Black Lightning (TV Series) Seasons

Black Lightning (Jeff Pierce) is a superhero who appears in American comic book published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella with artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during the Bronze Age of Comic Books. Although his precise origin story has varied over the years, he is generally depicted as a metahuman superhero who uses the ability to generate and control electricity to defend his community – and the world – as Black Lightning. Although not the first black superhero to be featured in DC Comics stories, Black Lightning was DC's first African-American superhero to headline his own series.

In his earliest stories, Black Lightning was depicted as a schoolteacher from the crime-ridden Suicide Slum area of Metropolis who acquires electrical superpowers from a technologically advanced power belt that he put to use to clean up crime in his neighborhood. Over time, Pierce establishes himself as a successful superhero in the DC Universe, and later stories depict him as having "internalized" the belt's powers as a result of his latent metagene. Later retellings of Black Lightning's origins simplified his story by depicting him as a metahuman with the inborn ability to manipulate and generate electricity. The character later went on to father two superhero daughters, Thunder and Lightning, and work closely alongside Batman as a founding member of the Outsiders superhero team.

DC originally commissioned Isabella to create its first black character following on from Isabella's successful work for Marvel Comics with Luke Cage. However, only 11 issues of the series were published before DC ran into financial trouble in 1978 which led them to cut back the majority of their titles. This proved to be a blessing in disguise however, as the character went on instead to be featured prominently in books like '' Justice League of America'' in DC's new slimmed down offering of titles, exposing him to more readers, with the character being remembered for providing critical perspective on established superheroes like Batman and Superman. Early elements of the character were controversial, and later removed or toned down. For example, in early stories, he wore an Afro wig and spoke in an exaggerated Harlem jive vernacular to disguise that he was in fact the highly educated schoolteacher, Jefferson Pierce.

Black Lightning had proven a popular character for DC and was ranked 85th overall on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Books Heroes" list in 2011. The character has been adapted into various media, including animated television series, video games, and comic strips. The character and his stories were adapted for live-action ''Black Lightning'' TV series, which ran from 2018 to 2022. The title character was portrayed by Cress Williams, who also went on to make appearances in the related TV shows ''The Flash'' and '' Legends of Tomorrow''.

Creation

In his blog, Isabella wrote that the character's background as a teacher at his former high school was inspired by the sitcom '' Welcome Back, Kotter''. The superhero name "Black Lightning" originated from a Wonder Woman cover displayed on Julius Schwartz's wall, in which she asks another superhero to "stop this black lightning before it splits that building in two". Isabella liked the reference to lightning and wrote: "The words 'black lightning' sounded cool to me in the era when so many movies included 'black' in their titles, so I decided that's what I would name my creation."

Publication history

The original candidate for DC Comics' first headlining black superhero was a character called the Black Bomber, a white racist who would turn into a black superhero under stress. Comics historian Don Markstein later described the character 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, a black Marvel Comics superhero with his own title) was asked to salvage the character. Isabella convinced editors to instead use his Black Lightning character, which he had been developing for some time.

Isabella wrote the first 10 issues of ''Black Lightning'' before handing it over to Dennis O'Neil, and Trevor Von Eeden designed the character's original costume and drew the first 11 issues. Only one issue scripted by O'Neil came out before the series was canceled in 1978 as part of a general large-scale pruning of the company's superhero titles known as the DC Implosion. Issue #12 was published in '' Cancelled Comic Cavalcade'' and '' World's Finest Comics'' #260.

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 Comics'' written by O'Neil, then shifted to ''Detective Comics'' and a two-part story in '' Justice League of America'' in which he declined an offer of membership. In 1983, with his powers restored, he regularly appeared again as a member of Batman's spinoff superhero team, the Outsiders. When ''The Outsiders'' ended, he returned to making occasional guest appearances.

In 1995, a new ''Black Lightning'' series began with art by Eddy Newell and again written by Tony Isabella, who was fired after the eighth issue and replaced with Australian writer Dave de Vries. The series was canceled five issues after Isabella left the title, the decision having been made before these issues had seen print. Isabella said he believes the editor replaced him with a newer writer to consolidate his position in the company.

A "Black Lightning: Year One" six-issue limited series, written by Jen Van Meter and illustrated by Cully Hamner saw a bi-weekly release in 2009, and was nominated for two Glyph Awards in 2010.

As part of the New 52, a revamped version of Black Lightning appeared in '' DC Universe Presents'' that was paired with the Blue Devil.

Fictional character biography

Year One

A gold medal-winning Olympic decathlete, Jefferson Pierce returned to his old neighborhood in the Southside (Suicide Slum) section of the city of Metropolis with his wife Lynn Stewart and his daughter Anissa to become the principal of Garfield High School. Southside, as it was once known, was where his father—renowned journalist Alvin Pierce—had been murdered. Guilt over this event was a factor in his decision to leave the city of Metropolis. Suicide Slum was being torn apart by a local organized criminal gang called the 100, shady corporations, and crooked local politicians like Tobias Whale. A family friend and tailor, Peter Gambi, had taught a much younger Jefferson how to suppress his inborn metahuman abilities so that he would not accidentally hurt any of the people he cared about. Upon his return, Gambi suggested to Jefferson that he should use his powers to help the neighborhood, and refers him to a plaque with the paraphrased Milo Sweetman quote "Justice, like lightning, should ever appear to some men hope, to other men fear". (the original text of which was "Justice, like lightning, ever should appear to few men's ruin, but to all men's fear. Of mortal justice if thou scorn the rod, believe and tremble, thou art judged of God".) Appalled by the public murder of Earl Clifford, one of his more promising students, Pierce tried to intervene on behalf of the schoolchildren but quickly learned that the 100 objected violently to any interference. Pierce adopts the costumed identity "Black Lightning" where he had the costume, mask, and wig made by Gambi.

Years later, he would tell fellow African-American superhero Mister Terrific that he chose the name ''Black'' Lightning because he "was the only one of us around" at the time, and he "wanted to make sure everyone knew who they were dealing with."

Outsiders

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

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