Justice League of America #220
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJustice League of America #220 is the issue in which DC formally split Black Canary into two distinct characters — mother Dinah Drake Lance and daughter Dinah Laurel Lance — through a sweeping retroactive continuity revision designed to resolve the growing timeline problem of a character who had been active since the late 1940s and would otherwise have been approaching sixty years old by 1983. The story delivered the first full accounting of how the infant Dinah Laurel's uncontrollable sonic cry (a curse placed by the Wizard) led to her being placed in suspended animation in the Thunderbolt Dimension, and how Superman and the Thunderbolt later transferred the dying original Canary's memories into her adult daughter's body, retroactively reframing every Justice League appearance of 'Black Canary' since 1969. As the concluding chapter of the annual JLA/JSA crossover tradition — a tradition DC itself marked as its 20th anniversary — the issue stands as one of the most consequential single retcons in Bronze Age DC history, establishing the two-Canary framework that, in revised form, still defines the character today.
In "The Doppelgänger Gambit," the Justice League of America confronts a shocking twist in the legacy of the Canary, as Earth-One's Johnny Thunder unveils the hidden past of the second Canary—her origins tied to Earth-Two and a desperate act by the Earth-One Superman to save her life. Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Chuck Patton, with inks by Romeo Tanghal and Marcos, this pivotal 1983 issue explores identity, memory, and the cost of heroism, all anchored by a powerful emotional core. The story's bold narrative is framed by George Pérez’s striking cover art, capturing the tension between the two versions of the character.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The two-part story spanning issues #219–220 was co-written by regular JLA scribe Gerry Conway and Earth-Two specialist Roy Thomas, who brought his deep knowledge of JSA continuity from his concurrent All-Star Squadron work. Chuck Patton handled interior pencils with inks shared by Romeo Tanghal and Pablo Marcos; the cover for #220 was drawn by George Pérez, whose covers graced the series even after his interior run had concluded. Editor Len Wein oversaw the project with assistant editor Nicola Cuti, and the story was on sale July 12, 1983, carrying a November 1983 cover date.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue title: 'The Doppelganger Gambit' — the concluding chapter of the two-part JLA/JSA crossover begun in Justice League of America #219 ('Crisis in the Thunderbolt Dimension!').
- The issue delivers the retroactive origin of Dinah Laurel Lance as the second Black Canary: the daughter of original Canary Dinah Drake and Larry Lance, cursed in infancy by the Wizard with an uncontrollable sonic cry, preserved in suspended animation in the Thunderbolt Dimension, and given her mother's memories after the original Canary died from Aquarius's radiation (referencing events of Justice League of America #74).
- Written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway; pencilled by Chuck Patton; inked by Pablo Marcos and Romeo Tanghal; cover art by George Pérez; edited by Len Wein.
- The Crime Champions — a cross-Earth villain coalition including Chronos, Felix Faust, Doctor Alchemy (Earth-One), the Fiddler, the Icicle, and the Wizard (Earth-Two) — serve as the primary antagonists, with JSA members Flash (Jay Garrick), Hourman, Red Tornado, the Huntress, Power Girl, and Sargon the Sorcerer battling them across Earth-One.
- The story marked approximately the 20th anniversary of the annual JLA/JSA crossover tradition that began in The Flash #123 (1961).
- The 1983 retcon established in this issue was later revised after Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–86); the mind-transplant element was discarded and replaced with a simpler generational legacy — Dinah Laurel Lance inheriting the Black Canary identity from her mother Dinah Drake — as told in Secret Origins #50 (August 1990).
- The issue has been reprinted in: DC Comics Classics Library: Justice League of America by George Pérez Vol. 2 (2010, with the Pérez cover reproduced); Crisis on Multiple Earths: Countdown to Crisis (DC, 2023 series, issue #3).
- The two-part story (JLA #219–220) is also collected in Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3 / 'Countdown to Crisis,' which gathers the major late Bronze Age JLA/JSA team-up arcs leading up to the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
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Reprinted in DC Comics Classics Library: Justice League of America by George Perez #2 (2010), Crisis on Multiple Earths #3 (2023)
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