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  1. #1
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Default I got a question but no one seems to have an answer.

    I've been trying to find a source on one of Black Lightning's rarely used powers; his black lightning. While an objectively cool ability and criminally underused, I keep reading in articles, wikis, and the like that Black Lightning's dark lightning is mystical in nature, but my problem is I can't find sources on where that is established. Does anyone know where where the nature of that ability was established or anywhere that the black lightning is explained or touched on at all?
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  2. #2
    Boisterously Confused
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    I haven't dug around enough to give you a solid answer. But somewhere around the time that The Outsiders went direct market (1985-6?) Jim Apro started drawing BL throwing Black Lightning. I don't think there was any in-story reason for it, I think it was pure affectation.

  3. #3
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    I haven't dug around enough to give you a solid answer. But somewhere around the time that The Outsiders went direct market (1985-6?) Jim Apro started drawing BL throwing Black Lightning. I don't think there was any in-story reason for it, I think it was pure affectation.
    Yeah, I just came across a couple of those panels, there doesn't appear to be any in-story reasons given establishing the nature of the ability. So far, nearest I can tell the ideas that his powers are fueled by anger and the mystical nature appear to be fan inferences from his fight with Geo-force and his (in-story) early days fighting crime with Blue Devil during the New 52. I'm still seeing what I can dig up but that appears to be what all the signs are pointing to.
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    Yeah, I just came across a couple of those panels, there doesn't appear to be any in-story reasons given establishing the nature of the ability. So far, nearest I can tell the ideas that his powers are fueled by anger and the mystical nature appear to be fan inferences from his fight with Geo-force and his (in-story) early days fighting crime with Blue Devil during the New 52. I'm still seeing what I can dig up but that appears to be what all the signs are pointing to.
    You know, we're at least two reboots past the first whimsical illustration of this. Odds of finding a sensible, consistent answer are Very Low.

  5. #5
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    You know, we're at least two reboots past the first whimsical illustration of this. Odds of finding a sensible, consistent answer are Very Low.
    I'm not looking for a particularly consistent answer, I'm just looking for an answer at all. Mainly because I see these points pop up on all the databases and discussions but there seems to be no real basis for them. While I love the idea of them and it's not like I'm gonna start a campaign to erase them off his stuff if i can't find a source (maybe one day DC will actually just state it in a future issue of something thinking it's common knowledge) but it just doesn't fully sit right that some of the most interesting aspects about his powerset appear to be fan fabrications, ya know?
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    I'm not looking for a particularly consistent answer, I'm just looking for an answer at all. Mainly because I see these points pop up on all the databases and discussions but there seems to be no real basis for them. While I love the idea of them and it's not like I'm gonna start a campaign to erase them off his stuff if i can't find a source (maybe one day DC will actually just state it in a future issue of something thinking it's common knowledge) but it just doesn't fully sit right that some of the most interesting aspects about his powerset appear to be fan fabrications, ya know?
    Fans tend to create their own answers when they can't get one from any credible source.

    BL lightning blasts have always been the usual color yellow until the Outsiders comic had him throwing out black lightning strikes. I always assumed it was an artist's whim that did that since any appearance I'd seen him beforehand was the regular color. Never heard of any mystical quality of his powers, at the time his powers were derived from the belt he was wearing and somehow it affected his body to be able to do it without the belt. Later on it was because he had the metagene.

  7. #7
    Hey Baby--Wha's Happ'nin? HandofPrometheus's Avatar
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    I remember when he was fighting Geo-Force he got so angry and unleashed an gigantic lightning bomb it was black.

  8. #8
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toreador View Post
    Fans tend to create their own answers when they can't get one from any credible source.

    BL lightning blasts have always been the usual color yellow until the Outsiders comic had him throwing out black lightning strikes. I always assumed it was an artist's whim that did that since any appearance I'd seen him beforehand was the regular color. Never heard of any mystical quality of his powers, at the time his powers were derived from the belt he was wearing and somehow it affected his body to be able to do it without the belt. Later on it was because he had the metagene.
    It's something I hadn't heard about till recently, mainly due to not being a fan of Black Lightning till relatively recently, but it's on pretty much every database regarding the character, even the DC Universe website encyclopedia. It's the just strange how a fan idea can be perpetuated to the point it's pretty much accepted as fact. Well, here's hoping it'll one day be officially canon because I do think it's a cool take on his powers and I prefer the black colored lightning to the standard blue or yellow; it's a dope way of distinguishing the character.
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  9. #9
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    Did anyone ever give us a reason he's got powers at all? As created, BL was an Olympic Decathlete Champion, who's buddy and tailor built him an electrical force-field generating belt. Then that force field made him unusually strong (not Hourman quality or anything, but extra mighty). Then the power was internal to BL rather than an appliance. I know what the Netflix show's answer is, in comics, did anyone canonize how that happened?

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