Behind every great archer is a blond woman who kicks ass. Black Canary from DC Comics. Mockingbird from Marvel Comics. Today we ask the question: What's The Difference!?
Black Canary was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino in 1947's "Flash Comics #86". Infantino claimed the back-up stories for "Flash Comics" starring Johnny Thunder-an average man with a wish granting thunderbolt-were far too boring. Black Canary was introduced as a seductive thief and the readers immanently liked her far more than Johnny Thunder. Black Canary's design was solely based on Infantino's ideal woman, strong and sexy. He even met a dancer who looked just like Black Canary and he ended up dating her for three years. Because Black Canary was introduced in the Golden Age of comic books DC Comics considered her to be part of Earth 2. Quick reminder: Earth 2 is the DC Comics Universe circa 1930's-1950's and featured characters like The Flash (Jay Garrick with his silly silver helmet) and Green Lantern (Alan Scott and his red and purple costume) and Black Canary who was a member of The Justice Society of America alongside the aforementioned heroes. After her husband Larry Lance died, the grieving Dinah Lance/Black Canary moved to Earth 1 (the 1960's "modern" comic universe) and joined The Justice League of America, even striking an affection for Green Arrow and developing her trademark sonic scream "The Canary Cry". In one of the first and worst retcons in DC Comics history, a story was written in the 1980's that explained Black Canary had a child with Larry back in Earth 2 years prior, but an evil wizard cursed the child. In order to cure the child, Black Canary gave it to Johnny Thunder's wish-granting thunderbolt and it was taken into a realm called "The Thunderbolt Dimension. When Black Canary returned years later her child had grown into an adult. Black Canary felt awful for robbing the child of a life and-through the Thunderbolt's powers-the memories of Black Canary were infused into her daughter and the daughter became the new Black Canary-Canary Cry included-and took her mother's place in Earth 1-Green Arrow relationship included-while the old Black Canary returned to Earth 2. The entire story was conceived to make Black Canary appear younger. Luckily later retcons simply established Black Canary grew up with a meta-human superpower and had become one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe. Being a member of The Justice League and The Birds of Prey, being a wife to Green Arrow and an adopted mother of Roy Harper, and being one of the most recognizable female heroes in the DCU, Black Canary earned the respect of comic readers everywhere. And now she's in rock band. Yeah, figure that out.
First appearing in "Astonishing Tales #6" in 1971, Bobbi Morse was created by Gerry Conway to simply be a young woman with psychic abilities seeking Kevin Plunder. Kevin-by the way-was a rich child who became stranded and raised in "The Savage Land". The Savage Land-by the way-is a place in the Antarctic where time never passed and prehistoric creatures roam free. As Ka-Zar, Kevin became a warrior of The Savage Land. Writer Roy Thomas later took over the title and established Bobbi or Barbara as the wife of a man named Paul and that they were both trapped in The Savage Land, Ka-Zar proudly lead them out of the dangerous location. Barbara Morse appeared again later as a scientist trying to recreate the super soldier serum, it wasn't until one issue after that Barbara Morse was established as a SHIELD agent pretending to love this Paul guy because she was assigned to stop him because he was an agent of AIM. Holy freaking cow. From there Barbara/Bobbi Morse took codenames like Agent 19, Huntress and finally Mockingbird. Though she was a supporting character/love interest to Ka-Zar for a time, Mockingbird eventually became the supporting character/love interest to Hawkeye in 1983. It was in Hawkeye's mini-series the two went from enemies to lovers and ended up getting married. Along with her husband, Mockingbird founded The West Coast Avengers. Like most characters Mockingbird was also killed off (giving Hawkeye something to cry about and a reason to sleep around) and revived (pleasing fans and giving Hawkeye his wife back). Mockingbird was a major member of both The New Avengers and The Secret Avengers and has been one of SHIELD's most reliable agents. As such she's even earned her own solo title.
Black Canary's fame brought her to such shows as "Justice League Unlimited", "Batman: The Brave & The Bold" and "Arrow". Pretty sure they have like two Black Canaries on "Arrow". Mockingbird has appeared on "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and "Agents of Shield". They're both blond, they both have bird names, they both married archers, you can see why these two could be confused for each other. And looking at their histories one of the similarities I've noticed is that they were both meant to be secondary characters, but through two very different paths they both ended up being more popular than the characters they supported. These two are as much additions of popular comic book archers as they are their own strong independent superheroes. Take away the relationships and they're both still entertaining characters. Granted they both have confusing and constantly changed backstories. It's amazing how you don't often see them compared the way other DC/Marvel characters are. All that being said I really respect both of these characters and think they are solid additions to their respective comic book universes.
Thanks for reading.
First appearing in "Astonishing Tales #6" in 1971, Bobbi Morse was created by Gerry Conway to simply be a young woman with psychic abilities seeking Kevin Plunder. Kevin-by the way-was a rich child who became stranded and raised in "The Savage Land". The Savage Land-by the way-is a place in the Antarctic where time never passed and prehistoric creatures roam free. As Ka-Zar, Kevin became a warrior of The Savage Land. Writer Roy Thomas later took over the title and established Bobbi or Barbara as the wife of a man named Paul and that they were both trapped in The Savage Land, Ka-Zar proudly lead them out of the dangerous location. Barbara Morse appeared again later as a scientist trying to recreate the super soldier serum, it wasn't until one issue after that Barbara Morse was established as a SHIELD agent pretending to love this Paul guy because she was assigned to stop him because he was an agent of AIM. Holy freaking cow. From there Barbara/Bobbi Morse took codenames like Agent 19, Huntress and finally Mockingbird. Though she was a supporting character/love interest to Ka-Zar for a time, Mockingbird eventually became the supporting character/love interest to Hawkeye in 1983. It was in Hawkeye's mini-series the two went from enemies to lovers and ended up getting married. Along with her husband, Mockingbird founded The West Coast Avengers. Like most characters Mockingbird was also killed off (giving Hawkeye something to cry about and a reason to sleep around) and revived (pleasing fans and giving Hawkeye his wife back). Mockingbird was a major member of both The New Avengers and The Secret Avengers and has been one of SHIELD's most reliable agents. As such she's even earned her own solo title.
Black Canary's fame brought her to such shows as "Justice League Unlimited", "Batman: The Brave & The Bold" and "Arrow". Pretty sure they have like two Black Canaries on "Arrow". Mockingbird has appeared on "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and "Agents of Shield". They're both blond, they both have bird names, they both married archers, you can see why these two could be confused for each other. And looking at their histories one of the similarities I've noticed is that they were both meant to be secondary characters, but through two very different paths they both ended up being more popular than the characters they supported. These two are as much additions of popular comic book archers as they are their own strong independent superheroes. Take away the relationships and they're both still entertaining characters. Granted they both have confusing and constantly changed backstories. It's amazing how you don't often see them compared the way other DC/Marvel characters are. All that being said I really respect both of these characters and think they are solid additions to their respective comic book universes.
Thanks for reading.
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