Black Lightning Appreciation 2021

[lemonpeace]

anyway, it also got me thinking about the potential that could come from the union of Black Lightning and Katana as characters and how they might influence each other:

[...] I'd like to try to merge their two niches/mythos by essentially absorbing her into the Freeland ecosystem for when she's stateside; have stories typically bounce between there and Japan. she'd technically be part of the "Lightning Family" but I'd make so the Lightning Family is more like a common term for the general the Freeland sphere, and have the combination of Katana and Black Lightning's influence to flesh it out as an afroshonen niche within the DCU. the whole afroshonen/black-far east fusion aestethic has always been pretty compelling and is only becoming more recognized as an aestethic, almost subgenre unto itself. take Black Lightning and the metas factor, mix it with the esoteric Japanese mythology of Katana, boom, Freeland could be a distinct and uniquely compelling brand that isn't seen in the big 2.

which made me start thinking of how I might structure the Lightning Family idea I had. so...ya know...gots to see it through my boy, here's what I came up with:

core/literal family:
Black Lightning
Katana
Anissa/Thunder
Jennifer/Lightning
Peter Gambi - Gambi is one of the few Alfred-types that I think feels natural and the TV show makes a compelling case for Gambi as a mainstay of the family in any expanded capacity.


this take on Freeland, Georgia would adopt elements of Akashic Valley from the Painkiller back-door pilot (maybe make that an area in Freeland); blending Western (Suicide Slum/Metropolis, Los Vegas, and Atlanta/Georgia) and Eastern (primarily Japan, partially Hong Kong) aestethics. i still would want Freeland to be the metahuman capital of the America, so the Black Lightning family will focus largely on (but not limited to) Metahuman crime in their city, but now with elements of Japanese mythology and mysticism as well as seinen due to Katana’s influence. the roster of the Lightning family would be Metahumans with elemental based abilities (since Jeff has been described as an elemental from time to time) or magical/mystical. the Bat family are a collective of ninja detectives, the Arrow family are hunters, trackers and survivalists, the Super family are the powerhouse family, the Flash family are the speedsters and metahumans related to the speedforce: so my Black Lightning family would be the family that specializes in metahumans and natural forces (elementals and magic).

1. Grace Choi (meta/amazonian mythology) I feel Grace is Anissa's most prominent love interest and so should be her Lois Lane/Iris West but more like a partnership than a damsel. so I think it's important that she stays a part of the families inner circle once she and Anissa connect. my Anissa and Jennifer are on the younger side (mid and late teens respectively) so I would have Grace be the same and have her be both a metahuman AND and amazon; her strength and stats being amazonian and her enhanced senses being meta. to further push the Japanese influence, I would retcon her background to be Chinese and a descendant of separate tribe of Japanese amazons instead of the tribe that Artemis was from. Outside of Duke, who is trained by both, i would want Katana and Black Lightning to have separate proteges in the side and Grace would be one of Katana's protege

2. Duke Thomas (element: sun and shadow) - I love that Brandon Thomas picked up the ball from Bryan Hill's Outsiders run and deepened the connection between Black Lightning and Duke on as a protege-mentor relationship; and made Duke a protege to Katana as well. I seems like DC is more interested in Duke as an Outsider and with Jeff than they do with Duke as a Batfamily member, so I would pouch Duke from the Batfamily a lil and make him more of a Lightning Family member with strong ties to Gotham. it would boost Duke's profile by giving him some distance from the oversaturated Gotham collective, gives DC an out when they leave him out (which happens a lot) and it would bolsters the roster and profile of the Lightning family by having someone with a connection to Gotham. I would move Duke, his parents, and his cousin Jay out of Gotham and base them in Freeland, and port over the Gnomon stuff too.

3. Isaiah Crockett (element: heat and fire) post-New 52 I don't think they have properly reintroduced Hotspot before killing him in Heroes in Crisis, so I tweak his origin to make him a Freeland native and a pure Meta rather than half-alien. How I would square that would be by separateing the Pyre identity from Holocaust (from when he was in the DC universe), make him his own character and Isaiah's dad, named Leonard Crockett, then retcon him as a former villain/rival of Black Lightning who reformed. have Leonard go to the Tattoo man or Tobias Whale to bring Isaiah back to life and after he comes back he moves away from Hotspot and going by Joto again (because I'm African and I like African names). Have him start out with his own hero operation in Freeland, with his Dad as support, but over time he becomes part of the Lightning family in a similar capacity to like Steel or Batwing.

4. Bushido (weapons master) - this is an older character but I would reintroduce Ryuku Orsono and have him be Katana’s protege. he was a super interesting character that was done dirty by Johns but his abilities are pretty cool (various weapons that are imbued with the soul of the warrior who wielded them, whose spirits guide him in battle) and would complements Katana very well.

5. Jakeem Thunder (thunderbolt wish magic) another protege for Black Lightning, similar to Duke. I picked Jakeem because with him now honing his own thunderbolt magic, I feel he needs more connections outside the JSA that'll allow him to grow in autonomy and I felt he'd fit nicely in with Black Lightning since he's always brushed up against magic. now with Katana in the mix, his magic affinity woukd fit more comfortably in with the niche of the larger family. I still also would retcon him as being related to Lynn and John somehow, maybe a cousin or something, because I do like the Stewart-Pierce connection and I want those ties to run deep.

6. Cyclone/Maxine Hunkel/Red Tornado (element: wind and air) I believe Cyclone and Jeff crossed paths on the All-Star Squadron and I don't think she's been used much in the DC since New 52, so I would reintroduce her as part of the Lightning family as an ally in protecting Freeland (like Azrael or Batwing); alternatively, they could go with the android Red Tornado. by introducing either Cyclone or Red Tornado, that would tie the Red Tornado legacy to the Black Lightning mythos and strengthen the elemental angle for the Lightning family since Red Tornado (I think Maxine too) is straight-up a true blue wind elemental.

7. Amazing-Man (element: various) one of the most slept on and forgotten black heroes at DC and I feel his legacy deserves a revival. I would have the Everett family have ties to Freeland, like they were one of first metahumans from the "Green Light experiments" (I'd do like the show and have it be DC's version of the Tuskegee study and the Crack era) in Freeland; explaining why Freeland has a high concentration of metahuman civilizations. I would link the Everett family to the Pierce family by having them both descend from the Green Light experiments and, keeping with the elemental theme, his powers allow him take on the powers of pretty much any element making him a powerhouse within the family dynamic.

family-adjacent
1. Henderson - Jefferson's Commissioner Gordon
2. Lynn Stewart/Stewart-Pierce - I maintain that no matter what Lynn should be John Stewart's sister so she can always keep the door open to GLxBL crossovers. I feel like if we are going to go all-in on expanding the Lightning family and their mythology then they should double down on the Stewart-Pierce connection, it just depends on if we're rebooting or not. if we're building the family as it is now, have Lynn be his ex-wife and mother of Anissa and Jennifer; but if we're rebooting then see my previous workaround and still keep her around as a bridge to John Stewart.
3. Painkiller - following the TV show, former villain but eventual ally to the family and love interest for Jennifer. he'll be Freeland's Red Hood, he's the rogue antihero of the collective.
4. LaLa/The Tattoo Man - just like the show but eventually rises up to be a Tobias style kingpin but he's more of a neutral entity who tries to keep the streets in check. occasionally works with Black Lightning as one of the few moral OGs in Freeland but does bump heads with Jeff. Painkiller is his right hand.
5. Blue Devil - Jefferson's partner early in his career and his partner when it comes to magical threats.
6. The remaining Outsiders - I would make The Outsiders more of Jefferson's team and part of his legacy. I would have Metamorpho, Geo-force and the other Outsiders regularly pop up and work with Black Lightning. all the Outsiders come to Jeff's aid, as a team or individually, when need be and are close to the Lightning family.

[Shockingjustice]

anyway, it also got me thinking about the potential that could come from the union of Black Lightning and Katana as characters and how they might influence each other:


which made me start thinking of how I might structure the Lightning Family idea I had. so...ya know...gots to see it through my boy, here's what I came up with:

core/literal family:
Black Lightning
Katana
Anissa/Thunder
Jennifer/Lightning
Peter Gambi - Gambi is one of the few Alfred-types that I think feels natural and the TV show makes a compelling case for Gambi as a mainstay of the family in any expanded capacity.


this take on Freeland, Georgia would adopt elements of Akashic Valley from the Painkiller back-door pilot (maybe make that an area in Freeland); blending Western (Suicide Slum/Metropolis, Los Vegas, and Atlanta/Georgia) and Eastern (primarily Japan, partially Hong Kong) aestethics. i still would want Freeland to be the metahuman capital of the America, so the Black Lightning family will focus largely on (but not limited to) Metahuman crime in their city, but now with elements of Japanese mythology and mysticism as well as seinen due to Katana’s influence. the roster of the Lightning family would be Metahumans with elemental based abilities (since Jeff has been described as an elemental from time to time) or magical/mystical. the Bat family are a collective of ninja detectives, the Arrow family are hunters, trackers and survivalists, the Super family are the powerhouse family, the Flash family are the speedsters and metahumans related to the speedforce: so my Black Lightning family would be the family that specializes in metahumans and natural forces (elementals and magic).

1. Grace Choi (meta/amazonian mythology) I feel Grace is Anissa's most prominent love interest and so should be her Lois Lane/Iris West but more like a partnership than a damsel. so I think it's important that she stays a part of the families inner circle once she and Anissa connect. my Anissa and Jennifer are on the younger side (mid and late teens respectively) so I would have Grace be the same and have her be both a metahuman AND and amazon; her strength and stats being amazonian and her enhanced senses being meta. to further push the Japanese influence, I would retcon her background to be Chinese and a descendant of separate tribe of Japanese amazons instead of the tribe that Artemis was from. Outside of Duke, who is trained by both, i would want Katana and Black Lightning to have separate proteges in the side and Grace would be one of Katana's protege

2. Duke Thomas (element: sun and shadow) - I love that Brandon Thomas picked up the ball from Bryan Hill's Outsiders run and deepened the connection between Black Lightning and Duke on as a protege-mentor relationship; and made Duke a protege to Katana as well. I seems like DC is more interested in Duke as an Outsider and with Jeff than they do with Duke as a Batfamily member, so I would pouch Duke from the Batfamily a lil and make him more of a Lightning Family member with strong ties to Gotham. it would boost Duke's profile by giving him some distance from the oversaturated Gotham collective, gives DC an out when they leave him out (which happens a lot) and it would bolsters the roster and profile of the Lightning family by having someone with a connection to Gotham. I would move Duke, his parents, and his cousin Jay out of Gotham and base them in Freeland, and port over the Gnomon stuff too.

3. Isaiah Crockett (element: heat and fire) post-New 52 I don't think they have properly reintroduced Hotspot before killing him in Heroes in Crisis, so I tweak his origin to make him a Freeland native and a pure Meta rather than half-alien. How I would square that would be by separateing the Pyre identity from Holocaust (from when he was in the DC universe), make him his own character and Isaiah's dad, named Leonard Crockett, then retcon him as a former villain/rival of Black Lightning who reformed. have Leonard go to the Tattoo man or Tobias Whale to bring Isaiah back to life and after he comes back he moves away from Hotspot and going by Joto again (because I'm African and I like African names). Have him start out with his own hero operation in Freeland, with his Dad as support, but over time he becomes part of the Lightning family in a similar capacity to like Steel or Batwing.

4. Bushido (weapons master) - this is an older character but I would reintroduce Ryuku Orsono and have him be Katana’s protege. he was a super interesting character that was done dirty by Johns but his abilities are pretty cool (various weapons that are imbued with the soul of the warrior who wielded them, whose spirits guide him in battle) and would complements Katana very well. I would

5. Jakeem Thunder (thunderbolt wish magic) another protege for Black Lightning, similar to Duke. I picked Jakeem because with him now honing his own thunderbolt magic, I feel he needs more connections outside the JSA that'll allow him to grow in autonomy and I felt he'd fit nicely in with Black Lightning since he's always brushed up against magic. now with Katana in the mix, his magic affinity woukd fit more comfortably in with the niche of the larger family. I still also would retcon him as being related to Lynn and John somehow, maybe a cousin or something, because I do like the Stewart-Pierce connection and I want those ties to run deep.

6. Cyclone/Maxine Hunkel/Red Tornado (element: wind and air) I believe Cyclone and Jeff crossed paths on the All-Star Squadron and I don't think she's been used much in the DC since New 52, so I would reintroduce her as part of the Lightning family as an ally in protecting Freeland (like Azrael or Batwing); alternatively, they could go with the android Red Tornado. by introducing either Cyclone or Red Tornado, that would tie the Red Tornado legacy to the Black Lightning mythos and strengthen the elemental angle for the Lightning family since Red Tornado (I think Maxine too) is straight-up a true blue wind elemental.

