Hi Gail, what did you think of Mike Grell's Longbow Hunters? I liked it alot but to me the Black Canary as victim just felt wrong.

Okay, HERE we have something very different, I think. Longbow Hunters ITSELF presents what appears to be a WiR moment (Grell has repeatedly said Dinah is NOT raped, but she’s clearly at least been tortured).

Now, if that had been the end of it, it would be a classic WiR, end of story.

However, that wasn’t the end of it at all. Mike Grell actually wrote Dinah as a human being, and not a victim. In the ongoing Green Arrow story that spun off from Longbow Hunters, he went out of his way to present Dinah as a survivor, as someone who struggled, but persevered.

In short, he focused very much on her humanity. The OPPOSITE of what most WiR scenarios do.

Now, I haven’t read these stories in years. But I was doing volunteer work at crisis centers at the time and I remember being struck by the honesty and compassion that was shown in Dinah’s portrayal. It was, and again, my memory might be embellishing, but it was ahead of its time for comics. Female survivor as hero, a trope that was very meaningful to me, something I use all the time.

It was Grell’s portrayal of Black Canary that made me realize she could have a spine of steel.

I don’t know how those stories have aged. But at the time, I don’t remember a female character in comics ever having been portrayed that way.

So, Longbow Hunters, pretty dark, verging on WiR, totally vindicated by the follow-up stories, which makes me think that was Grell’s plan all along.

I’m a Mike Grell fan because of this, and having met him several times, I have to say he’s absolutely as gracious and smart as you could hope.