a Force of Nature! Black Lightning Appreciation Thread '19

[Bored at 3:00AM]

But isn't most of that why the TV show became popular?

I was a big fan of the TV show initially, but I've stopped watching regularly myself. The first season ended with a misfire, and what I watched of the second didn't really convince me that the show had rebounded creatively or figured out how to shoot its action scenes in any kind of interesting way (despite having a pretty good soundtrack at times). Then I heard about the showrunner's spousal abuse allegations and I kind of lost interest in watching the show altogether.

However, I really dig the concept of a superhero who's not only a dedicated educator, but also a devoted father of two teenage girls, as that's pretty unique in superhero comics. Stripping those key elements from the character lessen my interest in him substantially. I don't have much desire to read or watch the same old tired street vigilante with electrical powers stuff without the family man/community leader aspects of the character that make him something special.

Granted, having a history of some kickass artists working on him like Newell & Hamner helps...
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[Iconic]

That's kind of funny in light of the actress for Lyn on the show being British .

(Count on the girls being retconned back into being his daughters at some point).

In a recent podcast Hill mentioned the city of Cleveland which leads me to believe that he's keeping that from CDH. That would be the easiest thing to change. I figure they're going to keep the basis of that story which should keep the girls as cousins. Guess we'll see.

[lemonpeace]

Was this the first time Black Lightning used black lightning? Does anyone know which issue/title that they touch on his black lightning? I hear a lot about it being "mystical" but I can't find where it's touched on or explained

Does no one know?

[Iconic]

DC Multiverse Wave 11
CW Black Lightning

[Frontier]

In a recent podcast Hill mentioned the city of Cleveland which leads me to believe that he's keeping that from CDH. That would be the easiest thing to change. I figure they're going to keep the basis of that story which should keep the girls as cousins. Guess we'll see.

I mean, I guess it could be like they keep the bare bones but just never mention the cousins thing and just treat them like his legitimate daughters.

Kind of like when Barbara Gordon was supposed to be Jim Gordon's "niece" and that didn't stick.

[lemonpeace]

[lemonpeace]

This page from Outsiders is my favorite image of Black Lightning in a while. I keep revisiting it, very anime-esque, it's so cool!

[Falcon16]

I mean, I guess it could be like they keep the bare bones but just never mention the cousins thing and just treat them like his legitimate daughters.

Kind of like when Barbara Gordon was supposed to be Jim Gordon's "niece" and that didn't stick.

Except for Batman & Robin where she was Alfred's niece.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I see the cousin thing sticking around in the comics for the foreseeable future. Even if a lot of the big higher ups didn’t seem to have preferences against older heroes with families, I doubt they currently have any plans to actually use the girls in any significant capacity. So no real urgency to shift continuity around for details like how everyone is related to each other
On the flip side, Jeff being the father of Thunder and Lighting will probably continue to be the default status quo in all other media. Between CW and Young Justice; I’d be surprised if the next time when Jeff gets adapted/rebooted they don’t mess with consistencies on what audiences have come to expect from the franchise.

[Wakeneuron]

Was this the first time Black Lightning used black lightning? Does anyone know which issue/title that they touch on his black lightning? I hear a lot about it being "mystical" but I can't find where it's touched on or explained

I'm not sure when he first use Black Lightning but the scene depicted is probably in the Outsiders 1993 run since that's when the Eradicator joined. So you should look for the Outsiders issues that had the Eradicator as a member.

According to comicvine.com his black lightning powers are mystical and ignores the limitations and weakness of regular lightning so I guess black lightning breaks the laws of physics.

Wikipedia says that it's fueled by rage and grows stronger as he gets angrier.

[lemonpeace]

I'm not sure when he first use Black Lightning but the scene depicted is probably in the Outsiders 1993 run since that's when the Eradicator joined. So you should look for the Outsiders issues that had the Eradicator as a member.

According to comicvine.com his black lightning powers are mystical and ignores the limitations and weakness of regular lightning so I guess black lightning breaks the laws of physics.

Wikipedia says that it's fueled by rage and grows stronger as he gets angrier.

I know which issue this instance of the ability was used (Outsiders 2009 #28) and I know what the wikis say, but I've been trying to track down any in-continuity explanations on his black lightning. From what I can gather, there is not in-comics explanation, the concept of it being mystical and fueled by his anger appear to be fan-based inferences but it was never overtly established to be either on the page sadly. the closest thing to an "official" explanation is on it is his profile on DC universe.

[MajorHoy]

Back to the beginning . . .
from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol. III (May 1985):

[Fromper]

I recently reread Isabella's Black Lightning solo run from 1995. I thought it was pretty good, but nothing special. Since he started out in Metropolis, was that series the only one based in Brick City?

[kcekada]

I recently reread Isabella's Black Lightning solo run from 1995. I thought it was pretty good, but nothing special. Since he started out in Metropolis, was that series the only one based in Brick City?

I really enjoyed it at the time -- but admittedly , much of that was based on the art. When Isabella was canned, the regular artist left -- and so did I.

I finally purchased the first trade of the Isabella/Von Eeden run. Von Eeden's work was better than i expected. I've seen some great art from him (Outsiders) and some really horrible art (Black Canary mini-series). You can see he put a lot of time into the series. I've only actually read the first two stories, and they are okay -- about what you'd expect from that era.

[lemonpeace]

Nothing but respect for my Chairman!