Black Canary

Annie Wu didn't illustrate this issue, and I wasn't as fond of Pia Guerra's art as I am of Annie's, but it was still a visually very pleasing issue. I loved Guerra's rendition of Maeve - truth be told, I just love Maeve haha. We had some significant plot development here, which is great. (view spoiler)[It was nice of Amanda Waller to pop by, I guess haha. I assume Team 7, which Dinah used to be a part of alongside Kurt, is a division of A.R.G.U.S. then? (hide spoiler)] However, as far as character development / growth goes, the character we've gained the deepest insight into so far is Maeve, which is quite weird considering 1) it's already issue #4 and 2) Maeve's a somewhat clueless antagonist in the grand scheme of things and who therefore probably isn't the main baddie at that point. (view spoiler)[Nevertheless, the last pages of this issue seem to foreshadow a bigger part to play for Maeve. Which I'm very excited about, not gonna lie (hide spoiler)]. Sure, we know now that (view spoiler)[1) Ditto doesn't come from Earth, 2) Dinah was married to her former fellow Team 7 operative and they more likely than not were part of A.R.G.U.S, (hide spoiler)] but if I were a newcomer to DC with no previous knowledge of Dinah/Black Canary, Dinah'd still feel like a somewhat empty shell at that point. On a more positive note, I loved the subtle pop culture references thrown in here and there. I truly think they were trying - and succeeded - to emulate Taylor Swift with Maeve. Indeed, Maeve is depicted as a control freak, someone who's very driven, almost cutthroat and always aiming at perfection, obsessed with her art and obsessing over her image, which is very reminiscent of Taylor Swift in my opinion, or at least the person Swift's allegedly rumored to be behind closed doors - obviously, I wouldn't know for sure. Anyway, nothing you can tell me will make believe that "I would show you things... Magical things" wasn't a nod to "I can show you incredibly things" from Blank Space haha. The second pop culture reference I was alluding to earlier is "As if". I'll just leave it at that ;) This issue was more of a 3.5 stars if I'm quite honest, but I'm rounding it up to 4 for 3 reasons: 1) Maeve, obviously haha ; 2) the plot finally seems to be moving forward and its advancement seems promising by the looks of things and finally 3) this issue's pacing was much better.

(view spoiler)[I was rooting for Maeve but then she had to kidnap a kid & turn full-psycho on us. Which makes her even more endearing in my eyes hahahah. I don't know what that says about me as a person, but in any case I just hope it won't come down to her untimely death next issue. (hide spoiler)] I am a bit on the fence about this Kurt guy being Dinah's husband. He seems alright but where's Oliver at though? I'm not that familiar with Black Canary / Dinah Drake on Prime Earth, her appearances on Batgirl aside, so I'm excited to get the low down on what she's been up to before showing up in Burnside(view spoiler)[, like her time on Team 7 and such (hide spoiler)]. Also, I finally connected the dots about Heathcliff. I knew I had seen him beforehand but I couldn't figure out where for the life of me. Turns out he used to be a student at Gotham Academy. It finally dawned on me when he mentioned Pomeline. I'm guessing she's the one he was sending a selfie to in the previous issue. I'm glad he's still carrying a torch for her haha! The artwork & coloring are still amazing.

Intriguing first issue & interesting new take on Black Canary. I wasn't so sure about the art when I picked it up but it has definitely grown on me and it works well with the overall "vibe" they're trying to convey. They did a tremendous job with the colors in my opinion. (view spoiler)[Also, the whole mystery seems to be centered around a "secondary" character so far, and not around Dinah herself. (hide spoiler)] This kind of "shift in focus" if you will, I find kind of refreshing and interesting as a narrative device. The main drawback was the plot though. Dinah's bandmates should have been introduced in a larger capacity, or at least we should have had some kind of backstory for the band. I'd have settled for even threads of explanation - just gimme something to hold onto! And I've actually been reading Batgirl so I wasn't new to Dinah's new career choice... Anyway, it was a good first issue overall, just not as compelling as it might have been.