This issue of Black Canary takes place much earlier in their career, and is a welcome break from all of the crazy going on in the series. It takes place at an unpublicized birthday party gig, for one very special little girl.
Julia Falcone, to be precise. She’s the granddaughter of the head of the Falcone family; one of Gotham’s biggest crime families. Black Canary doesn’t seem to realize who they’ve been hired to perform for until they’re there, because as soon as party guests start arriving (some of the most powerful crime bosses in Gotham) DD starts kicking. Stopped by Julia’s mother, she’s told that the party is planned to a T, and Black Canary must be onstage at 9pm sharp. If any member of the Falcone family told me a time to be somewhere, I’d listen.
But DD is not about it. She wants to get out of it, but an old assassin that she has known for years is with the band when she gets back there, and after kicking the knife from his hands, she learns that there’s a hit on the birthday girl. She then (discreetly) takes out more of the assassins. She realizes, once onstage, that there’s one assassin left, and he’s right behind Julia.
After taking him out, Julia reveals that it’s the man she wanted to be her boyfriend, and now hates Black Canary. The mother explains that they will definitely not be getting paid, and that’s where the issue ends. I’m a little worried that Julia’s mother is the one who put out the hit, the way that she acted about the importance of Black Canary’s timing.
For the most part, this issue was great. I really enjoyed the story, and the break for the regular crazy that happens in Black Canary comics, but I was not a fan of the art. I thought it looked very immature, especially in contrast to the art that has been in the Black Canary books. It wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t distracting to the story. Like I said, overall it was a great issue. I think it was neat seeing all of these terrible people of Gotham at a child’s birthday party.
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