Black Lightning
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- For references to Black Lightning in the work of William Golding see Pincher Martin.
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Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a fictional superhero, DC Comics' first African American hero to star in his own title. Created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eden, he first appeared in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977).
Black Lightning was a streetwise hero, working in the inner city. He possessed a belt that granted him electrical powers, although due to his previously dormant metagene, he later internalized these powers.
Black Lightning was a short-lived series and since then the character has been a frequent guest star in other DC series and a member of the Batman-lead superhero group the Outsiders, of which his daughter, Anissa, aka Thunder, is currently a member.
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[edit] Publication history
The original candidate for DC Comics' first headlining black superhero was a character called the Black Bomber, later described by cartoon and comics historian Don Markstein as "an insult to practically everybody with any point of view at all." When the editor who had approved the Black Bomber left the company before the character had seen print, Tony Isabella (whose previous writing experience included Luke Cage, Marvel Comics' first black superhero with his own title) was asked to salvage the character; even with the first-issue deadline looming, Isabella was convinced that the only way forward was to scrap the Black Bomber and start again from scratch, and so Black Lightning came into being.
Isabella wrote the first ten issues of Black Lightning, before handing over to Dennis O'Neil. Only one O'Neil-scripted issue came out before the series was cancelled in 1978 as part of a general large-scale pruning of the company's superhero titles (which also cancelled the debut of Vixen, which would have been DC's first title starring a female black superhero). Issue #12 was published only in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade.
Black Lightning made a number of guest appearances in various titles over the next few years, including a string of issues of World's Finest written by O'Neil, and a two-part story in Justice League of America in which the League invited him to join, but he turned them down.
In 1983, powers restored, he became a regularly-appearing character again as a member of the Batman-led superhero team the Outsiders. When The Outsiders ended, he returned to doing the occasional guest appearance. One such appearance, in 1988, resulted in increased powers.
In 1995, a new series Black Lightning series began, again written by Tony Isabella, who was fired after the eighth issue. After Tony Isabella left the series was canceled after only five more issues. The reason for Tony Isabella leaving could have been because of editorial disagreements about the direction of the series. However Isabella has since revealed that he believes the editor fired him because of a wish to bring in a new writer in order to "create his own power base at DC Comics"[1]
A "Black Lightning: Year One" mini-series will be released in 2007, to be written by Jen Van Meter and illustrated by Cully Hamner.[citation needed]
[edit] Fictional character history
A gold medal-winning Olympic decathlete, Jefferson Pierce returned to his old neighborhood (the notorious Suicide Slum in the proud city of Metropolis) to become a high school teacher. Appalled by the violence he saw, Pierce tried to intervene on behalf of his students, but quickly learned that the 100, the local criminal organization, objected violently to interference. Peter Gambi, a family friend and tailor, designed the costume and electronic power belt of Black Lightning. Pierce donned a mask, an Afro wig, a hip way of talking, and Gambi's outfit that gave him electrical powers to become Black Lightning, defender of the poor and underprivileged (later, when Black Lightning was captured by his enemies and the belt that gave him his powers destroyed, it was discovered that he had somehow internalized the power and no longer needed the belt).
After his own series was cancelled, Black Lightning lost his electrical powers, but continued fighting without them. The loss eventually turned out to be psychosomatic, a symptom of a crisis of confidence resulting from the accidental death of a bystander during an altercation between Black Lightning and some gun-wielding thugs. After the return of his powers he joined the Outsiders.
When Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States in 2000, he appointed Jefferson Pierce as Secretary of Education. He resigned among controversy over his "worst-kept secret in Washington" identity as Black Lightning, and his inadvertent killing of a criminally-minded corporate CEO, for which President Pete Ross (who had since succeeded Luthor) then pardoned him.
A frequent guest starring character in several DC series, Pierce has appeared in Green Arrow (who was dating his niece). Pierce helped Green Arrow track down Dr. Light in the Green Arrow "Heading into the Light" story arc. He also appeared in the new Outsiders, of which his daughter, Anissa (using the alias Thunder), is a member.
In issue #5 of the Infinite Crisis storyline, it was shown that Black Lightning was one of the eight people Batman had considered to aid him in destroying the Brother Eye satellite, which controlled the OMACs. Booster Gold, who was not on the list of eight, but knew about the candidates from his knowledge of the future, contacted Lightning before Batman did, as historical data from the future had shown who had aided Batman, and Lightning accepted, arriving at the Batcave to await orders. He then forged an uneasy yet effective alliance with Mister Terrific, combining their powers of electrical manipulation and invisibility to technology to strike the villainious AI from the inside.
After the third Society of Super Villains was formed, Black Lightning began using his status as Luthor's Secretary of Education to gain information from supervillains. Black Lightning will be joining the JLA under the creative team of Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes, once again appearing with a modified costume. [2]
[edit] Other media
- Black Lightning has never appeared in any of the many television series based on DC Comics superheroes. This is in itself not unusual for a character of Black Lightning's relative obscurity, but is notable because at least three such series have contained specially-created black superheroes with electrical powers who weren't Black Lightning - series regular Black Vulcan in Super Friends and guest stars Soul Power in Static Shock, and Juice in Justice League Unlimited. An original sketch proposal of the JLU cast included Black Lightning, but this idea was later discarded.[citation needed]
- Sinbad once appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live dressed as Black Lightning, crashing Superman's funeral. The other dignitaries and superheroes didn't recognize him. He walked around asking incredulously if anyone remembered Black Lightning and zapping people to prove his powers. Black Lightning creator, Tony Isabella, told Fanzing regarding this appearance, "If I ever see that guy, I'm going to give him a big wet one. I never laughed so hard in my life. I was on the floor rolling around."
[edit] Other Version
Black Lightning appears in animated style appearance in Justice League Unlimited #15.[3]
- He made another appearance in JLU #27.[4]
[edit] Resources
- DCU Guide: Black Lightning
- Toonopedia: Black Lightning
- Fanzing: Black Lightning history
- Black Lightning Index
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