7. Amazing-Man (element: various) one of the most slept on and forgotten black heroes at DC and I feel his legacy deserves a revival. I would have the Everett family have ties to Freeland, like they were one of first metahumans from the "Green Light experiments" (I'd do like the show and have it be DC's version of the Tuskegee study and the Crack era) in Freeland; explaining why Freeland has a high concentration of metahuman civilizations. I would link the Everett family to the Pierce family by having them both descend from the Green Light experiments and, keeping with the elemental theme, his powers allow him take on the powers of pretty much any element making him a powerhouse within the family dynamic.

family-adjacent
1. Henderson - Jefferson's Commissioner Gordon
2. Lynn Stewart/Stewart-Pierce - I maintain that no matter way Lynn should be John Stewarts sister and she fan always keep the door.open to John Stewart. I feel like if we are going to go all-in on expanding the Lightning family and their mythology then they should double down on the Stewart-Pierce connection, it just depends on if we're rebooting or not. if we're building the family as it, now, have Lynn as his ex-wife and mother of Anissa and Jennifer; but if we're rebooting then see my previous workaround and still keep her around as a bridge to John Stewart.
3. Painkiller - following the TV show, former villain but eventual ally to the family and love interest for Jennifer. he'll be Freeland's Red Hood, he's the rogue antihero of the collective.
4. LaLa/The Tattoo Man - just like the show but eventually rises up to be a Tobias style kingpin but he's more of a neutral entity who tries to keep the streets in check. occasionally works with Black Lightning as one of the few moral OGs in Freeland but does bump heads with Jeff. Painkiller is his right hand.
5. Blue Devil - Jefferson's partner early in his career and his partner when it comes to magical threats.
6. The remaining Outsiders - I would make The Outsiders more of Jefferson's team and part of his legacy. I would have Metamorpho, Geo-force and the other Outsiders regularly pop up and work with Black Lightning. all the Outsiders come to Jeff's aid, as a team or individually, when need be and are close to the Lightning family.

Man, I wish you were making comics. This is probably the best structured explanation for a black character and a supporting family. Ascended is the only other person who usually has an in-depth idea on what to build for a character.

[Shockingjustice]

Here's for Black Lightning getting more content.

[Frontier]

Here's for Black Lightning getting more content.

Okay...I recognize Katana, I think?

Is the guy in the suit supposed to be Gambi?

[4sake Baned]

anyway, it also got me thinking about the potential that could come from the union of Black Lightning and Katana as characters and how they might influence each other:


which made me start thinking of how I might structure the Lightning Family idea I had. so...ya know...gots to see it through my boy, here's what I came up with:

core/literal family:
Black Lightning
Katana
Anissa/Thunder
Jennifer/Lightning
Peter Gambi - Gambi is one of the few Alfred-types that I think feels natural and the TV show makes a compelling case for Gambi as a mainstay of the family in any expanded capacity.


this take on Freeland, Georgia would adopt elements of Akashic Valley from the Painkiller back-door pilot (maybe make that an area in Freeland); blending Western (Suicide Slum/Metropolis, Los Vegas, and Atlanta/Georgia) and Eastern (primarily Japan, partially Hong Kong) aestethics. i still would want Freeland to be the metahuman capital of the America, so the Black Lightning family will focus largely on (but not limited to) Metahuman crime in their city, but now with elements of Japanese mythology and mysticism as well as seinen due to Katana’s influence. the roster of the Lightning family would be Metahumans with elemental based abilities (since Jeff has been described as an elemental from time to time) or magical/mystical. the Bat family are a collective of ninja detectives, the Arrow family are hunters, trackers and survivalists, the Super family are the powerhouse family, the Flash family are the speedsters and metahumans related to the speedforce: so my Black Lightning family would be the family that specializes in metahumans and natural forces (elementals and magic).

