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.

[Agent Z]

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.

That's common with a lot of characters' powers.

[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.

[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.

[kcekada]

Not sure, but after it was introduced, I think it was not used for a couple of years -- until Len Wein had her use it in his run. Thereafter, she used it more regularly. She mentioned a sonic whammy power in Brave & the Bold, and I had no idea what she was talkinga about. I figured it was some kind of difficult judo move. Then a few months later, she kinda used it in that JLA story -- but not in the typical destructive sense -- it was used to negate the effects of a carousel that was spewing deadly gas.

[Tzigone]

Not sure, but after it was introduced, I think it was not used for a couple of years -- until Len Wein had her use it in his run. Thereafter, she used it more regularly.

Ah, I must have missed the Wein use.

[MajorHoy]

Ah, I must have missed the Wein use.

The Wein run on Justice League of America (#100-114 during 1972-1974) was basically when I started reading/collecting that title regularly and was filled with great stuff, like:

* the reintroduction of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory
* Phantom Stranger's involvement with the JLA
* Elongated Man joining the JLA
* Red Tornado joining the JLA
* the introduction of the Quality Comics characters as The Freedom Fighters
* John Stewart's first appearance with the JLA
* the reason behind Wes Dodds going back to his original Sandman outfit (with the cape and gas mask)
* Sandy gaining his sand/silicone powers

I really enjoyed that run!

[Tzigone]

The Wein run on Justice League of America (#100-114 during 1972-1974) was basically when I started reading/collecting that title regularly and was filled with great stuff, like:

I've read the issues. I meant I missed Wein's use of the Canary Cry. I just did a quick skim (looking for Canary Cry) earlier today, and didn't notice it in his stories. I was basically only pausing when I saw Dinah to see if she used it, and must have just overlooked it.