Jefferson Pierce is on a rampage! Thugs have kidnapped Peter Gambi, the local tailor who has been like a father to Pierce since he was a lad. Behind the abduction are 3 super powered members of the 100. Their mission- to incapacitate and capture the Metropolis super hero known as Black Lightning!
As the inner city's newest hero conducts his frantic search for his missing friend, Black Lightning reflects over his origin story. An unknown assailant murdered Jefferson's father in cold blood. Shortly afterwards, Peter Gambi moved into the neighborhood and hired Pierce to work in his tailor shop. Over time, Gambi became like a father to Jefferson. Gambi helped the young man through high school and college, earning a scholarship.
After college, Jefferson would return to Metropolis to work as a school teacher. Noticing a super powered void in the more urban areas of the big city, Pierce would become a hero in his own right with help from Gambi. The tailor created a costume equipped with a special belt that generates a powerful force field and electrical charges.
Though Peter Gambi might have filled the void in Jefferson's life after the death of his pop, and currently is a trusted ally, right before this issue ends, one of the villains reveals that Gambi is the man who murdered Mr. Jefferson! Could this be true? Or is this yet another mind game devised by the deadly gang lord, Tobias Whale?
This issue of Black Lightning was written by Tony Isabella. Isabella created the character after DC noticed the popularity of Marvel's Luke Cage and desired to cash in on their own black comic character. Originally, editors wanted Isabella to retool a ridiculous character called the Black Bomber. Literally this concept was like a superhero version of the film Watermelon Man in which a white supremacist when under direst changes to an African American and becomes a hero of the black community. Thankfully, Isabella with previous experience having worked on the Luke Cage series, convinced DC to abandon this idea. As a result, in 1977 a more wholesome black character who actively participated in his embattled community as both a 'cape' and a civilian was created in Jefferson Pierce, AKA Black Lightning.
One thing that might surprise fans is that the original version of Black Lightning was NOT a metahuman. Being a star decathlon athlete armed with gadgets and gizmos are what originally give Jefferson Pierce his spark. Before Black Lightning's first series was to become a victim of the DC Implosion, Pierce would eventually gain electrical powers. Retroactively, events from DC's Invasion story line would be revealed as the cause of Black Lightning's powers before eventually the character being retconned to be a metahuman.
While Black Lightning wasn't DC's first black superhero, the character has evolved to become one of the foundations of not just the DCU's black community but the publisher itself. A popular live action series on the CW seemingly continues the story of the original series. Black Lightning would add a couple of new members to the local community's superhero population: his daughters Anissa and Jennifer; DC's Thunder and Lightning!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #40 (By an author who shares your first or last name- in this case my first!) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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