Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot was my go-to in high school. I had most of her books and read them over and over. She was THE quintessential teen girl voice for the longest time in YA fiction. So, obviously, when I saw that she was trying her hand at superhero comics, I was all over that like white on rice. I love comic books as much as the next geek, but I'll also be the first to admit that they aren't always, well, accessible to women. Between cheesecake shots in physically impossible contortions, and refrigerated women, I always kind of felt like they just weren't written for me at all.

That's finally changing. Now we're getting superheroes who are strong women and independent and actually have lives and hobbies when they're not fighting crime. I think we can all thank Wonder Woman for proving that there's a definite market for that. BLACK CANARY is basically Wonder Woman for the middle grade audience. Dinah is an ordinary preteen girl who is in a band with her two friends, Kat and Vee. She loves her parents and wants to be a police offer when she grows up. There's just one problem-- she has a supersonic voice that shatters glass.

As Dinah comes to terms with her powers, she learns that-- well, to quote Spiderman-- with great power, comes great responsibility. If she's not careful, she can cause destruction and hurt people, simply by speaking too loudly. And then, there's the whole safety element: her father is a cop who has put a lot of bad people away, and if any of the wrong people learn who she is and what she can do, they'll hurt her to keep from going back to Arkham. And unfortunately for Dinah, it seems like someone has figured out who she is, and they'll do anything to keep from being locked up.

Meg Cabot was the perfect writer for this comic book, to be honest. It has an almost "magical girl" feel, reminding me of manga I read when I was younger such as Tokyo Mew Mew, Wedding Peach, Sailor Moon, or Saint Tail. Cara McGee's art looks vaguely anime-inspired, and the friendship between the girls really makes this feel like a warm-hearted anime for young girls. Better yet, there's no romance (shocker, I know; Meg Cabot is all about that romance, usually). The focus is just entirely on a girl balancing friendship with her two besties with her burgeoning superpowers. Also, I'm kind of in love with their whole rock aesthetic. I don't know if any of you watched Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost, but they totally remind me of the Hex Girls.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! 

4 out of 5 stars