Review: Black Canary Vol. 1- Kicking and Screaming

Quick Summary

Pros: The entire collection is fun and has a number of fantastic fight sequences. The main narrative is clever and is structured in a way that keeps it interesting. The final battle is absolutely epic. Artwork solidifies the collection’s quality and does a great job of enhancing the story.

Cons: At first, the conclusion feels a bit far-fetched.

Overall: In a stunning blend of entertaining storytelling and gorgeous artwork, the first volume in this new series is a major success. It is a unique premise from the start, one that allows for some fun battles and unique story elements. Then, it begins to introduce a clever background story that slowly evolves until it reaches a mind-blowing final chapter. All of this comes together to form a book that is creative and entertaining.

Story

Black Canary Vol. 1: Kicking and Screaming, by Brenden Fletcher, is massively entertaining from beginning to end. It presents Black Canary as a rock star whose propensity for danger is constantly catching up with her. This starts out as a few brawls with rowdy concert attendees but gradually evolves into a more serious threat leading to an epic conclusion. The action is thrilling, characters are charming, and the story is structured well throughout. Overall, Kicking and Screaming is a volume I would recommend to just about anyone.

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The beginning of the book contains a thrill ride of an introduction designed to acquaint readers with this fresh take on Black Canary. The concept of a superhero turned traveling musician is incredibly unique and also incredibly interesting. This introduction allows readers to acclimate to the new environment by meeting secondary characters, receiving hints about the greater narrative of the book, and watching Black Canary beat up plenty of bad guys. It is an entertaining opener that prioritizes fun to a wonderful degree.

The narrative begins to evolve as readers learn more about Black Canary’s band-mate, Ditto. We discover that Ditto has powers of some sort and that a faction of the government wants to kidnap her in order to use these powers. This portion of the book maintains the fun level of action and excitement from the opening chapters and injects it with a little exposition now and then. This structure proves to be successful, as it allows for a more significant endgame without sacrificing quality early on.

As the book moves toward this endgame, things, at first, start to feel a bit over-the-top. All of a sudden an otherwise standard superhero story is interrupted by time travel and alien beings made from pure sound. The final battle is a showdown between a band and a singularity that threatens the fabric of existence. This conclusion comes on a bit strong at first but I actually ended up thoroughly enjoying it about halfway through. It gives the band’s actions some gravitas and doesn’t conclude as out-of-place as it begins.

Aside from whether or not the ending fits with the rest of the narrative, it is undoubtedly an entertaining chapter all on its own. Seeing the band stick together and hold their own against a literal monster solidifies the progress they have made and provides a nice endcap to their personal journey. The creative team also makes an excellent choice here and forgoes dialogue for multiple pages in order to let Annie Wu’s beautiful artwork tell the story. All in all, this is a great ending to a great book.

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Art

Though the story in Kicking and Screaming is great, this collection would not be anywhere near as good were it not for the artwork. Annie Wu’s heavily stylized take on characters and locations make this book, instantly giving a unique premise an equally unique artistic quality. These high-quality visuals can be seen everywhere, from the energetic and engaging fights to the beautiful characters. There are even moments where dialogue and narration are completely discarded, letting Wu’s art tell the story on its own. Lee Loughridge’s colors help here as well, especially since some pages use color as a major focal point. Overall, this is a beautiful book where the art has a powerful and positive role.

Wu also does a remarkable job with blending music, the book’s most central concept, directly into the artwork. This ranges from expert handling of Black Canary’s signature scream to actually using guitar chords and sheet music to depict battle sequences. Seeing this play out is wonderful and makes this standout title standout even further.

Continuity

Black Canary Vol. 1: Kicking and Screaming starts the Black Canary New 52 series. Though this series is mostly comprised of brand new characters and concepts, Black Canary’s history as a singer was established back in Batgirl Vol. 1: Batgirl of Burnside (Review).

The story here continues in Black Canary Vol. 2: New Killer Star  (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Black Canary references a brief period of time in which she helped the Justice League fight against Atlantis. This happened in Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis (Review).
• The history behind Black Canary’s husband is mentioned a number of times. The stories detailing his “death”, his return to life, and his missing memories are told in Birds of Prey Vol. 5: Soul Crisis (Review).
  • Their time working for the government is told in Team 7 Vol. 1: Fight Fire With Fire (Review).
• Heathcliff makes a number of references to a girl named “Pomeline” and the life he led before joining the band. This life is detailed in Gotham Academy Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy.