Black Canary vs. the Court of Owls in upcoming YA novel

(Image credit: Jen Bartel (Random House Books))

Alexandra Monir

Alexandra Monir (Image credit: Kerem Hanci)

Black Canary is the latest classic DC superhero to get her own Young Adult prose novel as part of the DC Icons series, courtesy of author Alexandra Monir, as announced through Deadline.

Titled Black Canary: Breaking Silence, the novel will follow Dinah Lance as she takes on the sinister Court of Owls who pull the strings in an alternate, dystopian Gotham City.

In comic books, Dinah Lance is a second generation superhero, following in the footsteps of her mother Dinah Drake, who initially debuted in the Golden Age of the 40s.

DC’s book distributor Penguin has added a listing for the title, which includes a full synopsis, which reads as follows:

(Image credit: Jen Bartel (Random House))

“In this thrilling origin story of Black Canary, Dinah Lance's voice is her weapon. And in a near-future world where women have no rights, she won't hesitate to use everything she has - including her song - to fight back.

“Dinah Lance was seven years old when she overheard the impossible: the sound of a girl singing. It was something she was never meant to hear - not in her lifetime and not in Gotham City, taken over by the vicious, patriarchal Court of Owls. The sinister organization rules Gotham City as a dictatorship and has stripped women of everything - their right to work, to make music, to learn, to be free.

“Now 17, Dinah can't forget that haunting sound, and she's beginning to discover that her own voice is just as powerful. But singing is forbidden-a one-way route to a certain death sentence. Fighting to balance her father's desire to keep her safe, a blossoming romance with mysterious new student Oliver Queen, and her own need to help other women and girls rise up, Dinah wonders if her song will finally be heard. And will her voice be powerful enough to destroy the Court of Owls once and for all?”

Black Canary: Breaking Silence is due out December 29 through Random House.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)