Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 is now in stores from DC Comics. In the series, written by Tom King with art by Ryan Sook, the title character takes on Lady Shiva in a no-holds-barred bare-knuckle brawl to prove who is the best hand-to-hand fighter in the DC Universe. But a lot of the first issue is spent with other heroes, villains, and fans wondering… Why is Black Canary doing this?
There’s a pretty good reason for it, and spoilers past this point, but as revealed in the final pages, Black Canary has made a deal with none other than Vandal Savage. In exchange for her throwing the fight in the sixth round so he can make a load of money betting on her, he’ll provide a cure for the sickness that’s killing her mother, the original Black Canary.
“The idea of how they got to this decision, what happened to it, and why she’s throwing the match, is the heart of the story,” King told Comic Book Club on that big reveal. “It’s a simple concept. To save her mother, who is training her for this match, who’s dying of cancer, she has to go down in the [sixth round]. She has to sacrifice the very thing her mother most wants, which is for her to win, the thing her mother has been training her to do since the moment she was born, which is to never accept herself as number two and always be number one. So she has to sacrifice her mother’s dreams in order to save her mother’s life. [That’s] the concept of the story, and [it’s] the emotional journey that she’s going through as we go forward.”
The tricky thing here, as with any story involving death in a comic book universe is… Characters come back, all the time. So how does King make sure that the potential demise of the older Black Canary has the impact and stakes necessary?
“I’m an old comic book reader, and the first death to me that hit me… [was] the Captain Marvel cancer death that Jim Starlin did in The Life and Death of Captain Marvel, I don’t know, probably 40 years ago,” King explained. “There’s something special about the everyday sicknesses that hit us. Superman can’t cure cancer, that’s not a way he can save the world. Yes, superheroes can come back from robot attacks, and they might even be able to come back from Bane breaking your neck. But cancer is something else that’s too close to the real world to be saved by a cape and tights. So to me, those stakes are utterly real and relate to a lot of people who deal with that. Lord knows I’ve had it in my life.”
This was also a chance for Sook to draw a character he’s previously done on multiple covers: Vandal Savage. The artist tackled the immortal former caveman on covers for DC Universe Presents #9-#11. But here, it was a chance to draw Savage more than just as a cover icon that intrigued Sook. Though drawing him in sequential storytelling did change things a little bit, otherwise his approach was mostly the same.
“I really wanted him to come across the same way,” Sook noted. “I wanted him to be beastly, but also suave. The way that he’s written in this story, the visuals had to bring that same spirit across. He’s a fun character to draw. Though he was great to draw in covers, he’s great to draw on the pages, too.”
Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 is in stores now from DC Comics.
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