1. Grace Choi (meta/amazonian mythology) I feel Grace is Anissa's most prominent love interest and so should be her Lois Lane/Iris West but more like a partnership than a damsel. so I think it's important that she stays a part of the families inner circle once she and Anissa connect. my Anissa and Jennifer are on the younger side (mid and late teens respectively) so I would have Grace be the same and have her be both a metahuman AND and amazon; her strength and stats being amazonian and her enhanced senses being meta. to further push the Japanese influence, I would retcon her background to be Chinese and a descendant of separate tribe of Japanese amazons instead of the tribe that Artemis was from. Outside of Duke, who is trained by both, i would want Katana and Black Lightning to have separate proteges in the side and Grace would be one of Katana's protege

2. Duke Thomas (element: sun and shadow) - I love that Brandon Thomas picked up the ball from Bryan Hill's Outsiders run and deepened the connection between Black Lightning and Duke on as a protege-mentor relationship; and made Duke a protege to Katana as well. I seems like DC is more interested in Duke as an Outsider and with Jeff than they do with Duke as a Batfamily member, so I would pouch Duke from the Batfamily a lil and make him more of a Lightning Family member with strong ties to Gotham. it would boost Duke's profile by giving him some distance from the oversaturated Gotham collective, gives DC an out when they leave him out (which happens a lot) and it would bolsters the roster and profile of the Lightning family by having someone with a connection to Gotham. I would move Duke, his parents, and his cousin Jay out of Gotham and base them in Freeland, and port over the Gnomon stuff too.

3. Isaiah Crockett (element: heat and fire) post-New 52 I don't think they have properly reintroduced Hotspot before killing him in Heroes in Crisis, so I tweak his origin to make him a Freeland native and a pure Meta rather than half-alien. How I would square that would be by separateing the Pyre identity from Holocaust (from when he was in the DC universe), make him his own character and Isaiah's dad, named Leonard Crockett, then retcon him as a former villain/rival of Black Lightning who reformed. have Leonard go to the Tattoo man or Tobias Whale to bring Isaiah back to life and after he comes back he moves away from Hotspot and going by Joto again (because I'm African and I like African names). Have him start out with his own hero operation in Freeland, with his Dad as support, but over time he becomes part of the Lightning family in a similar capacity to like Steel or Batwing.

4. Bushido (weapons master) - this is an older character but I would reintroduce Ryuku Orsono and have him be Katana’s protege. he was a super interesting character that was done dirty by Johns but his abilities are pretty cool (various weapons that are imbued with the soul of the warrior who wielded them, whose spirits guide him in battle) and would complements Katana very well.

5. Jakeem Thunder (thunderbolt wish magic) another protege for Black Lightning, similar to Duke. I picked Jakeem because with him now honing his own thunderbolt magic, I feel he needs more connections outside the JSA that'll allow him to grow in autonomy and I felt he'd fit nicely in with Black Lightning since he's always brushed up against magic. now with Katana in the mix, his magic affinity woukd fit more comfortably in with the niche of the larger family. I still also would retcon him as being related to Lynn and John somehow, maybe a cousin or something, because I do like the Stewart-Pierce connection and I want those ties to run deep.

6. Cyclone/Maxine Hunkel/Red Tornado (element: wind and air) I believe Cyclone and Jeff crossed paths on the All-Star Squadron and I don't think she's been used much in the DC since New 52, so I would reintroduce her as part of the Lightning family as an ally in protecting Freeland (like Azrael or Batwing); alternatively, they could go with the android Red Tornado. by introducing either Cyclone or Red Tornado, that would tie the Red Tornado legacy to the Black Lightning mythos and strengthen the elemental angle for the Lightning family since Red Tornado (I think Maxine too) is straight-up a true blue wind elemental.

7. Amazing-Man (element: various) one of the most slept on and forgotten black heroes at DC and I feel his legacy deserves a revival. I would have the Everett family have ties to Freeland, like they were one of first metahumans from the "Green Light experiments" (I'd do like the show and have it be DC's version of the Tuskegee study and the Crack era) in Freeland; explaining why Freeland has a high concentration of metahuman civilizations. I would link the Everett family to the Pierce family by having them both descend from the Green Light experiments and, keeping with the elemental theme, his powers allow him take on the powers of pretty much any element making him a powerhouse within the family dynamic.

family-adjacent
1. Henderson - Jefferson's Commissioner Gordon
2. Lynn Stewart/Stewart-Pierce - I maintain that no matter what Lynn should be John Stewart's sister so she can always keep the door open to GLxBL crossovers. I feel like if we are going to go all-in on expanding the Lightning family and their mythology then they should double down on the Stewart-Pierce connection, it just depends on if we're rebooting or not. if we're building the family as it is now, have Lynn be his ex-wife and mother of Anissa and Jennifer; but if we're rebooting then see my previous workaround and still keep her around as a bridge to John Stewart.
3. Painkiller - following the TV show, former villain but eventual ally to the family and love interest for Jennifer. he'll be Freeland's Red Hood, he's the rogue antihero of the collective.
4. LaLa/The Tattoo Man - just like the show but eventually rises up to be a Tobias style kingpin but he's more of a neutral entity who tries to keep the streets in check. occasionally works with Black Lightning as one of the few moral OGs in Freeland but does bump heads with Jeff. Painkiller is his right hand.
5. Blue Devil - Jefferson's partner early in his career and his partner when it comes to magical threats.
6. The remaining Outsiders - I would make The Outsiders more of Jefferson's team and part of his legacy. I would have Metamorpho, Geo-force and the other Outsiders regularly pop up and work with Black Lightning. all the Outsiders come to Jeff's aid, as a team or individually, when need be and are close to the Lightning family.

Definitely some great & very well thought out ideas there. I’d personally prefer Lynn stayed both there moms & have BL & Kat have a son after the marriage to Lynn was over ( hell tbh it up to me I’d put the 3 of them in a poly rship & raise all 3 super powered kids/etc together..

[J. D. Guy]

Definitely some great & very well thought out ideas there. I’d personally prefer Lynn stayed both there moms & have BL & Kat have a son after the marriage to Lynn was over ( hell tbh it up to me I’d put the 3 of them in a poly rship & raise all 3 super powered kids/etc together..

I'd also like the variation of Jefferson and Tatsu conceiving a son in their new marriage.

Otherwise, give me this Freedland!

[lemonpeace]

Definitely some great & very well thought out ideas there. I’d personally prefer Lynn stayed both there moms & have BL & Kat have a son after the marriage to Lynn was over ( hell tbh it up to me I’d put the 3 of them in a poly rship & raise all 3 super powered kids/etc together..

I'd also like the variation of Jefferson and Tatsu conceiving a son in their new marriage.

Otherwise, give me this Freedland!

iunno, I like the idea of having Anissa as Lynn's daughter but Jen as Katana's because it explains the differences in their abilities by making one meta and the other homo-magi. admittedly it would probably still be the direction I'd want to stick with if I had the power but how about this as a compromise; Anissa and Jen are Lynn's daughters and Bushido is revamped as the son of Jefferson and Katana. I'd want to keep them as close in age as possible so maybe Thunder and Lightning could be twins or a year apart and in their late teens (18-19) while Bushido is a couple years younger in his mid teens (15-17).

[John Venus]

The only part I disagree on is Jen being Katana's daughter. I like the notion that meta genes can spawn different abilities and that you don't just inherit your parents abilities.

I think if Jeff and Katana had a child, it should be an original character or a preexisting character who fits the bill.

[lemonpeace]

The only part I disagree on is Jen being Katana's daughter. I like the notion that meta genes can spawn different abilities and that you don't just inherit your parents abilities.

I think if Jeff and Katana had a child, it should be an original character or a preexisting character who fits the bill.

what do you think of my compromise of having Anissa and Jen be twins from Lynn and repurposing Bushido as the son of Black Lightning and Katana? I feel he fits comfortably as an extension to Katana’s legacy and a sorta parallel to her signature abilities; she wields the soultaker; he's guided by the souls of the previous masters of the weapons he wields. also, because he was done dirt by DC and stunted prematurely, and his niche is so flexible, he can also incorporate elements of Black Lightning to his repertoire if need be. like maybe he gets to wield Duke's Soultaker ii (if that's still around) and work with the ghost of his dad from Future State. or maybe he acquires Mmaagha Kamalu as part of his weapons cache, a mythological West African sword that belonged to Amadioha the Igbo god of thunder.

[John Venus]

I can live with that.

Do you have any plans to incorporate the Tengu spirit that killed his mom in his pre-Nu52 story?

[lemonpeace]

I can live with that.

Do you have any plans to incorporate the Tengu spirit that killed his mom in his pre-Nu52 story?

well i would obviously have to change the personal connection because I don't plan on killing Katana, but yeah, my plan would be to incorporate any major villains for any of the already established characters and retooling them for the new Freeland landscape. With Katana’s magical roots being re-established i could have the Tengu spirit be linked to the history of the Yamashiro and/or Toro clan somehow. I'd have to give it more thought as to how and why the Tengu would want to come after him specifically in this new context.

[Digifiend]

Jefferson appeared at the end of this week's Flash TV episode. Are you guys looking forward to seeing more of him next week?

[Frontier]

Jefferson appeared at the end of this week's Flash TV episode. Are you guys looking forward to seeing more of him next week?

I'm glad to see Jefferson away from his family and I like his dynamic with Barry .

[LukeCagefan]

so I had an idea that I threw out in the controversial opinion thread about replacing Lynn in a potential reboot:



I know it's a iffy ask but I thought it could be interesting. I actually thought about it and I would make one change if they went through with it that could keep Lynn in the picture on some level. so in my proposal I suggested that Tatsu still loses her husband before meeting Jefferson but this times processes her grief and can move on by the time she meets Jefferson and starts their family. So I figured, maybe we could keep the Lynn but have her be Jefferson's ex-wife, and they have their relationship and falling out run parallel to Katana’s situation. this way, they could maybe have Anissa be Lynn's daughter and Jennifer be Katana’s. that could also retroactively explain the difference in their powers, with Anissa being a meta like her father but Jennifer inheriting a more magical nature from her mother.

I love this idea...but I don't see DC doing this. I've given hope with Jeff/Tatsu. I really hope I'm wrong. This is a rad idea though.

[LukeCagefan]

anyway, it also got me thinking about the potential that could come from the union of Black Lightning and Katana as characters and how they might influence each other:


which made me start thinking of how I might structure the Lightning Family idea I had. so...ya know...gots to see it through my boy, here's what I came up with:

core/literal family:
Black Lightning
Katana
Anissa/Thunder
Jennifer/Lightning
Peter Gambi - Gambi is one of the few Alfred-types that I think feels natural and the TV show makes a compelling case for Gambi as a mainstay of the family in any expanded capacity.


this take on Freeland, Georgia would adopt elements of Akashic Valley from the Painkiller back-door pilot (maybe make that an area in Freeland); blending Western (Suicide Slum/Metropolis, Los Vegas, and Atlanta/Georgia) and Eastern (primarily Japan, partially Hong Kong) aestethics. i still would want Freeland to be the metahuman capital of the America, so the Black Lightning family will focus largely on (but not limited to) Metahuman crime in their city, but now with elements of Japanese mythology and mysticism as well as seinen due to Katana’s influence. the roster of the Lightning family would be Metahumans with elemental based abilities (since Jeff has been described as an elemental from time to time) or magical/mystical. the Bat family are a collective of ninja detectives, the Arrow family are hunters, trackers and survivalists, the Super family are the powerhouse family, the Flash family are the speedsters and metahumans related to the speedforce: so my Black Lightning family would be the family that specializes in metahumans and natural forces (elementals and magic).

1. Grace Choi (meta/amazonian mythology) I feel Grace is Anissa's most prominent love interest and so should be her Lois Lane/Iris West but more like a partnership than a damsel. so I think it's important that she stays a part of the families inner circle once she and Anissa connect. my Anissa and Jennifer are on the younger side (mid and late teens respectively) so I would have Grace be the same and have her be both a metahuman AND and amazon; her strength and stats being amazonian and her enhanced senses being meta. to further push the Japanese influence, I would retcon her background to be Chinese and a descendant of separate tribe of Japanese amazons instead of the tribe that Artemis was from. Outside of Duke, who is trained by both, i would want Katana and Black Lightning to have separate proteges in the side and Grace would be one of Katana's protege

2. Duke Thomas (element: sun and shadow) - I love that Brandon Thomas picked up the ball from Bryan Hill's Outsiders run and deepened the connection between Black Lightning and Duke on as a protege-mentor relationship; and made Duke a protege to Katana as well. I seems like DC is more interested in Duke as an Outsider and with Jeff than they do with Duke as a Batfamily member, so I would pouch Duke from the Batfamily a lil and make him more of a Lightning Family member with strong ties to Gotham. it would boost Duke's profile by giving him some distance from the oversaturated Gotham collective, gives DC an out when they leave him out (which happens a lot) and it would bolsters the roster and profile of the Lightning family by having someone with a connection to Gotham. I would move Duke, his parents, and his cousin Jay out of Gotham and base them in Freeland, and port over the Gnomon stuff too.

3. Isaiah Crockett (element: heat and fire) post-New 52 I don't think they have properly reintroduced Hotspot before killing him in Heroes in Crisis, so I tweak his origin to make him a Freeland native and a pure Meta rather than half-alien. How I would square that would be by separateing the Pyre identity from Holocaust (from when he was in the DC universe), make him his own character and Isaiah's dad, named Leonard Crockett, then retcon him as a former villain/rival of Black Lightning who reformed. have Leonard go to the Tattoo man or Tobias Whale to bring Isaiah back to life and after he comes back he moves away from Hotspot and going by Joto again (because I'm African and I like African names). Have him start out with his own hero operation in Freeland, with his Dad as support, but over time he becomes part of the Lightning family in a similar capacity to like Steel or Batwing.

4. Bushido (weapons master) - this is an older character but I would reintroduce Ryuku Orsono and have him be Katana’s protege. he was a super interesting character that was done dirty by Johns but his abilities are pretty cool (various weapons that are imbued with the soul of the warrior who wielded them, whose spirits guide him in battle) and would complements Katana very well.

5. Jakeem Thunder (thunderbolt wish magic) another protege for Black Lightning, similar to Duke. I picked Jakeem because with him now honing his own thunderbolt magic, I feel he needs more connections outside the JSA that'll allow him to grow in autonomy and I felt he'd fit nicely in with Black Lightning since he's always brushed up against magic. now with Katana in the mix, his magic affinity woukd fit more comfortably in with the niche of the larger family. I still also would retcon him as being related to Lynn and John somehow, maybe a cousin or something, because I do like the Stewart-Pierce connection and I want those ties to run deep.

6. Cyclone/Maxine Hunkel/Red Tornado (element: wind and air) I believe Cyclone and Jeff crossed paths on the All-Star Squadron and I don't think she's been used much in the DC since New 52, so I would reintroduce her as part of the Lightning family as an ally in protecting Freeland (like Azrael or Batwing); alternatively, they could go with the android Red Tornado. by introducing either Cyclone or Red Tornado, that would tie the Red Tornado legacy to the Black Lightning mythos and strengthen the elemental angle for the Lightning family since Red Tornado (I think Maxine too) is straight-up a true blue wind elemental.

7. Amazing-Man (element: various) one of the most slept on and forgotten black heroes at DC and I feel his legacy deserves a revival. I would have the Everett family have ties to Freeland, like they were one of first metahumans from the "Green Light experiments" (I'd do like the show and have it be DC's version of the Tuskegee study and the Crack era) in Freeland; explaining why Freeland has a high concentration of metahuman civilizations. I would link the Everett family to the Pierce family by having them both descend from the Green Light experiments and, keeping with the elemental theme, his powers allow him take on the powers of pretty much any element making him a powerhouse within the family dynamic.

family-adjacent
1. Henderson - Jefferson's Commissioner Gordon
2. Lynn Stewart/Stewart-Pierce - I maintain that no matter what Lynn should be John Stewart's sister so she can always keep the door open to GLxBL crossovers. I feel like if we are going to go all-in on expanding the Lightning family and their mythology then they should double down on the Stewart-Pierce connection, it just depends on if we're rebooting or not. if we're building the family as it is now, have Lynn be his ex-wife and mother of Anissa and Jennifer; but if we're rebooting then see my previous workaround and still keep her around as a bridge to John Stewart.
3. Painkiller - following the TV show, former villain but eventual ally to the family and love interest for Jennifer. he'll be Freeland's Red Hood, he's the rogue antihero of the collective.
4. LaLa/The Tattoo Man - just like the show but eventually rises up to be a Tobias style kingpin but he's more of a neutral entity who tries to keep the streets in check. occasionally works with Black Lightning as one of the few moral OGs in Freeland but does bump heads with Jeff. Painkiller is his right hand.
5. Blue Devil - Jefferson's partner early in his career and his partner when it comes to magical threats.
6. The remaining Outsiders - I would make The Outsiders more of Jefferson's team and part of his legacy. I would have Metamorpho, Geo-force and the other Outsiders regularly pop up and work with Black Lightning. all the Outsiders come to Jeff's aid, as a team or individually, when need be and are close to the Lightning family.

This my friend is how you grow a character! You should've been paid for an idea this rich. I FREAKING LOVE IT! Do it DC!