thoA new era is on the horizon for DC's Birds of Prey, with a new ongoing title from Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero, and Jordie Bellaire launching next week. Birds of Prey #1 is set to kick off an intense new story for Black Canary, alongside Zealot, Big Barda, Cassandra Cain, and Harley Quinn. As a newly-released preview for the issue reveals, that mission has something to do with the return of a long-lost character from Dinah Lance's history.
The Birds of Prey #1 preview, which shows a fight scene between Dinah, Cass, and a bunch of goons, reveals that Dinah is putting a team together because of something to do with Cynthia "Sin" Lance — Dinah's surrogate daughter from the comics of the mid-2000s. (Dinah technically refers to Sin as her "sister" in the issue, but nevertheless.) While early art from the series had shown a framed photo of Dinah and Sin, this preview now confirms that the latter factors into the series in some way.
Who is DC's Sin Lance?
Created by Gail Simone and Paulo Siqueria in 2006's Birds of Prey #92, Sin is a young girl who enters Dinah's orbit at a vicious martial arts camp in Asia, which Dinah has enrolled in after swapping lives with Lady Shiva for a year. After Dinah learns that Sin is being trained to be the next Lady Shiva, she helps her escape the camp and essentially becomes her mother figure. The two of them live in Metropolis together, and Dinah quits the Birds of Prey so she can better protect Sin. In 2007's Black Canary miniseries, Dinah and the Green Arrow family battle with the League of Assassins over Sin's future, as the latter group wants to kidnap her and make her their new leader. To end the conflict, Oliver Queen / Green Arrow fakes Sin's death and hides her away in a monastery, where Dinah visits her from time to time.
Some had theorized that Sin could end up being Red Canary, who debuted in the comics earlier this year and becomes a superhero after being inspired by Dinah. It's worth noting that Red Canary's real name was recently revealed to be "Sienna", so we'll have to wait and see if there is still a connection between the two.
What is Birds of Prey #1 About?
In Birds of Prey, Dinah Lance is one of the DC Universe's most elite fighters, and combined with her sonic scream, she's a fearsome foe in any scenario…but sometimes even the Black Canary needs help. Faced with a personal mission brought to her by a mysterious new ally, and up against near-impossible odds, she re-forms the Birds of Prey with an unrivaled group—Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Zealot, and Harley Quinn—with only one goal: extraction of their asset at any cost. What could possibly go wrong? This all-new, all-deadly Birds of Prey is still breaking hearts and faces after all these years!
"When I say this is a dream come true for me, I mean not just working on the iconic Birds of Prey title, but also the characters we were able to fold in, and the creative team we assembled," Thompson said in a statement. "Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire were two of my first partners-in-crime making superhero books and I've been trying to make this happen ever since. It won't surprise anyone to learn that Leonardo and Jordie are even better than they were the last time we worked together—and working together on this wild book is pure magic."
Keep scrolling to check out the first look at Birds of Prey #1, and share your thoughts with us in the comments below!