Black Canary: Best of the Best #4 – Tom King, Writer; Ryan Sook, Artist; Dave Stewart, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Tom King’s books often play with time and format, but none has ever been quite as decompressed as this one – taking place entirely within the confines of a single MMA fight between Black Canary and Lady Shiva, with each issue containing one round of what’s supposed to be a six-round fight before Canary takes a dive to get the money for her mother’s cancer treatments. But last issue saw Ted Grant try to intervene to protect Dinah and pay deadly, as Shiva brutally beat him and sent him to the hospital, and that’s given Dinah new fire – as she unleashes a brutal beating on Shiva, knocking her onto the ropes and taking her to the brink of surrender – two rounds early. This could cost her everything and make her a powerful enemy in Vandal Savage – but the question is, does she even care anymore, or is her quest for vengeance too powerful to stop her?
As with the previous issue, this brutal fight scene is accompanied by flashbacks. The first is to Dinah’s first meeting with Oliver Queen – here a young man who has just gotten back from the island and is now seeking training to begin his superheroic career. Ted Grant is working with both of the young fighters, and to say Ollie isn’t making the best first impression would be putting it lightly. This is an era of these two iconic DC lovers we haven’t seen a lot of, and the contrast between Ollie then and Ollie now is pretty dramatic. There’s also a flashback to Dinah and her mother drinking together, as the older Black Canary expresses her opinion on Dinah’s relationship choices and sets up another impossible test for her daughter. All this goes a long way towards establishing how Dinah got her grit – and just how far she’s willing to go to ensure her mother gets what she needs in these final two issues.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
