Why was Black Canary's scream hardly used back in the Satellite era?

[tib2d2]

I've read most of the satellite ere JLA from the 70s. Its strange how little Canary's scream was ever used. She was mostly used as romantic interest it seems.

Anyone know why they never used her awesome power that much back then?

[MajorHoy]

I've read most of the satellite ere JLA from the 70s. Its strange how little Canary's scream was ever used. She was mostly used as romantic interest it seems.

Anyone know why they never used her awesome power that much back then?

Possibly because it still wasn't very defined back then.
It was something that was thrown in as (supposedly) an after-effect from her relocating from Earth-2 to Earth-1. I don't know how well planned / thought out it really was, plus she supposedly still had to figure out how to make use of it without also causing unintended damage.

(Personally, she was still cool without the ability, but that may just be 1970s me.)

[DrNewGod]

I've read most of the satellite ere JLA from the 70s. Its strange how little Canary's scream was ever used. She was mostly used as romantic interest it seems.

Anyone know why they never used her awesome power that much back then?

My suspicion? At the time, "The Girl Member" of the team could only be so capable. She could be tuff and clever, but routinely outpowering both Batman and Green Arrow would have been a problem.

[Tzigone]

I wonder if they just didn't know how to use it. I always have the issue that voice shouldn't be able to be directed at a single person, and so should take out everyone near or in-path. Problematic with at team. Furthering the notion writers didn't know how to use it, I bring the early instance where her power somehow enabled Canary to pick up thoughts. Love Canary, but as power, I really don't think that much of the cry. I recall at least one other instance of her abilities behaving in a one-off fashion that wasn't used again later.

[MajorHoy]

My suspicion? At the time, "The Girl Member" of the team could only be so capable. She could be tuff and clever, but routinely outpowering both Batman and Green Arrow would have been a problem.

But remember, she was replacing Wonder Woman (when she had been an Amazon with power) in the lineup, so the idea of a "girl member" "outpowering both Batman and Green Arrow" might not have been as big an issue as you would think.

[DrNewGod]

But remember, she was replacing Wonder Woman (when she had been an Amazon with power) in the lineup, so the idea of a "girl member" "outpowering both Batman and Green Arrow" might not have been as big an issue as you would think.

Who at the time had been down-powered to an Emma Peel knock off.

[j9ac9k]

I didn't read too many of those issues, but did they emphasize her jiu jitsu fighting abilities instead? I can see wanting to focus on martial arts since that was more trendy at the time. Other than that, I couldn't say.

[Jim Kelly]

I think the Canary Cry was just something Denny O'Neil came up with to justify why BC should get membership in the League. It's the thing that convinces them to let her in. Yet Wonder Woman left when she lost her powers--other than that one power, Diana and Dinah were on equal footing at the time.

But as the mod Diana Prince shows, de-powering characters and telling more grounded stories was the fashion in the Relevant Era. Powers were not an advantage. So in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, where Pretty Bird plays a big role, even Hal's ring power has been downgraded for their adventures, while Ollie and Dinah are regular people. Superman and Supergirl also went through power outages--and Batman was popular for being a grounded character who could get beat up by thugs and had to struggle with real world problems.

Also, I think that writers and artists had a hard time with heroes that use sound from their mouths as their main power. It was hard to show that in a comic and it didn't look very dynamic. Or that seems to be the attitude they espoused.

[caj]

I can think of a few times they used it but you're right that it was few and far between.

I always assumed it was because it was difficult to explain how she didn't deafen her fellow heroes when she used it. I basically had to be a 'her vs a villain' with no one else around.

[DrNewGod]

...But as the mod Diana Prince shows, de-powering characters and telling more grounded stories was the fashion in the Relevant Era. Powers were not an advantage. So in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, where Pretty Bird plays a big role, even Hal's ring power has been downgraded for their adventures, while Ollie and Dinah are regular people. Superman and Supergirl also went through power outages--and Batman was popular for being a grounded character who could get beat up by thugs and had to struggle with real world problems...

I sometimes wish we could go back to that a bit. Not the Mod Diana Prince, but dial Superman back to something closer to S&S' original and adjust everyone else on a similar scale. There's a lot more drama available to a hero that isn't infinitely capable.

[MajorHoy]

Who at the time had been down-powered to an Emma Peel knock off.

But she had been non-down-powered for the first +/-seven years of her membership in the JLA.
And I'm assuming the decision to go with a non-powered direction for Wonder Woman came from the staff handling her own solo title, not necessarily those in charge of the JLA.

[Jim Kelly]

The thing I don't understand is why they had to take Wonder Woman out of the JLA when she gave up her powers. The initial run of mod Diana stories were scripted by Denny O'Neil, who was also writing JLA and he's the one who wrote Diana out of the League. He also wrote Martian Manhunter out--after J'Onn had been kicked out of HOUSE OF MYSTERY (so Cain could have the run of the place). Meanwhile, Green Arrow's run in ADVENTURE COMICS and WORLD'S FINEST COMICS had long ago ended and his only home was the JLA.

I don't see why O'Neil was ready to reduce the League so greatly (he hardly ever used Aquaman). It would have been pretty cool to see TWO (gasp) women in the same super-team. And it would have helped to promote Diana's adventures in her own book.

[MajorHoy]

The thing I don't understand is why they had to take Wonder Woman out of the JLA when she gave up her powers.

I'm guessing part of the reason may have been to have Diana concentrate on her journey and the teachings of I-Ching. (Also, I don't know how popular a character / member she was at that time.)
And with J'onn J'onzz, it could have also been a question of popularity plus the fact he may have seemed a bit redundant with Superman being more frequently in the Justice League adventures.

But these are only guesses on my part.

[Aahz]

I think that is because she didn't had this power back then.

The Black Canary in silver age Justice League was originally the Golden Age Balck Canary (Dinah Drake) from Earth 2, who moved to Earth 1 after her Husband died. And afaik the Golden Age Balck Canary didn't had a Canary Cry.

I'm not sure when the Cry was added, might have been when they made this wired retcon of her being in the body of her own daughter.

[Tzigone]

The Black Canary in silver age Justice League was originally the Golden Age Balck Canary (Dinah Drake) from Earth 2, who moved to Earth 1 after her Husband died. And afaik the Golden Age Balck Canary didn't had a Canary Cry.

I'm not sure when the Cry was added, might have been when they made this wired retcon of her being in the body of her own daughter.

She got the power when she crossed universes - or rather, as a result of the incident that killed her husband, Larry. The power first appeared in issue #75. Batman hypothesized it caused by Aquarius (the villain who killed Larry) via magical means. I don't know if he was ever confirmed correct. This was the first issue she was actually on Earth 1 for.