Black Lightning (1977-1978)

Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella may not be the best writer in comics history but he's clearly one of the nicest guys in the industry and that may be the reason why this collection of the original series, from 1977-78, is so much more pleasurable than objective considerations suggest it should be.In his introduction to the book (which may, objectively, be the best thing here) Tony the Tiger outlines how his close friendships with a number of Afro-American artists in the mid-seventies led him to create a black superhero who would be a relatable, positive, inspiring figure - you know, like Spidey or Supes - rather than an utterly fantastic dream (super-scientific African King T'Challa), a cliched street dude (like Cage or The Falcon at their most lazily written) or the guy who fills in when the more important white dude isn't available (John Stewart). It may sound like soft-headed white liberalism at its most soft-headed, white and liberal but it works. It works brilliantly well in the recent TV series - which included surprising amounts of the source material, albeit tweaked and modified for contemporary pertinence - and it works here, despite the comics seeming, on the surface, to be nothing more than workmanlike, generic seventies superhero work. There's definitely something inspiring about Jeff Pierce and his mission to clean up his neighbourhood. More objective proof of Isabella's success comes from the testimonials he quotes from notable people for whom Black Lightning is clearly a stirring, motivating figure.So what gives? Well, first of all, the comics included here (Black Lightning 1-12, though the latter was actually printed in the venerable DC mag World's Finest, after the cancellation of BL's own mag in the DC Implosion) aren't quite as workmanlike as they first appear. That workmanlike impression largely comes from the artwork, which is very much in the DC house style of the era (kind of a halfway house between Neal Adams and Curt Swan), capable but somewhat bland. That's actually less damning than it might sound because the artist, Trevor von Eeden, was - get this - only seventeen at the time, and his work is as solid as established professionals of the era who, in some cases, had been in the industry since before von Eeden was born. Much, much better was to come from him, but while this is undeniably solid work, it's not exciting and utterly of its time. From time to time you can see glimpses of the von Eeden to come, but he's not there yet.Isabella's writing is by far the best he'd produced up to that point, and it may be due to him being Marvel-schooled at a time when their superhero comics left most of DC's output trailing behind in the dust. Late-seventies DC, probably due to the astute vision of new publisher Jeanette Kahn, began a process of "creeping Marvelisation" which, after a rocky and inconsistent start, eventually paid substantial creative rewards. Black Lightning, alongside fellow Marvel escapee Steve Englehart's work on JLA and Detective Comics, is one of the best early examples of this process. Isabella's plotting, pacing, characterisation and scripting are all thoroughly accomplished and well-crafted, and clearly superior to writers who'd only worked for DC up to that point. But there's nothing that leaps out as particularly exciting.So with both writing and art being highly capable without offering anything you could call truly distinguished, why do you feel like standing up and cheering when you read these comics? For me, it's because, somehow, and without it being obvious how or why, you can tell Isabella is passionate about his character. Pierce believes in what he's doing and faces down hardships and difficulties to achieve his goals in an ethical, laudable manner. He's a straight-up guy, not a saint but someone who lives by the code of trying to do the right thing. This stuff matters to Tony Isabella, and, as sometimes happens in comics, the creator's passion to convey what matters to him or her is so strong and so evident it transcends the limitations of the craft. Isabella wants so much for us to be inspired by Black Lightning that, well, we are. Just don't ask me to explain how.There's kind of negative proof of this with the final two stories, written by Denny O'Neil after Isabella left DC over a contractual dispute. They're well-intentioned and better than the usual standard of DC superhero writing for the era. O'Neil wears his liberal heart on his sleeve far more flagrantly than Isabella. And they're as flat as a Norfolk pancake. For O'Neil, this was just another gig. For Isabella, it was the title he felt born to write. Luckily, he got the chance again, with what he claimed was the very best writing he ever did, though that was in the nineties, in volume three of this series.As for this volume, I'm kind of torn about recommending it. I had nothing but a whale of a time reading it (do you see what I did there?) but because I can't really explain why it worked so well for me, I wonder if other readers would derive the same pleasure from it. And it's a clear limitation for some readers that they find Bronze Age storytelling tropes dated, so there's that too. But maybe I should just trust my instincts. My comics heroes include Kirby, Ditko, Toth, the EC artists, Alan Moore and the like. Tony Isabella isn't in that league, but my gut tells me his Black Lightning is, in terms of its impact if not its formal characteristics. I loved it despite its obvious limitations. I hope you do too, but if not, well, don't say I didn't warn ya.

The first apperance of the Black Lightning...... a must read for the fans of the Black Lightning TV series

This is one of those rare moments when you re-discover your childhood between the covers of a book. I loved Black Lightning back in the day and had several issues (it took me some years to own the whole run), but even then I didn't have issue 12 which is included here. As with many of the titles I was following, most were cancelled by the DC implosion of 1978 so Black Lightning was very short-lived. It was innovative for it's time. A black superhero in his own comic book title was rare as hen's teeth back then (the only other hero I can think of is the brilliant Luke Cage series). It is taking DC a long time to get round to these guys who now form the foundation of the Bronze Era of comics. This collection is a bit bumpy in places, but shows that if he had been given time, Black Lightning and his creator, Tony Isabella and co. could have done great things with this character. I hope this isn't the only series on Black Lightning and that his other appearances in different titles are also collected and produced. Until then, I am wallowing in childhood memories and loving this collection. Others I'd love to see in their own collection are the 70's Freedom Fighters, Ragman (he only had 5 issues) and Steel, The Indestructible Man (I think he only had five issues, too). If DC can cover those then they'd have one very ecstatic comic fan! In the meantime, enjoy Black Lightning and the 1970's nostalgia.

another newsprint quality paperback from DC.some books are good paper, some are bad. it is always hit and miss.