With a name like Black Canary: Best of the Best, you’ve got to be pretty excellent. And good news then because the kick-off of the new DC Comics series by Tom King and Ryan Sook is, indeed, very good. Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 provides a thrilling and emotionally charged start to the series.
In the book, for thus far unknown reasons, Black Canary is taking on lady Shiva in a public bout to determine who is the best hand-to-hand fighter in the DC Universe. Once you get over the shock that everyone from the general public to Dinah’s fellow heroes seem on board with this, the issue itself deftly dovetails between her training regimen to get ready to take on Shiva, and the first round of a fight where our hero is almost immediately outmatched.
All credit to Sook here who draws bone-crunching action next, more personal scenes between Dinah and her mother, the original Black Canary, and a delightful double-paged spread of the Justice League — Oliver Queen included — watching the fight with aplomb. There’s a lot to take in, in this book, which plays more like a prestige drama than your run-of-the-mill superhero series.
That’s also where the story sings. Unlike some of the more mystery box series King has written recently (I’m thinking Jenny Sparks in particular) that leave the interpretation up to the reader, it’s pretty clear what the writer is going for in this first issue. I won’t spoil the emotional thrust — or the last second twist — but know that this fight is very personal for Black Canary, in a palpable and surprising way.
If there’s any criticism to be had here, it’s the over-reliance on a pair of Vegas ring announcers who provide the counterpoint and narration. Clearly King is having a lot of fun both with their over-the-top speech, and using them to provide not-so-subtle thematic counterpoints. But the book is stronger both purely in Sook’s visuals of the fight, and in the flashback scenes to Dinah prepping with her mother. Because of their position outside a ring, there’s a remove there from the action that distracts from the more affecting aspects of the book.
So is this book the best of the best? We’ll hold judgement until the final issue hits. But as is, this first round is a promising start.
Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 Rating:
Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 Official Synopsis:
The match of the millennium! It’s Black Canary versus Lady Shiva to determine who is the single greatest hand-to-hand fighter in the universe! Who will walk away with the title? Find out as writer Tom King (WONDER WOMAN, SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW) and Ryan Sook (LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES) go six rounds to see if our hero has what it takes to be… the best of the best.
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