Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? Ep.11: Bizarro to Black Canary

The opposite of Superman. A cube in space. A modern-day shaman. A wooden druid. A pair of songbirds. Which are hot, which are not? The Girls of the Hot Squad continue to assess Who's Who #2's entries for their sheer datability.

Featuring permanent panelists Isabel, Nathalie, Josée, Shotgun, and Amélie.

Listen to Episode 11 below (the usual mature language warnings apply), or subscribe to the feed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Relevant images and further credits at: Who's Hot and Who's Not ep.11 Supplemental

This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK!

Subscribe via iTunes as part of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK.

And thanks for leaving a comment.

18 responses to “Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? Ep.11: Bizarro to Black Canary

  1. What a great way to settle back into work after a long holiday break! Plus, I guessed all the “hots and nots” right, so I got a free sammich! Great day!

    Bizarro and Bizarro World: I find it interesting that this entry teetered more toward NOT than the following Bizarro World one. Kevin O’Neil’s unique art was often seen as repugnant, so much so in fact the Comic Code Authority essentially “banned” him. If he drew a comic…no code! So I wonder if his esoteric style held Bizarro back a bit? Or maybe it was just the not-quite opposite rationale? For a VERY different take on Bizarro, might I suggest the recent 2nd season of Sueprman and Lois? But for a great take on the more traditional Bizarro, look for the late 80s/early 90s Superboy TV series. The Bizarro episodes are the best of that entire run.

    Black Bison: I can’t help but think back to regular oHOTmu episode, featuring The Possessor. Why doesn’t Black Bison just sew up the sides of his pants? I know the girls would be disappointed, but it does seem odd he shows up with those tattered pants every time. I’m kind of suprised no one ever had John Ravenhair learn to channel his powers, but keep his mind. The DCU is sorely lacking in Native American heroes.

    Blackbriar Thorn: I think Rob and Shag brought this up WAY back during their original coverage of Who’s Who #2, but this character has managed to escape limbo purely based on the art of Joe Kubert from his DCCP premiere, and this entry. Not a bad concept at all, but kind of one-note. Or …wooden if you will.

    Black Canary: I love how much the girls dug Black Canary. She’s just awesome! I’m glad this very briefly lived retcon backstory didn’t deter the Dinahs from a well-deserved “HOT”.

    I’m sorry for Shag, the only fan of her “jazzercise” outfit on our network (that I know of). But the fishnet look is so iconic, you just can’t deviate from it for long. There’s a reason fishnet-clad Dinah is BURNING the “new” outfit on the cover of Action Comics Weekly # 609.

    Action Comics Weekly 609

    1. What is interesting about that image is that Black Canary created that “Jazzercize” outfit in Detective Comics #554 out of flame-retardant materials, to battle a fire-powered villainess called Bonfire.

      1
  2. A fun show all around, as always. I just have a few “nerdy points” triggered by the discussion:

    While most Bizarros on Bizarro World were created by the imperfect duplicator ray, Bizarros do actually procreate. This was first noted in Superman #140. Bizarro babies are born looking like normal human babies (or as Bizarros would say, ”ugh, perfect-looking freaks”), but they will eventually turn into “normal” Bizarro children after a short time. So Bizzaro #1’s and Bizarro Lois #1’s children (usually called “Bizarro Brats”) were created by… to use Josée term… “Bizarro sex”…

    And my dad would have agreed with Nathalie’s point about Bizarro being a fun “thought puzzle.” He wrote a lot of Bizarro’s “somewhat opposite” dialogue on his podcast, which probably annoyed a lot of listeners…

    Black Bison’s adventures had actually taken place in New York City, not Pittsburg. And he could, and did, animate teddy bears. He actually made a whole army of stuffed toys from a store window display attack Firestorm in Fury of Firestorm #25.

    The Black Canary songs (there are six total) were sung by Michelle Bensimon, the lead singer of the alternative pop group Caveboy. My Mom says the clip you played reminded her a bit of Siouxsie and the Banshees.

    And I agree that the “classic” costume does work best for Black Canary. Comic artist Otto Schmidt made a drawing a while back featuring Black Canary wearing over 60 different costumes used in the comics and other media, and half of them seem to be slight tweaks to the classic look. There was one “unclassic” costume she used in the Birds of Prey series that I thought looked really good, but the reason was that it resembled Marvel’s Mockingbird outfit, but with tighter sleeves.

