Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "black-lightning"

Black Lightning Vol. 1 by Tony Isabella

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Black Lightning Issues 1-11, along with a planned issue 12 which appeared in World's Finest #260. All but the last two issues are written by the Character's creator Tony Isabella

In addition to the comics, the book also features a very fun to read introduction by Tony Isabella giving the origin of the series and how he managed to get DC to back down from a hilariously horrible idea for its first black Superhero to be a White racist.

The first eight issues focus on Black Lightning's battle against the 100, a big-time gang in Suicide Slum. There's lot to like about these issues.

First of all, the origin story is superb. It's really in Issues 1 an 2 both and in many ways, it's a familiar story of a tragic death leading someone to become a superhero, but I love the way they handled it. As the book opens, Jefferson Piece is a high school teacher who has returned to his old neighborhood. The person killed is a character Jefferson just met, but the book makes you care about the death and understand why he's doing it. It has an epic feel that draws you in and the story has a great sense of creating drama and action. It's a really fine epic start.

The arc's got a great villain in Tobias Whale. He's menacing but with a very whale-like look. He looks like a cross between the Kingpin and something out of Dick Tracy. Being in Metropolis, the series also has cameos for Superman and his pal Jimmy Olsen.

Black Lightning is put through his paces as he deals with tragedy and has to find the will to fight on even after a major betrayal. There are some nice touches. The Black Lightning Poem is epic, "Justice like lighting ever should appear. To some men hope and to other men fear," and the way it's used in one battle scene is a thing of beauty. It's also not afraid to subvert our expectations. One example is when a character dies and a big secret is learned and he leaves behind a letter, you'd typically see a long comic strip revealing the whole truth but Black Lightning does something different that surprised me but really felt true to Black Lightning.

After the arc, the book reverts to villain of the month format for the last few stories (with the exception of Issue 11 which has a more urban crime story without a supervillain.) These are all entertaining though not as enjoyable as the arc story.

Does the book have problems? Yes. My main complaint would be Piece's ex-Wife Lynn. She's introduced in the midst of the "100" arc and she really felt surplus to requirements. The stories were 17 pages in length, so she felt shoe-horned in. It might have been better to wait to introduce her. While I think Isabella concluded Black Lightning had been divorced, that could have been acknowledge without featuring her. As it is, she barely makes an impact.

Also the social message of the final issue is a little whacky and some of the plot points regarding the teen hotline someone calls are silly by today's standards.

However, by and large, this series is very well-done. It was cancelled far too soon. It offered readers who was different in many ways from many other DC character, while being no less heroic. It really deserved more than these 12 issues but it got cancelled way too soon. This holds up very well when compared to most comics of the era and it's definitely worth a read for fans of the Bronze Age of comics.





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Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This Year One book updates Black Lightning 1977 origin story to 2009 with some key changes: Jefferson Pierce is a principal instead of just a teacher and he's not divorced as he moves back to the town of Southside near Metropolis. The book also addresses why Superman doesn't clean the city up as well as giving some weight to Talia Al-Ghul's presence. Other than that, the story remains the same, but Van Meter also beefs up the supporting cast, and the art is generally very good.

Overall, this is a solid book that does what a Year One book should. It respects the original story while filling in a few gaps and adding just enough extra details to make this a good read for fans of Black Lightning.



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Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands by Tony Isabella

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Original Black Lightning writer Tony Isabella has some good ideas with making Jefferson younger and setting him in Cleveland, and several parts of the story are at least competently handled.

The book has one problem: It's woke to an extreme at a cost of telling good stories. Let's be clear, Black Lightning stories have always had a slight political overtone in dealing with issues of crime, poverty, and race. What this six-issue mini-series does is try to make sure and check every single woke issue, and the best way to do that is copious amounts of exposition boxes to clearly identify every possible progressive cause and ideal the author embraces.

I can't begrudge a little politics, but this is a book that overdoes it. It drips of self-importance and takes itself way too seriously.



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