Characters / Justice Society Of America Golden Age
The Atom I
Batman
Black Canary I
AKA: Dinah Drake-Lance
Abilities: Martial arts master
Mother of the modern Black Canary, Dinah started out as a supporting cast member in Johnny Thunder's series before totally overshadowing him. She was the last hero to join the JSA before it disbanded in 1951. Unlike her daughter, the first Black Canary had no powers; she relied solely on her martial arts skills. She died of cancer after her daughter took up her mantle.
- Action Girl: An excellent boxer and practitioner of jujitsu.
- The Artifact: Her costume, which was meant to make her seem like a tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks and which she kept after no longer being/pretending to be a villain. We just won't talk about what happened when her daughter tried to change it in the 80's.
- Badass Normal: A non-powered master martial artist who teamed up with and fought alongside very powerful superheroes.
- The Beastmaster: in one of her early appearances, she trained an actual black canary to follow fairly complex orders. In a different one she controlled a flock of them. This didn't stick.
- Characterization Marches On: Her very earliest appearances were in Johhny Thunder's comic, where she was a Catwoman-esque jewel thief who only stole from other criminals, and took action against actual murderers. After the first few appearances she took on a quasi-sidekick role. Pretty soon Johnny was kicked to the curb, and she was retconned into having pretended to be a criminal.
- Clark Kenting: A blonde wig, a makeup change, and a costume that took attention away from her face got her pretty far.
- Color Character: Black Canary
- Damsel in Distress: Inverted. In an interesting twist for the time, detective Larry Lance was always getting himself into trouble and Black Canary was the one who kept having to save him.
- Domino Mask: In her first appearances.
- Everyone Has Standards: When she was a Karmic Thief, she admitted she was pretty hardboiled, but after hearing about thugs robbing a charity, she was disgusted.
- Happily Married: Though she apparently had an affair with Starman in the '50s.
- Karmic Thief: In her earliest appearances.
- Ms. Fanservice: She wears fishnet stockings and high-heeled boots to fight crime.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Even though she's a slip of a girl, she can easily pick a guy up above her head and throw him without using jujitsu.
- Non-Powered Costumed Hero: Dinah has no superpowers and has a costume complete with a Domino Mask.
- Swiss Army Weapon: The choker around her neck (opened with pressure from her chin) always had a little gadget of some sort that could get her out of a hairy situation, no matter how improbable. (How'd you cut the ropes behind your back with a tiny blade on your neck?)
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