Black Vulcan Appreciation Thread '19

[Falcon16]

Great Lightning, it's time for a Super Friends character who needs more love to get his own thread.

Challenge_of_the_Super_Friends_1x03_009.jpg

The original Cyborg! Rip off of Black Lightning! Pure electricity in his pants! Show some appreciation for Black Vulcan!

[Falcon16]

Bumping this. Needs more appreciation.

[CellarDweller]

When I first saw the "All New Super Friends" season, I was drawn to the characters who were created for the TV show.

You could see/read about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, and other heroes in other places.

But it was only Saturday mornings that you could see Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, El Dorado and the Wonder Twins. While I wasn't a fan of the seasons that ran the "shorts", I also knew it was a way for those heroes to get more episodes.

[Güicho]

When I first saw the "All New Super Friends" season, I was drawn to the characters who were created for the TV show.

You could see/read about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, and other heroes in other places.

But it was only Saturday mornings that you could see Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, El Dorado and the Wonder Twins. While I wasn't a fan of the seasons that ran the "shorts", I also knew it was a way for those heroes to get more episodes.

Same here. Was a huge fan of all the Hanna Barbera created characters. The Wonder Twins, Apache, Samurai, Dorado and Vulcan were my favorites, I had no idea they weren't from the comics. And despite blatantly wearing their ethnicity in their costumes and names so it became the only important thing about them. I sympathies with at least HB's attempt to better represent their audience, while DC at the time still offered little to nothing.
We do have a Super Friends appreciation thread. more info (Toth designs, model sheets) there -
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...ghlight=vulcan
and
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...an#post4187482



After the "Challenge" era, this was my go to intro, which presented them on par with the rest, and to my childhood eyes they were.

I assumed Black Lightning and Vulcan were just different takes on the same character. Only later to find out the truth.
Although Hanna Barbera is often wrongfully vilified.
Here is a thread talking about it. - https://community.cbr.com/showthread...=1#post1228893
and here - https://community.cbr.com/showthread...l=1#post189044

Similarly with the Hanna Barbera Super Friends rights to Black Lightning / Vulcan situation.
I often see Hanna Barbera are the ones vilified and accused of ripping off/stealing the character and just changing the name.
HB had already licensed DC characters for their cartoon.
They unlike DC at the time, wanted to diversify what was essentially the Justice League, to better represent their audience.

As far as diversity Black Lightning was pretty much all DC had, the rest HB had to create themselves on the fly.
Hanna Barbera was ready to use Black Lightning, and pay DC to use him like any other DC character, which they did.
Then they were told, to us Black Lighning they had to pay extra to Tony Isabella who owned royalties on the character use.
As per the contract HB like all the other characters they licensed, were willing to pay to use him. That "extra" to Isabella should have come from DC's already payed cut of what HB payed. Not been an extra charge to HB.
It's DC who was unwilling to pay Isabella from their cut, and they told HB to just reinvent and call him something else, so DC did not have to pay Isabella.

All this was incredibly parodied by Isabella himself in the story "The Other Black Lightning"

Where Barbara Hanna and her "Circus" hire a guy to be the Other Black Lightning.



In the end, Jefferson Pierce (through the words of Tony Isabella) is the bigger man, doesn't blame him(the character), and instead embraces the "new" hero.

DC should do the same and legit bring Vulcan into their Universe.

[Güicho]

I'll add ;
Super Friends Black Vulcan was voiced by the smooth voiced Edward L. "Buster" Jones, who sadly passed away 2014
If you don't know him, look up 70's Soul Unlimited. - https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C....0.LKaKuXAJ9fA



also known for voicing:

G.I. Joe's Doc,


succeeded Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddmore on The Real Ghostbusters.

And the original TransFormers' autobot Blaster ...Yes the Living mf Boombox!



Bumblebee speaks on Buster Jones
Did you catch that "...he wore white suit with Electric Blue shirt, sharp dressed" to the last.
Now read the color motif on the original Hanna Barbera Model Sheets - https://community.cbr.com/showthread...=1#post4007598



If DC ever worked Black Vulcan into the DCU proper, one of the first things they would have to do, is develop his character, and give him a civilian name and identity.
Similar to how Young justice gave them civilian names and identities. Apache became Tye Longshadow, Dorado became Eduardo Dorado, Samurai (gender flipped) became Asami "Sam" Koizumi, although the Super Powers line had already given the male version a name Toshio Eto.
The only one left was Vulcan, who never got a civilian name. Young justice had used (Virgil Hawkins) Static as his stand in *, so unlike all the other HB characters, Vulcan still never got his own civilian name.

After his passing in 2014, I always hoped DC as homage to the man who brought him to life, would give Black Vulcan the civilian name Buster L.(for Lightning) Jones.

*Once homaged by Static https://eggabase.com/wp-content/uplo...ic-350x300.jpg

[Güicho]

Total nonsensical Super Friends powers, love the lightning constructs, becomes living lightning, and more... they gave him that funk theme music.
Jump to 1:54 - https://youtu.be/nO4egqVOqcM?t=114 Pure Joy!

