Should Black Lightning be moved to Freeland in canon?

[lemonpeace]

I know a lot of fans have this peculiar distaste for anything from outside the comics being rolled into the comics' continuity, but I feel this particular case of intertextual synergy would be nothing but great. I feel the Black Lightning show has put ol' BL in the best position he's been in the public conciousness just about ever, and we see that with his character being used more in Outsiders and Young Justice. they tried to capitalize on Black Lightning's launch with the (ironically) lukewarm Cold Dead Hands mini but I think if they relaunched a Black Lightning solo anything they should take ques from the show and cement Freeland as Black Lightning's Gotham or Metropolis or Star City.

[king81992]

As long as Thunder and Lightning are brought back regardless of location. Those two have so much untapped potential in the comics.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

If we're on the subject of tv-movie synergy, they should make Tobias Whale albino again.

[Frontier]

I liked Black Lightning's Superman connection with Suicide Slum in Year One but if we're spinning him as entirely his own IP then Freeland making the jump seems like a must.

But I think Thunder and Lightning being his actual daughters again and Tobias Whale being Albino are also really important.

[Killerbee911]

DC has ton of fantasy cities Gotham,Star City, Coast City and Metropolis, I don't see the big deal in using another one

[Robanker]

I think you can do both. He starts out in Suicide Slum and eventually moves to Freeland, possibly due to work or because it's the location of a school he wants his daughters to enroll in. If you go this route, however, you can't have the stipulation that Superman doesn't help the people there because then Jefferson would be abandoning his community he traditionally protects. Hell, have him leave SS as a result of working in President Luthor's cabinet as secretary of education again. Once Lex is no longer in office, Jeff no longer feels the need to devote so much attention to watching Luthor and steps down himself to focus on his family and career/community, so he moves to Freeland to start a new chapter in the Pierce family history.

Freeland is the best way to really take Jeff out from bigger character's shadows, but you absolutely need a strong creative team with the intent of fleshing it out as a character itself (like Robinson and Harris did with Opal City in Starman, having drawn maps and giving each district its own personality). He has the potential and I'd enjoy going down this path with Jefferson.

And dammit, make his lightning black. I know it's on-the-nose with his name, but dammit it's a cool visual and Flash stole lightning powers so let's allow Jefferson's to be more distinct and a lot cooler because, let's face it, he absolutely should trump The Flash in this respect. He's the lightning guy. Let him be the best at it.

[Osiris-Rex]

I know a lot of fans have this peculiar distaste for anything from outside the comics being rolled into the comics' continuity, but I feel this particular case of intertextual synergy would be nothing but great. I feel the Black Lightning show has put ol' BL in the best position he's been in the public conciousness just about ever, and we see that with his character being used more in Outsiders and Young Justice. they tried to capitalize on Black Lightning's launch with the (ironically) lukewarm Cold Dead Hands mini but I think if they relaunched a Black Lightning solo anything they should take ques from the show and cement Freeland as Black Lightning's Gotham or Metropolis or Star City.

They moved Supergirl to National City in the comic books to match up to the Supergirl TV show so it makes sense to move Black Lightning to Freeland in the comic books too.

[lemonpeace]

I think you can do both. He starts out in Suicide Slum and eventually moves to Freeland, possibly due to work or because it's the location of a school he wants his daughters to enroll in. If you go this route, however, you can't have the stipulation that Superman doesn't help the people there because then Jefferson would be abandoning his community he traditionally protects. Hell, have him leave SS as a result of working in President Luthor's cabinet as secretary of education again. Once Lex is no longer in office, Jeff no longer feels the need to devote so much attention to watching Luthor and steps down himself to focus on his family and career/community, so he moves to Freeland to start a new chapter in the Pierce family history.

Freeland is the best way to really take Jeff out from bigger character's shadows, but you absolutely need a strong creative team with the intent of fleshing it out as a character itself (like Robinson and Harris did with Opal City in Starman, having drawn maps and giving each district its own personality). He has the potential and I'd enjoy going down this path with Jefferson.

