in the same world as the red bee

[shanejayell]

The Red Bee is... REALLY not a good example to be using. *LOL*

[icon_uk]

I have to say that "You might have your ultra-destructive sonic powers because you hung around near Johnny Thunderbolt or Alan Scott when you were a baby, but frankly, we're buggered if we know for sure." has to be one of the most half assed explanations of a power ever (plus it suggests that anyone who spent time near them might develop random and unassociated powers). Makes one sort of grateful for the metagene explanation....

[shadowpsykie]

something that got my attention was the last panel showing Wildcat and Green Lantern smiling.... making it look like it was implied they had somethign to do with it.

[icon_uk]

"Hey Alan, doesn't your ring gives off some weird ass crazy radiation that might have unpreditable effects on a baby?"

"No, it doesn't."

"Yeah, but if it DID, could we use it on Dinah? Just to see what happened?"

"Well, when you put it like that, I don't really have a choice do I? I must irradiate this child with randomly mutagenic green magic light, FOR SCIENCE!"

[cricharddavies]

I suspect that what the author might be implying here is that the canary cry was something that the Green Lantern did deliberately, which would explain why it faded soon after he disappeared. (The Longbow Hunters, when Dinah lost that power for the next few years, came soon after the Justice Society vanished for the same time period.)

[icon_uk]

Oh I get they might be thinking that, but it's a wretched idea if it was supposed to be the case. Mostly because tying Black Canary's power into her proximity to a man, and one she didn't really work with much, is a little demeaning somehow.

I can't recall if Invasion had her indicated to be a metahuman or not, but if it did come from Alan then the Lazarus Pit shouldn't have been able to restore her canary cry, but Alan being back in the world should, when it didn't AFAIK.

[arbre_rieur]

Just because her powers came from Alan Scott doesn't mean she needs to be in close proximity to him or that they aren't permanent.

I'm not even sure it's saying Alan Scott was responsible, just that the JSA as a whole (minus original Black Canary) was, and that they did it to negate her mother's main argument against her becoming a crimefighter.

It's a damn sight better than "she was just born that way," an explanation that, unless you're an X-character, always strikes me as weak and unsatisfactory.

[icon_uk]

I'm sure it doesn't I was replying to cricharddavies comment about her cry fading because Alan was outside the normal universe, that suggests it was required for her powers to be active.

I rather like the metagene idea, it has a wider range of possibilities to it than the X-gene. It's widespread throughout humanity (So anyone can have it), but not always active and the trigger event can decide the end result, so Dinah shouting in anger at her mother was the trigger event, so sonic powers might result, If she'd stamped her foot in indignation it might have led to seismic powers or the like.

[kamino_neko]

It's widespread throughout humanity (So anyone can have it), but not always active and the trigger event can decide the end result, so Dinah shouting in anger at her mother was the trigger event, so sonic powers might result, If she'd stamped her foot in indignation it might have led to seismic powers or the like.

I tend to assume a genetic disposition to a particular style of powers - thus connection to the speed force showing up spontaneously in the Thawn family as well as the Allens - this further improves the concept, IMO, in a couple ways: 1) putting a slightly different pitch on kids getting their parents' powers (or variants thereof) - it's not that the powers being triggered altered the metagene to create those specific powers, it just altered it to 'on', and other genes gave them the tendency towards those powers; and 2) explaining why two people experiencing the same trigger event can develop different powers, or one can get powers and the other not.

[arbre_rieur]

Yeah, this sort of thing is exactly what I don't like about the meta-gene concept. All its existence does is make the DC Universe that much smaller.

[jaybee3]

You should reach Bleach sometime if you haven't already. Anyone who hangs out with its hero, Ichigo Kurosaki, for any period of time, seems to develop some power or another eventually.

As for Dinah, as an explanation for the meta-gene its as good (and simple) as any. And it could explain why each generation seems to have more and more meta-humans in the DCU.

Also Kreisberg's screwed-up new origin for BC in the GA/BC title totally screws this story up (i.e. the fact that she didn't know her mom was the original BC or her JSA "uncles" until way into her teenage years). Hopefully it'll be forgotten now and this one put back in its place.

[bradhanon]

I always took that explanation as shorthand for "We live in a really weird world, in which weird shit happens. This is some weird shit, so we'll follow standard procedure: throw it on the pile."

[icon_uk]

The art style here is interesting, Joe Staton can mimic many other peoples styles as well as having his own unique look, but there are shades of McFarlane in the Batman image and some of the later pages look almost like Trevor Von Eeden was involved in them.

[salamangkiero]

The art actually reminds me of Walt Simonson.