This review contains spoilers.
But when all movement stops, when sound is swallowed by emptiness…There is only the bitter death of all that was.
Black Canary #7 is written by Brenden Fletcher with art by Annie Wu and colors by Lee Loughridge. In the issue, the Black Canary band finally learns the mystery behind their guitarist and have to face the danger that comes with it.
Previously in Black Canary, Dinah was forced into a battle of the bands that resulted in her lead guitarist Ditto and ex-husband Kurt being destroyed. However, they both reappeared soon after with Kurt having aged several decades.
The cover by Wu is decent. It depicts the band charging at an unseen foe. It looks cool and is bad-ass.
The comic begins with Kurt explaining to Dinah what is going on. He says that Ditto is sentient sound given material form. Ditto’s people are unhappy that she is able to do this so they sent a monster to kill her. This monster, known as the Quietus, will destroy all sound. The only thing that can destroy it are the combined frequencies of Black Canary and the recently enhanced Bo Maeve who is the former singer of the band.
This is a major problem right off the bat. Fletcher just unloads exposition in these first few pages and there is a lot of it. I wish some of this was spaced out but it is just thrown at you right away and it’s a little jarring given how silly it is.
The band goes to Gotham Stadium for their battleground before Amanda Waller arrives determined to arrest everyone because she’s Amanda Waller. Kurt is able to convince her to wait until after the battle is done which she agrees to.
The Quietus shows up and this is where the issue really gets good. Most of the battle relies entirely on Wu and Loughridge. Since the Quietus is taking sound, there is no sound in the comic. There are no sound effects or dialogue; it is just the action. There is a part in which Quietus and Black Canary are fighting on a music sheet which is hilarious. Everything looks fantastic and is incredibly engaging.
Dinah starts to lose before the mystery ninja in white from previous issues shows up to help. With the assist, Dinah and Bo are able to destroy the monster. Waller agrees to take Kurt since he now has a part of Ditto’s DNA in him so that she will leave everyone else alone and the band congratulates themselves before realizing Dinah is gone. The issue ends with Dinah waking up with the ninja in white and the revelation that this ninja is someone from her past.
Verdict
If you’re someone who likes a lot of dialogue and sound effects in comics, you might not like this. A good portion of the book relies on the art which I think is fantastic. Everything you need is given to you through action, facial expressions and page layout. It is really incredible. Unfortunately, this means there is a lot of dialogue at the beginning and the end of the issue which is somewhat tedious. There are rumors that this book might get cancelled in a couple of months but I really hope not because this is always one of the books I look forward to the most.