And dammit, make his lightning black. I know it's on-the-nose with his name, but dammit it's a cool visual and Flash stole lightning powers so let's allow Jefferson's to be more distinct and a lot cooler because, let's face it, he absolutely should trump The Flash in this respect. He's the lightning guy. Let him be the best at it.

you sir, are a man after my own heart. I have been hoping since his role on Young Justice: Outsiders that DC would reintroduce Jeff's black lightning into the mix. making it vaguely mystical would be the icing on the cake.

[Tzigone]

you can't have the stipulation that Superman doesn't help the people there

Which I always thought the dumbest, most out of character thing ever, anyway. Suicide Slum started out in York City, anyway, didn't it? I has assumed it moved to Metropolis in the bronze age, since I thought that's when the Newsboys showed up again in Jimmy Olsen and when Black Lightning first debuted. But maybe it happened much earlier?

[Vordan]

If you’re going to do that go all the way. Make Thunder and Lightning his daughters, make him married/divorced (can’t remember what his marital status is in the show since I don’t have cable anymore). Moving a young Black Lightning to Freeland is just going to confuse people. Personally have him start out in Suicide Slum and then after he gets married and has kids moving away, that sounds fine to me.

[Agent Z]

I'm not sure on this if I'm honest. Most of DC's fictional cities are either not very interesting or too indistinguishable from real life cities that giving them fake names doesn't seem to matter (I don't see why they Freeland couldn't have been called Atlanta since that is where the Black Lightning show is filmed). That said I do like the show so maybe it can work.

And dammit, make his lightning black. I know it's on-the-nose with his name, but dammit it's a cool visual and Flash stole lightning powers so let's allow Jefferson's to be more distinct and a lot cooler because, let's face it, he absolutely should trump The Flash in this respect. He's the lightning guy. Let him be the best at it.

I don't think this is exactly accurate. Flash isn't really known as the lightning hero and he barely uses that ability. It's more for visuals than anything. And the lightning Jefferson generates looks different from Flash anyway (Flash's lightning is yellow, BL's is blue).

[DrNewGod]

I'm normally a "stick with cannon" guy, but I can see an exception here. Getting BL out from under the shadow of operating in Superman's turf is for the best. What's more, he wouldn't be the first DC superhero to have his environment altered to leverage popularity of another medium (I'm lookin' at you Batcave).

[Frontier]

I'm not sure on this if I'm honest. Most of DC's fictional cities are either not very interesting or too indistinguishable from real life cities that giving them fake names doesn't seem to matter (I don't see why they Freeland couldn't have been called Atlanta since that is where the Black Lightning show is filmed). That said I do like the show so maybe it can work.

Most DC cities are based off real cities but making them fictional lets you do more with their history and construction then I think you could do if it was actually a real city.

Like, Marvel New York still has to look and feel like New York at the end of the day.

[lemonpeace]

If you’re going to do that go all the way. Make Thunder and Lightning his daughters, make him married/divorced (can’t remember what his marital status is in the show since I don’t have cable anymore). Moving a young Black Lightning to Freeland is just going to confuse people. Personally have him start out in Suicide Slum and then after he gets married and has kids moving away, that sounds fine to me.

I don't think it'll confuse people, people move all the time, it would be more confusing to make him suddenly older with a divorce and two fully grown kids considering he's still relatively young currently. if anything the smartest move would be to move the young Black Lightning we have now to Freeland and start building him toward the older grizzled Black Lightning we see on the CW. that way we have more time to build his profile in the DC landscape in continuity and devote more time to developing characters like Lynn, Tobias, Painkiller, Gambii, etc. Plus, we could use that time to establish things that they couldn't do on the show like establishing the familial relationship between Lynn and John Stewart for some Black Lightning/Green Lantern adventures, or have a younger Anissa and Jennifer (when they can be established naturally) join the Teen Titans or Young Justice.

[9th.]

I don't see why not, he could still be connected to both if the writers made it so.