black canary

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. This week’s episode, “Legends of Yesterday,” reunites the Flash and Arrow teams, and fully sets the stage for the upcoming spin-off series, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Oh, and everyone dies. Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Brian Ford Sullivan wrote the episode, which was directed by our new name champion, Thor Freudenthal.

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. This week’s episode, 'Brotherhood', focuses on yet another character we thought was dead being less dead than we thought; Oliver’s fight for hope and a political platform beyond the word “United”; Ray’s battle with back-from-the-dead ennui; and any excuse to let Neal McDonough chew the scenery in every scene he appears in. James Bamford directed the episode, which was written by Keto Shimizu and our returning name champion, Speed Weed.

It’s past time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. The latestepisode, 'Lost Souls', focuses on what happened to a character everyone assumed was dead, but in something of a theme this season, turns out to be alive all along. Plus: Sara’s still working through some stuff, a relationship hangs in the balance and the best guest star on the show, Felicity’s mom, comes back to town! Antonio Negret directed the episode, which was written by Emilio Ortega Aldrich and Beth Scwhartz.

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. In this week’s episode, 'Haunted', the team unites with another DC Universe character to restore something we all thought lost to the grave --- actor Matt Ryan’s portrayal of John Constantine. Plus, a lot of setup for another TV show, rampant mispronunciations and a couple of weird, computery plots. John Badham directed this episode, with a script by Oscar Balderrama and Brian Ford Sullivan.

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. In this week’s 'Beyond Redemption', Ollie ramps up his new mayoral campaign, a new Arrowcave opens for business, some dirty cops make their presence felt, a deception is revealed, and a character’s return from the grave causes some family turmoil. Lexi Alexander directed the episode, and the teleplay was by Beth Schwartz and Ben Sokolowski.

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. This week’s episode, 'Restoration', divides its time between Nanda Parbat, where someone may just be coming back to life, and Star City, where the team takes on a metahuman while Dig investigates the death of his brother (maybe he should take him to Nanda Parbat, too). Plus, more island stuff than we’ve seen in other episodes! Wendey Stanzler serves as director, and Wendy Mericle and Speed Weed (yes, Speed Weed) turned in the script.

It’s time for another installment of Pointed Commentary, the feature where grizzled Arrow watcher Matt D. Wilson and newcomer Chris Haley dig into the details of Team Arrow cleaning up the filthy, crime-ridden streets of Star City. Things turn political in this season’s second episode, “The Candidate.” A sincere, driven woman and Queen family friend (guest star Jeri Ryan) steps up to the plate to run for mayor, an office fraught with peril. Guess what happens? You got it: peril. Also firings and debates about supervillain ethics. John Behring directed the episode, and it was written by Marc Guggenheim and Keto Shimizu.

Reading Black Canary wasn't just reading another comic book --- the character comes with a lot of baggage for me, so I felt bound to be more critical of it than I am of any other book. But by the time I finished issue #2, I felt like a character I'd loved for a long time had been given a new life. This is what we should want for our heroes.

Like pretty much everyone else who read it, my reaction to Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr's Batgirl relaunch was something along the lines of, "Yes, please, I would like more of this." That said, there was a pretty pessimistic part of me that didn't think we were actually going to get it. I just assumed that Batgirl was going to exist in isolation as one of those rare reboots that took things in an entirely different direction and breathed new life into a great character, yet didn't have an impact anywhere else. Fortunately, I was wrong. This week saw the release of the new Black Canary series from Fletcher and Annie Wu, and for all intents and purposes, it's a spinoff of Batgirl that takes the same approach to rebuilding a great character for a new audience. This time, it's Black Canary recast as a mysterious lead singer who can't stop getting into fights, and y'all, it's pretty awesome.

Finally, after what seemed like an impossible wait, Kotobukiya's Black Canary Bishoujo is really happening. Though the statue has had its share of development issues, Koto has been teasing this final iteration of the anticipated Black Canary for a few months now, and is actually on track to deliver her before the end of the year. While it will be nice to finally be able to complete the Birds of Prey collection, Dinah Lance is missing a little something compared to her teammates. As you can see in the images, Black Canary's base is much more simplified stand, and lacks the gargoyle base like the rest of the Birds of Prey.