Black Lightning

As you may or may not have gathered, I read comic books. Lots and lots of comic books. Almost exclusively.

I even have a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my reading goals.

But today's comics frustrate me. They are definitely part of my reading rotation schedule, but not my favorite part. I mostly look forward to my comic yesterday reads.

The idea is to spend time reading the comics I enjoy the most, and not get caught up getting bogged down with what the companies publish today. A few months ago I finished my Flash yesterday read. Reading Flash comics from his Silver Age reappearance in 1956 to his ill-fated ending in 1985. From there, I started up reading Firestorm, from his first appearance in 1977 to the end of his second series in 1990.

Up next I plan to do a month-by-month yesterday read of the Justice League of American and the Avengers. I figure I can get a unique, compare and contrast perspective on the publication history of Marvel and DC's headliner titles.

But after Firestorm, and before my JLA Avengers opus, I figured I would pop off one of the shorter yesterday reads by taking on Black Lightning. He only had eleven issues in the seventies and a handful of back up stories.


I had always seen the character as one of the oddball "DC Explosion" characters of the 1970's. A time when the company was doing well and taking publication chances to see if anything struck a strong chord with the readers. Firestorm was one of these characters, but went on to hit it big in the 1980's. Black Lightning never really made it on his own, but I was still looking forward to becoming familiar with these books.

They are really good.

I was a little surprised at just how good they are. DC was famous for being wary about publishing black characters. I don't think the editors were racist so much as they were... conservative. And they long held to the idea that black characters would hurt their distribution in the South. DC's first black hero was a substitute Green Lantern that appeared in 1971. Black Lightning was the first black character published by DC to have his own book. And that didn't come along until 1977.


I had stupidly assumed Black Lightning was a one-note character created to capitalize on the blaxploitation craze of the 1970's. I thought this despite knowing the character really well from his appearances in the 1980's. There's certainly a little of the blaxploitation element going on here, but it is by no means the focus of the book.


1. Black Lightning is really Jefferson Pierce, high school teacher.

2. Pierce is a gold medal winner from the decathlon of two different sets of Olympics.

3. Pierce is extremely intelligent, grew up poor, made something of himself, and has come back to his old neighborhood to make a difference.

4. When the book starts out, Black Lightning has no powers. He's just a guy in a costume who relies on his tremendously capable physical abilities and his smarts.

5. Part of Pierce's disguise is an afro wig and a tough, 'street' method of talking that he would never use in the classroom.

6. Pierce has no love interest. Instead, one of the supporting characters is his ex-wife, who he still has a friendly relationship with.

7. Black Lightning has a definite mission, fighting Tobias Whale and his drug operations that are polluting the streets he grew up on.


There is a lot going on here for a comic book written in the 1970's. Writer/creator Tony Isabella thought out this character very well, right down to his roots and motivations. Having a fully fleshed out Jefferson Pierce behind the mask makes the book a treat to read.

One of the things that pleases me most about super heroes is the kind of hero that does what he does for altruistic motivations. Superman could do anything he wants to, but chooses instead to only use his powers for good. Black Lightning doesn't do what he does because he has cool powers and it's expected. He starts off the story having no powers at all. His motivation to make a difference is so strong that he's willing to risk his life and get out there and DO something. This is the kind of character I want to read, and this is the kind of comic that makes me detest a lot of the comics that are created today.

I love being surprised like this. The material has been under my nose for years. Just another entry in my 'to-read' spreadsheet. But I'm very glad I got around to reading it.


Thanks,
DCD