Black Canary by Gene Gonzales

Black Canary © DC Comics

Black Canary has always been one of my favorite characters. I first came to notice her in the Green Arrow back ups in Action Comics. This might sound strange but it's the only way to say it, Dinah and Ollie were the first comic characters that I was sure had sex off panel. They were passionate, they loved, they fought, and seemed to live and breathe. Around the same time I found back issues of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. My friend had a couple of issues but he also had this black and white paperback book that reprinted some stories. In one of the stories, we learn that Superman made a motorcycle for Black Canary. It was just a throwaway line between GL & GA to identify Black Canary's stolen motorcycle. But it stuck with me. I always liked the idea that Superman took time out to make a special motorcycle for his fellow Justice Leaguer. Was it a birthday present? A Christmas present? A welcome to Earth-1 gift? Who knows? It was just pretty cool.

My inspiration for this piece was to mix Dinah proudly standing by her new motorcycle and approach it in a style inspired by Alex Toth's great Black Canary art from a back up story in Adventure Comics, done in that same time period.

Ink on 11" x 17" Bristol Board.