Danny Raven's Illustrious Crime-Fighting Career!

Shortly after starting this blog, as a result of discovering a number of Canadian characters on the indy scene, I set out to find lesser-known Canucks in the "Big Two" pantheons.
I was more interested in reviewing DC Comics' large cast because there is a perception that DC has no Canadian characters.  I already knew about Plastique and Flying Fox and deliberately ignored Centrix (but will get around to him soon).  I found out about an additional few, including Daniel Crow-Brings-Darkness.

Crow's appearance list is limited to a few Justice League of America issues from just prior to the New 52 launch.  I noticed that all websites describing this character would invariable display the same two or three images.  This tends to mean one or two things.

• Even if he appears in the issues, his contribution is likely little more than a cameo in a group shot.
• Within said group shot, he's probably so inconsequential that he's barely seen.

Nonetheless, I had a brief roadie coming up and wanted some reading material for it.  I picked up the "Rise of Eclipso" trade paperback which contains most (all?) of Crow's distinguished crime-fighting career as it published.

Aside from his recruitment page, here's how Crow fares against Donna Troy:

He doesn't look real good against Batman (Dick Grayson edition) either...

Ah well.  It's not as though we could expect him to be the star of the show, really...

Cool character though, based on what little we're show, with an uncommon power (to create a "familiar" shadow which takes the form of a large bird).

It's interesting that Donna Troy knows him on sight (and that she refers to him as "Raven".  Error on her part?).  He is said to be "RCMP Special Agent, Meta Division" and his recruitment takes place during an encounter with a psychopathic villains named Southside.  The narration indicates that he and Southside have history so clearly he's not new to the game.

I am not aware of any plans to use Crow in the near future and he has yet to appear in any of the New 52 books.  Probably our best chance to see him used again is in Earth-2, a book penned by Ride of Eclipso writer James Robinson.

Another option, which is only my idea and that I know of not at all under consideration, is that he serve as the Canadian representative of Batman Inc.  His darkness-based powers and his police training would seem to make him a good candidate to be Canada's version of Batman, with Southside serving as his Joker.  Make it happen, Grant Morrison.