[.ca] Black Canary, The - Archives, VOL 01 (ISBN 1563897342)

Wonderful collection:
This is a terrific hardbound volume full of BC's history...including her first appearance. Stories included:1) Flash Comics #86-104 (August 1947 through February 1949) 2) Comics Cavalcade #25 (February/March 1948) 3) DC Special #3 (February 1949) 4) Adventure Comics #399 (November 1970) 5) Brave and the Bold #61-62 (September 1965, November 1965) 6) Adventure Comics #418-419 (April/May 1972) So order and enjoy! With so much packed into one volume, with so many great storytellers and artists like Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino, Gardner Fox, Murphy Anderson, Denny O'Neil, and Alex Toth, this book is a must-read for any Black Canary aficionado.

I am very pleased with getting this book:
This book not only contains Black Canary's Golden Age appearences, but also includes some of her Silver Age appearences too. Very nice volume that covers a lot of Canary's early history. Like the fact her first appearence she was described as being a villian, although she stole from criminals only. Then she bacame a hero fighting, early on, with Johnny Thunder (Who should get his own volume to. Email DC and say you want one!) Canary then went on to do a solo gig in her own feature in Flash comics. This volume even shows her team up with Starman - which now in DC history is when Canary had an afrair with Starman. So if you want to find out about the early adventures of Diana Drake, the first Black Canary (Diana lance, now appearing in Bird of Prey, is her daughter) then buy this volume!

Great collection of rare, classic comics:
This collection includes adventures from her entire solo career, from 1947 to 1972, starting with a support role in the comedic crime strip, "Johnny Thunder" (a minor character from the WWII-era DC lineup), and moving on up to a brainlessly goofy hippie-era plotline involving a women's lib group that was actually a front for a notorious criminal mastermind. It's all good stuff; not too substantive on the writing side of things, but nice light fun nonetheless. The best part is Carmine Infantino's artwork, which was highly imitative of newspaper cartoonist Milton Canniff, with a rugged yet stylish flair -- very different from the fluid, slapdash style Infantino adopted later in the '50s and '60s. I really enjoyed reading this one, and found it less repetitive than other volumes in the series... It's also nice to see one of the lesser, neglected Golden Age characters finally get their due, particularly one as foxy as the Lana Turner-ish Black Canary... Wish they'd do a DC archive for Wildcat, as well!