Black Orchid
is the name of three fictional superheroines published by DC Comics. The original version of the character first appeared in Adventure Comics
#428 (July 1973).
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BLACK ORCHID TICKETS
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Susan Linden-Thorne
Although she has a number of superpowers (including flight, super-strength, and invulnerability to bullets) her main ability is a mastery of disguise. She often spends an entire investigation impersonating an insignificant background female, such as a maid, a secretary, someone's girlfriend, et cetera, and the other characters only discover her involvement at the end of the story upon finding the bound and gagged woman she impersonated, and an abandoned disguise with her calling card, a black
orchid.
After appearing in
Adventure Comics
#'s 428–430, the character next appeared as a backup feature in
The Phantom Stranger
#'s 31, 32, 35, 36, and 38–41 (
1974–
1976), after which the character appeared only sporadically, such as an occasional cameo in
comic books as diverse as three panels in the
Crisis on Infinite Earths
12-issue limited series and
Blue Devil Annual
#1 (both
1985), as well as
Deadshot
vol. 1 #1 and
Invasion! #2. She also appeared in
Suicide Squad
as a member of the team in issues #4, 7, 11, 12, 19, and 22 (1987–1988). She also had an appearance in the non-continuity
Super Friends
#31.
Adventure Comics
#428 proclaimed on its cover that it was an "origin issue," although almost no background on the character is given, not even her name. Until Neil Gaiman explained her origin, the character was, in fact, most famous for her lack of an origin.
Flora Black
In
1988, the character was relaunched in a three-part
prestige format mini-series called
Black Orchid
which was written by
Neil Gaiman and illustrated by
Dave McKean. The miniseries fleshed out the character considerably, providing an origin story which explained how and why she became known as Black Orchid. It also gave the character a civilian name in her origin sequence, Susan Linden-Thorne. Instead of being a normal super-powered human (or
meta
in the DC Universe), her background was changed to be that of a human-plant hybrid with ties to the
Green. In this way she became related with other such human-plant hybrids as the
Swamp Thing,
Floronic Man, and
Poison Ivy.
The original Black Orchid is killed in this miniseries, and a new one which is a "sister" of sorts to the original is introduced. She goes under the alias of Flora Black to meet with Sherilyn Sommers, her closest friend.
An on-going
Black Orchid
series, published under the
Vertigo imprint, featuring the new Black Orchid, ran for 22 issues from
1993 to
1995. Written by
Dick Foreman, it saw the second version of the character use pheromone manipulation as
mind control to become a
femme fatale, breaking and marrying millionaire Elliot Weems to claim his fortune and company business as her own. She then became the series' major villain in the closing story arc, before perishing in the final issue. Her companion, a child version of Black Orchid heretofore nicknamed "Suzy", had matured over the course of the series, taking up the mantle of the Black Orchid as a young adult. Suzy features prominently in
The Black Orchid Annual #1
, part 2 of Vertigo's
Children's Crusade
crossover. The Annual was published between issues #4 and #5 of the on-going series.
[1]
Suzy
The grown-up Suzy is identical to her "sister" and carries on the tradition in both the
DC Universe and related Vertigo titles. She has appeared in four event titles: 1999's
Totems
one-shot, 2001's
Justice Leagues
miniseries, 2005's
Day of Vengeance
miniseries, and 2006's
Infinite Crisis
miniseries. She is at present an ally of the
Shadowpact and the
Birds of Prey.
Powers and abilities
The first Black Orchid had superstrength, invulnerability, flight, and was a master of disguise. The second and third Black Orchids had superstrength, flight, and can absorb nutrients from the air. The second version could generate seductive pheromones.
Film
Actress
Rachel McAdams has expressed interest in playing the character in an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's story.
Awards
The 1988 limited series was nominated for the Squiddy Award for Favorite Limited Series in 1989, and for the Squiddy Award for Favorite Limited Series of the 1980s. The 1993 ongoing series was nominated for the Squiddy Award for Favorite New Continuing Series in 1993, the Squiddy Award for Most Improved Series in 1993 and 1994. Issue #8 of the series was nominated for the Squiddy Award for Favorite Single Issue Story in a Series in 1993. The trade paperback collection of the mini-series was nominated for the Squiddy Award for Favorite Reprint Volume in 1991.
Notes
- The Continuity Pages: Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Black Orchid Accessed January 11, 2008
References
- The Continuity Pages: Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Black Orchid Accessed January 11, 2008