G3 Cosplay: Black Canary

So impressed over the years by the cosplayers who attend Dragon*Con, cosplaying became an item on my bucket list. Finally, after a false start or two, I cosplayed my beloved Black Canary at Dragon*Con 2012. Not the one from the Golden Age, not Dixon’s Dinah, but the reason I am a comic-obsessed fanigirl at all – I was Gail Simone’s Black Canary.

I am just going to say this out of the gate because I know some people will be thinking it. And it needs to be said. Is the character of Dinah Laurel Lance drawn provocatively? Yes. Do her fishnets and zip-up bodysuit scream festish? Yes. Does that make her any less inspiring? Not to me.

I didn’t choose the costume to show off my bits, I chose it because I love the character. Dinah’s skill, strength, integrity, and straight-up moxie are the qualities that stand out to me. And I just could not have been any other character for my first cosplay.

The commitment and creativity that goes into this process is so much more than I had ever imagined. While I am not very skilled at hand-making costumes (yet), I did put a great deal of thought and effort into finding the right pieces. I did a podcast all about my costuming process and experience – the highs, the lows, the fun and the smelly – over at Stimulated Boredom.

While this is something I have very much wanted to do, and I certainly enjoyed being Dinah for a weekend … this was about my love and celebration of comics. And the spark that lit that fire was Gail. This costume is dedicated to you, Gail. You and your Birds.

Gail’s Birds!