Black Canary to Fight The Patriarchy and the Court of Owls in Her First YA Novel
Black Canary will star in her first young adult novel later this year. Called Black Canary: Breaking Silence – something she’s very good at when unleashing her Canary Cry – the alternate-timeline tale will revolve around Dinah Lance fighting the Court of Owls’ rule over Gotham City and suppression of women in a near future.
Deadline reported in an exclusive Dinah does battle against “the patriarchal Court of Owls rules.” In their Gotham, “women are denied the right to work, learn and make music,” and “have been stripped of everything.”
The Court of Owls were introduced in Scott Snyder’s run on Batman during the New 52. Their membership included men and women.
In fact, in Batman #6 it appears that the current Court of Owls is actually led by a woman as she makes the decision to dispose of The Talon’s body and then launch an offensive by reviving a number of other Talons in a bid to reclaim Gotham from Batman.
The synopsis continues, describing Dinah’s journey of discovery, during which she hears music for the first time and figures out the real power of her voice:
“At 7 years old, Dinah Lance hears the sound of a girl singing — something she was never meant to hear. Fast-forward 10 years later and Dinah discovers the power of her voice — becoming the legendary Black Canary along the way.”
Further along that way, she meets Oliver Queen and winds up balancing a budding romance with her father’s wish to keep her safe and her mission to help women “rise up.” And through it all, “Dinah wonders if her song will finally be heard.”
Related – Brie Larson: “That Was the Patriarchy That Was Ringing on My Parade”
Breaking Silence is the fifth book in DC’s Icons line after Leigh Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Marie Lu’s Batman: Nightwalker, Sarah J. Maas’s Catwoman: Soulstealer and Matt de la Pena’s Superman: Dawnbreaker. It also follows the release of similar standalone reimaginings Gotham High and Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed.
The story sounds along the lines of this year’s Birds of Prey film that left the fandom divided and mostly turned off. Director Cathy Yan admitted she intended for the movie to “smash the patriarchy.”
The book is written by Alexandra Monir, author of The Final Six which Sony acquired the rights to when it was only a partial manuscript. YA novels are Monir’s specialty and she’s written several. Monir wrote lyrics too for Breaking Silence’s original songs.
Black Canary: Breaking Silence will be on sale on December 29th. Cover art is by Jen Bartel.
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