    Looking forward to the final part of volume II. Take good care.

    2
  3. Interesting run of characters here.

    Bizarro and Bizarro World – I like the goofiness of Bizarro but I have to say that the ‘backwards speech’ can sometimes get old. Writers treat it differently. It sometimes is backwards and sometimes isn’t. Love the #1 lanyard. And there have been a couple of Bizarro Supergirls over time.

    Black Bison – that guy is buff for a history teacher!

    Blackbriar Thorn – as Chris said, this would be a throwaway character if not for the strength of Kubert’s art in that one DCCP. Insert all the wood jokes you can!

    Black Canary – I love the character and most of her costumes are fantastic. I actually like the ‘jazzercise’ one more than many. As always, bucket boots for the win. Love the ‘Stacy’s Mom’ reference. I also thought of Debbie Reynolds/Carrie Fisher as a dynamic too. I think Dinah really blossomed with Gail Simone on Birds of Prey, suddenly being a big enough entity to chair the JLA.

    Great episode.

    1
  4. Ah Bizarro. I think I first saw him in Super Friends, and read his origin in Superman From the 30s to the 70s, but I don’t know where that book is any more. Technically, it was my brother’s (I got the Batman version) when we were kids, so he might have, or it might be in a box at my mom’s place, or lost and gone. From my very poor memory, I thought that Bizarro built a different duplicator device to clone himself, rather than continuing to dupe Superman, while Supes used the original duplicator to create the blue kryptonite. If only the issue was on DCU Infinite. Maybe someday.

    Black Canary: So glad the gang liked her so much, her original costume is so iconic. But I’ll admit, I absolutely love the jazzercise outfit, too. Especially when drawn by John Byrne (its creator, I think) or Kevin Maguire. Let the Tim-mocking begin.

    Great episode, hot squad!

    1
    1. Black Canary’s 80s costume was designed by Stephen DeStefano, I believe.

      It then premiered in this issue of Who’s Who (drawn by Terry Austin). But I think you’re right that its first use in a STORY was Legends under Byrne’s pencils.

      1. After this Who’s Who entry, Black Canary appeared in the “Jazzercise” outfit in Crisis #5 (which takes place in the “future” month of July 1985), then the backup story in Detective Comics #554 (when she first wore the costume) one month later.

    2. And Tim is correct that Bizarro built his own duplicator device (called an “Imitator Machine”) to populate Bizarro World in Action Comics #263, the first appearance of Bizarro World (which should had been noted in the entry). He originally made copies of the Bizarro Lois so she wouldn’t be lonely, but because they all loved Bizarro, Bizarro Lois #1 used the machine to make copies of Bizarro for them so she could have Bizarro #1 all to herself.

      Superman did keep the original duplicator, and used it on Green Krytonite to create Blue Kryptonite in Superman #140 (the same story that featured the first Bizarro baby).

  5. So much fun, everyone! So much talk about lingerie, fishnets, and doublesided tape is heating up my headphones! Good thing I work at home so my co workers can’t see me blushing.

    Bizarro – Me am not happy with ladies’ reaction.

    Bizarro World – I don’t mind a little bit of Bizarro and Bizarro World, but I REALLY enjoyed the fairly recent story, “Escape From Bizarro World” starting in Action Comics #855, from writers Geoff Johns and Richard Donner(!) and drawn by Eric Powell.

    Blackbriar Thron – Why doesn’t he make a like a tree and lea…… oh, he did make like a tree!

    This show really brightens up my work day so thank you for all the laughs. Keep up the great work!

  6. Great show as always. This comment is so late that I have nothing new to say, except that there are some excellent/terrible puns in these comments! I was four out of five again on the punch card. I thought the girls would vote “not” on Bizarro. Regarding my blunder with Big Sir last time. I had forgotten (or perhaps mentally blocked out) his origin and all its abuse. I should’ve read the entry! Anyway, I’m happy to say Big Sir didn’t come across quite so exploited in JLI. I think that was because his partners in crime were such comedic nincompoops that he often seemed wise by comparison. Call it the “Curly Effect.”

Leave a Reply to Chris Franklin Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *