"Black Lightning" Creator Tony Isabella & DC Comics Reconcile

[Slaughter]

About the blaxplotation thing: Wans't Black Lightning sort of a parody of it, in the sense that Jefferson Pierce clark-kented by talking like a blaxplotation hero in his Black Lightning identity, but was a teacher and scholar in his secret identity? Not only that's hilarious but also makes sense (how many super-heroes completely change their talking patterns while on-duty?) and is interesting as well.

Man I'd love it if we could get 1 last retcon in. Black Lightning IMHO should've been in the first Justice League roster instead of Cyborg.

For me Cyborg is a Titan forever and BL has his place in the League. Heck they've been trying to replace him for years, Black Vulcan and all those other electric Black heroes were just placeholders until BL came back in the fold.

VERY MUCH THIS

Black Lightning was the first Black Super-hero in DC. Therefore, League Founder Material. Cyborg always stuck in the league like a sore spot. Or maybe just have them BOTH (AND the Martian Manhunter, who deserves his spot back pronto) as League Founders, lots less tokenism if there's two black people on the team.
I also hope DC stops sending Black Lightning (and Metamorpho) to hang with the Outsiders. They're league material, not lamers and losers like the Outsiders.

Convergence featured a lot of time-changing, so its easy to say that Black Lightning and the Martian Manhunters are Justice League Founders, they were always Justice League Founders.
Worked for Black Canary for a while, didn't it?

[CBR News]

A new collection of the 1978 "Black Lightning" comic could be step one to more work with the character and from his creator.


Full article here.

[Robotman]

Would love to see Black Lightning appear on The Flash show. See how the mainstream public responds to the character. Hopefully he won't bring up memories of Electro from the horrible Amazing Spider-Man movie.

[Tupiaz]

Beat me to it. I hope they reprint his entire Hawkman run someday. It's one of my favorites.

Wonder if this could also lead to a reprinting of TonY's SHADOW WARS OF HAWKMAN themed work as well??

But for now I will just be happy with the coming Black Lightning reprints!!

Tony Isabella is very keen/open to the idea.

"The Shadow War of Hawkman? Yes, I’d love to see that reprinted as well. I think artist Richard Howell and I did outstanding work on that series. I’d love to see it reach a new audience."


Wouldn't it make more sense to include the entire storyline also those not written by Tony Isabella just like with BL?

[MajorHoy]

Kinda late to the party, aren't we?

Tony Isabella and DC begin reconciliation over Black Lightning
http://community.comicbookresources....lack-Lightning

[Tupiaz]

Kinda late to the party, aren't we?

Tony Isabella and DC begin reconciliation over Black Lightning
http://community.comicbookresources....lack-Lightning

Erhm...you are making a link to this debate.

[Jim Kelly]

Surely Trever von Eeden deserves some credit for Black Lightning since he's the one who drew the character.

I remember feeling at the time that it was unfortunate DC put young guys like Trevor von Eeden to work right away, when as artists they could probably use some more training to develop their abilities. Maybe that was just sour grapes because I'd love to be in their shoes.

But while I think I was right in general on that score, there were clearly some artists who greatly improved in a very short while, von Eeden being one of them. With the change in his style (a few years later), he immediately became one of my favourite artists at that time. Although, I still think some young guys did start too early and never got as good as they could have.

Of course, von Eeden was inked by Vince Colletta initially. That usually means the artwork looks worse than it should. But it's hard to know that and it might be that Colletta was a help in this case. Atlhough Trevor would have been best off if Bob Layton had inked his pencils.

[superfictious]

I agree that BL should've been an original JLer instead of Cyborg, and would've been if not for the schism with Isabella. But what's done is done, and Cyborg is the man right now. Since the Titans are...well, I don't know what the hell the Titans are right now, but since they're in a momentary limbo, jettisoning Cyborg from the JL would be pretty insulting and risky considering his upcoming movie, imo.

But then again, who says they both can't be original JLers? Why only one black Leaguer at a time?

What I'd really like is for guys like Walker, Isabella, Priest, etc, to do a Crew-like series with Cyborg, BL, John Henry, etc.

[Anthony Shaw]

I agree that BL should've been an original JLer instead of Cyborg, and would've been if not for the schism with Isabella. But what's done is done, and Cyborg is the man right now. Since the Titans are...well, I don't know what the hell the Titans are right now, but since they're in a momentary limbo, jettisoning Cyborg from the JL would be pretty insulting and risky considering his upcoming movie, imo.

But then again, who says they both can't be original JLers? Why only one black Leaguer at a time?

What I'd really like is for guys like Walker, Isabella, Priest, etc, to do a Crew-like series with Cyborg, BL, John Henry, etc.

Great post!

Room exist in the JL for BL & Cyborg, especially given their different power sets.

The series you proposed sounds great. I think Vixen & Bronze Tiger work work well in that line-up.

[MajorHoy]

Kinda late to the party, aren't we?

Tony Isabella and DC begin reconciliation over Black Lightning
http://community.comicbookresources....lack-Lightning

Erhm...you are making a link to this debate.

In case you weren't aware, the CBR thread

"Black Lightning" Creator Tony Isabella & DC Comics Reconcile

A new collection of the 1978 "Black Lightning" comic could be step one to more work with the character and from his creator.


Full article here.

began as a separate thread. That was the thread I posted my message in, referencing this thread (which the CBR-generated thread was eventually integrated into).

[Tupiaz]

In case you weren't aware, the CBR threadbegan as a separate thread. That was the thread I posted my message in, referencing this thread (which the CBR-generated thread was eventually integrated into).

Missed the other post. Makes more sense now.

Surely Trever von Eeden deserves some credit for Black Lightning since he's the one who drew the character.

I remember feeling at the time that it was unfortunate DC put young guys like Trevor von Eeden to work right away, when as artists they could probably use some more training to develop their abilities. Maybe that was just sour grapes because I'd love to be in their shoes.

But while I think I was right in general on that score, there were clearly some artists who greatly improved in a very short while, von Eeden being one of them. With the change in his style (a few years later), he immediately became one of my favourite artists at that time. Although, I still think some young guys did start too early and never got as good as they could have.

Of course, von Eeden was inked by Vince Colletta initially. That usually means the artwork looks worse than it should. But it's hard to know that and it might be that Colletta was a help in this case. Atlhough Trevor would have been best off if Bob Layton had inked his pencils.

According to Tony Isabella he had more less the idea finished when Trevor came aboard.

"Trevor was one of several people who contributed to the costume. The lightning piping and the "Captain America boots" were mine. The Afro-mask was Bob Rozakis' idea. Trevor had the open shirt and Joe Orlando opened up the shirt to show more skin. There will be more on this in my forthcoming "memoir of sorts," which will be published in the spring of 2016. In any case, my clear memory - which Trevor disputes - is that I stood over him as if he was a police sketch artist and described the costume to him. The costume wasn't fully formed in my mind prior to that, but the most prominent element - the lightning piping - was mine. And, as I said, no one disputed my "sole creator" status until I asked about buying out DC's share of my creation. That's when Trevor was first listed as a co-creator. I disputed that at the time and I will continue to dispute it." (Read the comment section).

[superfictious]

Great post!

Room exist in the JL for BL & Cyborg, especially given their different power sets.

The series you proposed sounds great. I think Vixen & Bronze Tiger work work well in that line-up.

Oh hell yeah. Depending on circumstances, someone like Jessica Cruz too.

[Jim Kelly]

According to Tony Isabella he had more less the idea finished when Trevor came aboard.

"Trevor was one of several people who contributed to the costume. The lightning piping and the "Captain America boots" were mine. The Afro-mask was Bob Rozakis' idea. Trevor had the open shirt and Joe Orlando opened up the shirt to show more skin. There will be more on this in my forthcoming "memoir of sorts," which will be published in the spring of 2016. In any case, my clear memory - which Trevor disputes - is that I stood over him as if he was a police sketch artist and described the costume to him. The costume wasn't fully formed in my mind prior to that, but the most prominent element - the lightning piping - was mine. And, as I said, no one disputed my "sole creator" status until I asked about buying out DC's share of my creation. That's when Trevor was first listed as a co-creator. I disputed that at the time and I will continue to dispute it." (Read the comment section).

Sounds a lot like the process by which Batman was created "by Bob Kane."

[Tupiaz]

Sounds a lot like the process by which Batman was created "by Bob Kane."

This: "One day I called Bill and said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at.' He came over and I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit; the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous.' The cape looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope. Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints." Does differs much from this "Kane had an idea for a character called 'Batman', and he'd like me to see the drawings. I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of ... reddish tights, I believe, with boots ... no gloves, no gauntlets ... with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ... BATMAN."Suppose both statement are accurate. Just because a person claims to be main creator with little help from others doesn't make him a Bob Kane persona which lies about the contribution of a character to earn money. A important difference here is Tony Isabella wrote Black Lighting just like Bill Finger wrote Batman and thus creating the story material for the character.

[Jim Kelly]

Yeah, that was my point. Although, in the case of Bob Kane he got all the credit and Bill got nothing. In the case of Black Lightning, Tony and Trevor each got credit. But like Bill, Tony had his problems over creative ownership. Nevertheless, both cases are similar because the writer had a huge input on how the character should look. I'm sure Vin Sullivan had his own input on how to make Batman better, as well. So the process of creation for Batman and for Black Lightning seemed similar to me.