It’s time to let the canary out of the cage! Witness Dinah Lance’s heroic comeback in Black Canary: Best of the Best #4…
Black Canary: Best of the Best #4
Written by: Tom King
Art and Main Cover by: Ryan Sook
Variant Cover: Rachta Lin, Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: February 26, 2025
In Black Canary: Best of the Best #4, the gloves are off. Following the brutal beatdown of her mentor and friend, Ted Grant (AKA Wildcat), Black Canary turns the tide of the fight, digging deep and meeting Lady Shiva head-on. After three issues of watching our protagonist take hit after hit, the shoe is on the other foot and that foot is going where the sun don’t shine!
Saving us from further bloodshed, the story flashes back to Dinah’s first meeting with Oliver Queen; he underestimates Dinah, expecting a more machismo trainer, then gets a swift sock in the face – a hilarious example of Ollie’s arrogance and immediate comeuppance. But Dinah notices Oliver’s tenacity, picking himself up off the mat and squaring up again; she begins to have feelings for him, and the brawny fighter is reduced to an insecure little girl in the face of romance – brilliantly displayed in text messages to her mother as the panels become framed by the screen of a flip phone. This initial conversation between mother and daughter, wherein Dinah confides in her mother her ineptitude at courtship, is juxtaposed well with later scenes of them getting sloshed at a local bar. She wants to know more about her daughter’s love life, even inquiring about his not being present that night, but Dinah pulls the focus back to their own relationship. Though, of course, even a night out is a test; at her mother’s behest, Ted Grant appears and tackles Dinah, challenging her reflexes – punch drunk or regular drunk! An important revelation for the reader is learning that Ted introduced Dinah and Ollie, making his injury at the hands of Lady Shiva all the more meaningful.
Speaking of which… Lady Shiva is getting her butt kicked! Artist Ryan Sook doesn’t shy away from depicting the visceral beatdown. Sook’s blocking should be commended for his ability to keep high-speed fights visually clear, always aware of our character’s proximity and placement within the frame. With so much coverage of the main fight, one wonders how he can still diversify the action.
Unfortunately, as foreshadowed in our previous review, Black Canary: Best of the Best has slipped into same-old-same-old. The structure has become formulaic — Dinah struggles in the ring, the commentators express their skepticism, and we flash back to her training. Take out the round numbers, and you could swap pages between issues without much difference. While the action and emotional depth are still engaging, the lack of progress in plot and character growth is starting to show. At times, the reading experience itself feels reminiscent of Dinah’s inane exercise routine: treading water, enduring relentless laps, doing the whole thing over again.
That said, the series still has its appeal, with Ryan Sook’s fantastic artwork and Tom King’s intimate exploration of Dinah’s inner struggles. However, one begins to worry about the final two issues. If the repetition continues without any fresh developments, the story could easily lose the momentum it worked so hard for. Let’s hope the next issues bring something new before the final bell rings.
