Acclaimed DC Comics scribe Tom King recently discussed his influences and approach to writing the titular character in his brand-new series, Black Canary: Best of the Best. The book’s first issue debuts on November 27.

Per DC, the Black Canary: Best of the Best miniseries will not only center on Dinah Lance’s conflict with Lady Shiva to determine the best hand-to-hand fighter in the DC Universe, but also focus on her complex relationship with a former holder of the Black Canary mantle, her mother. King clarified that both parts of the story were on equal footing and bore equal weight. “The book’s both! It’s a badass slugfest fight that also draws on the emotional connection between a mother and daughter,” he said. “For this, I was inspired by my two daughters and my son, who is a huge wrestling fan. So, this is almost combining my two children for this complete story.”

Black Canary: Best of the Best #1

• Written by TOM KING
• Art by RYAN SOOK
• Color by DAVE STEWART
• Cover by RYAN SOOK

King continued, “When superheroes fight, it’s mostly about skill. But to survive the fight and take the pain, it becomes less about skill and more about soul. The thing in you that drives you into the ground and makes you want to give up but to get off the ground anyway—that stuff comes from how you were raised and who raised you. That’s what I wanted to get at, what formed Dinah’s soul.”

More broadly, Black Canary: Best of the Best was also inspired by the rich history of Black Canary, which stretches back to the Golden Age of comics. “I did go back and read the Golden Age stuff. People forget that the Black Canary character goes back to the Bob Kanigher days of DC. She’s a 1941 debut, about as old as Robin,” King said.

Tom King Believes a Key Element of DC Comics Puts Black Canary on Superman and Batman’s Level

King, one of the architects of James Gunn’s DCU, believes legacy is what DC has over other publishers, including Marvel. “DC’s greatest strength to me, as someone who’s been writing for these characters for about a decade, is legacy,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got over Marvel, the idea that our characters have older versions and younger versions of the hero name, and we can see how those characters interact with each other,” King explained.

Against the backdrop of that legacy, the writer aimed to tell a classic Black Canary story worthy of the character he regards as being on the same level as comic book icons Batman and Superman. “In looking at Black Canary—and putting her up to a level of a Superman or Batman, which she deserves—I wanted to show her legacy story,” he said. “Her key DC concept of what it means to live in the shadow of another parent or mentor, which in many ways can be seen as the classic DC story.”

Tom King and Ryan Sook’s Black Canary: Best of the Best #1 is now in comic shops.

Source: DC