Buster Jones;




Alex Ross...
Also featured in his Hanna Barbera homage (sadly missing Dorado) - https://www.illustrationhistory.org/..._Alex_Ross.jpg

[Anthony Shaw]

Black Vulcan taught me the importance of never skipping leg day.

[Falcon16]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned him in Harvey Birdman yet.

[Güicho]

*Once homaged by Static https://eggabase.com/wp-content/uplo...ic-350x300.jpg[/QUOTE]

Black Vulcan taught me the importance of never skipping leg day.

LOL Three of Hanna Barbera's minori-team had no pants, and Dorado no shirt.

I guess when it came time to dress them, HB felt they had to show plenty of skin! You know so the kids would instantly recognize what "tribe" they were from, incase their cliche names didn't make it obvious enough, or their accents weren't thick enough. LOL!
It's like they were overcompensating for generations of under representation, they really wanted to make them stand out!. : D

Honestly for an update redesign they really all just need pants, and shirts.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned him in Harvey Birdman yet.

Nobody of all of 3 people? LOL!

[TheRay]

Was he really a "rip-off"? What did they have in common other than their powers and race?

[CellarDweller]

Was he really a "rip-off"? What did they have in common other than their powers and race?

Here's comments from Tony Isabella, the creator of Black Lightning.

[Sutekh]

The original characters, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, Zan & Jayna, etc. from the Super Friends always intrigued me as a kid, because they had no comics of their own, unlike Wonder Woman, Aquaman, etc.

Black Vulcan was a favorite 'though, because I've always loved characters that turn into different substances, or, best of all, into pure energy. Marvel has Monica Rambeau and Living Lightning, and DC had Lazon and Black Vulcan (among various others, like that Team Titan who could turn into lightning, etc.), all more or less niche characters, with the coolest powerset, flashing along as a blast of energy.

Because of that distinction, I never really thought of him as a Black Lightning riff, since the power to throw lightning and the power to *turn into lightning* are hugely different, in my mind. Any fool can throw a zap, he *is* the zap!

But gosh, put on some darn pants, man!

[Dr. Poison]

Black Vulcan is my favorite character created for the Super Friends. I also didn't think of him as a Black Lightning rip-off as he had some different abilities than Black Lightning at the time. Black Vulcan could fly, time travel, and turn into lighting. There are so many white male superheroes that have super strength, I think there can be multiple black male superheroes with lightning powers.

[Falcon16]

In my pants

[Güicho]

Total nonsensical Super Friends powers, love the lightning constructs, becomes living lightning, and more... they gave him that funk theme music.
Jump to 1:54 - https://youtu.be/nO4egqVOqcM?t=114 Pure Joy!

Black Vulcan is my favorite character created for the Super Friends. I also didn't think of him as a Black Lightning rip-off as he had some different abilities than Black Lightning at the time. Black Vulcan could fly, time travel, and turn into lighting. There are so many white male superheroes that have super strength, I think there can be multiple black male superheroes with lightning powers.

He obviously started off as a ripoff, we have Isabella himself describing it. They just had to change him enough, and through the process of "superfriendzing" him, which played ambiguously and often inconstantly with their powers, he got a tremendous power upgrade. As well as a new costume .

In the end it really does make him an all new character.
He's more of an all-out lightning elemental (if you can call lighting an element) Besides using standard energy blasts, he can make hard-lightning constructs, bolts, lassos, cages, etc. use them to cling to lift or move people without hurting them(so electro-magnetism), Travel at lightning speed, through space, more on par with a Speedsters, although add flight!, to actually transforming into living lightning etc.
He's insanely powerful!

Like all the HB creations on the surface pretty outrageous, but they were damn powerful:
-Apache didn't just grow, but could go to cosmic scale, where he exists moves around planets. Add his Longshadow and YJ incarnation, and pretty much extends his soul-self into a cosmic being.

-Samurai wasn't just wind, tornado, etc, but could also become fire, become invisible, and more.

-Dorado could not just teleport (himself and others as well as objects) , also had flight, like J'onzz telepathy could read minds, also generate telepathic illusions, which in essence manifest real, so like a power ring, except directly through his mind.

-The Exor Twins, obviously Jayna is essentially Beast Boy, including some mythological and alien creatures. Zan who was pretty laughable, conceptually like Jayna who could shape-shift to any animal, started off not just transforming to water based objects, but a full organics elemental shape-shiftier, could become objects of water, rock, liquid metal, crystal, etc.
Pretty much imagine Plastic-Man if he could become objects of any element too. He was actually to powerful so they only focused on water. If given a story arc, I'd have him learn that he can access all these powers, he preferred being clowned, just cause he was so afraid to use them, for fear what he might become.

I'd love to see a story where the Seven HB created Super Friends, actually face off against classic JL Seven.

Again just please give them all pants and shirts! LOL!