Flash Comics #86
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFlash Comics #86 (August 1947) is the birth certificate of one of DC's most durable female characters: Dinah Drake, the original Black Canary, who debuted here as a supporting player in the Johnny Thunder backup feature before rapidly outgrowing her host strip entirely. The issue also marks the first DC Comics work of a 22-year-old Carmine Infantino, whose career would arc from this six-page cameo all the way to co-creating the Silver Age Flash and eventually serving as DC's publisher. Black Canary's entrance injected a film-noir femme-fatale energy into a flagging Golden Age title, and the character proved so immediately popular that she had displaced Johnny Thunder from his own feature by Flash Comics #92 — a pivot that made her one of the few female heroes of the era to earn her own anthology slot on merit of reader demand. Her debut here set in motion a legacy spanning the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, Birds of Prey, and decades of live-action adaptation.
In "Stone Age Menace," Hawkman confronts a deadly mystery tied to ancient sorcery, as the Purple Pilgrim targets every person named Sanders. Written by Robert Kanigher and illustrated with gritty precision by Joe Kubert, this 1947 Flash Comics issue blends pulp adventure with supernatural dread. The cover by Lee Elias and Joe Kubert captures the story’s eerie tension, making it a standout in the early DC canon.
When a prehistoric dinosaur suddenly appears in Keystone City, Jay Garrick finds himself locked up after police refuse to believe his warnings. With time running out and no one to trust, the Flash must prove the threat is real—before the city is lost to the past.
In "The Black Canary," Johnny Thunder finds himself roped into a scheme by the mysterious heroine, who convinces him to steal a mask that’ll grant them entry to a crime boss’ lavish party. What starts as a simple distraction quickly takes a turn when the Black Canary reveals her true intentions—using the evening’s chaos to strike at the boss’s hidden safe.
In "The Valley of the Purple Pilgrim!" from Flash Comics #86 (1947), Hawkman must protect Jo Sanders, the last descendant of a sorcerer, from a mysterious and deadly figure known only as the Purple Pilgrim—whose vendetta targets every person named Sanders. With the fate of Jo hanging in the balance, Hawkman races through a forgotten valley where ancient magic and modern danger collide.
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Writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino created Black Canary at the direct request of DC editorial, which recognized that the Johnny Thunder strip was underperforming; Infantino later recalled that Kanigher described the assignment simply as drawing his 'fantasy of a good-looking girl,' resulting in the character's distinctive fishnet-and-leather-jacket silhouette designed to project both toughness and glamour. The issue was edited by Sheldon Mayer with Julius Schwartz serving as story editor, and the cover — a Lee Elias dinosaur scene inked by Joe Kubert — was adapted from the splash panel of the Flash lead story rather than depicting the debut character at all. The inks on the Black Canary story itself remain contested: the Grand Comics Database notes that historian Roy Thomas believes the inker to be Bernard Sachs, while the later reprint in Adventure Comics #416 credits Frank Giacoia — a discrepancy that has never been definitively resolved.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Black Canary (Dinah Drake), created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino; on-sale date July 31, 1947, cover-dated August 1947.
- This is also Carmine Infantino's first work for DC Comics, drawn when he was approximately 22 years old; he would go on to co-create the Silver Age Flash and become DC's publisher in the 1970s.
- Black Canary appears as a supporting character in the 'Johnny Thunder' backup story (titled 'The Black Canary'), initially presented as a thief who steals from criminals — a deliberate moral ambiguity that set her apart from conventional Golden Age heroes.
- The issue also contains the first appearance of the villain the Purple Pilgrim, in the Hawkman story 'The Valley of the Purple Pilgrim,' penciled and inked by Joe Kubert.
- The 52-page anthology also features: Flash (Jay Garrick) in 'Stone Age Menace' (written by Kanigher, art by Lee Elias/Joe Kubert); Ghost Patrol in 'The Case of the Extra Ghost' (art by Carmine Infantino); and humor filler by Harry Lampert. Editor: Sheldon Mayer; story editor: Julius Schwartz. Cover price: 10 cents.
- Black Canary appeared in five more issues of Flash Comics alongside Johnny Thunder before taking over his slot entirely beginning with Flash Comics #92 (February 1948), where she received her first cover and her own solo feature.
- Within months of her debut, she met the Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #38 (December 1947–January 1948) and formally joined the team in All Star Comics #41 (June–July 1948), becoming one of the JSA's few female members.
- The debut story was reprinted in Adventure Comics #416 (March 1972, DC 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-10), the Black Canary Archives Vol. 1 (2001), DC's Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Supervillains (2020), and The Black Canary: Bird of Prey (2021).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Adventure Comics #416 (1972), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1991), The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1992), Black Canary Archives #1 (2001), Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told #[nn] (2007), DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection #38 (2015), DC's Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Super-Villains #[nn] (2020), The Black Canary: Bird of Prey #[nn] (2021), Legends of the DC Universe: Carmine Infantino #[nn] (2023)
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