Jeanne Walker was the daughter of a 19th century gold prospector in the American Southwest. When her father lost his claim to a gold mine to an unscrupulous businessman and died of a broken heart, Jeanne decided to avenge him by assuming two identites, as unassuming professional photographer Jeanne, and as the leader of an outlaw gang known as Madame .44. In this latter alias, she would pretend to be a criminal, yet end up robbing from the robbers and returning their stolen goods back to their innocent victims. As an Old West female Robin Hood, she soon gained an infamous reputation, when she met a legendary gunslinger known as Johnny Thunder. Secretly schoolteacher John Tane, Johnny used his disguised alter ego to fight crime as his father wanted him to while still being peaceable in his everyday life to honor his mother. After a few meetings between the two, as foes turned allies, Jeanne and Johnny fell in love and ultimately married.
Dinah Drake was to have been the first policewoman of Gotham City on Earth-Two, encouraged by her father Detective Richard Drake. However, when her application was rejected, Richard died soon thereafter and left her through his will with money since he couldn't leave her with his legacy. Purchasing a flower shop for her civilian identity, Drake proceeded to adopt a masked alter ego of Black Canary, originally pretending to be a masked criminal who herself was a Robin Hood for the innocent. On her first few capers, she met and worked alongside Johnny Thunder of her world along with his Thunderbolt. She would eventually become a member of the Justice Society of America, marry her private investigative partner Larry Lance, and together they would have a child.
That child... Dinah Laurel Lance... would grow up and take her place, along with her memories, as Black Canary, and on one adventure she would accompany Johnny Thunder from the 20th century to the 19th century in order to rescue a time lost Vigiliante. This was the same era that Madame .44 and Johnny Thunder lived in!
While Madame .44's dual career as criminal and heroine with Johnny Thunder was shortlived, with only a handful of adventures, so too was the masked career of the original Black Canary with the other Johnny Thunder before she revealed that she was not a crook. The remaining tales of Dinah Drake on Earth-Two were mirrored by those of her daughter Dinah Lance, who moved to Earth-One and joined the Justice League.
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