Struck By Lightning

It's now already ten years since successful author Brad Meltzer revamped the Justice League of America. You might expect a comic book featuring the most iconic characters of the entire genre to be a straightforward proposition and yet we find ourselves this summer faced with the fourth reboot of the series in a decade. (I may post about JLA Rebirth soon; I've still to read Bryan Hitch's first issue.)

Meltzer's run is fairly inaccessible, to my mind; mired in continuity for which the author showed far too much affection. However, the step he took that impressed me and exceeded the limits of the Seventies was to include both Vixen and Black Lightning in the League.

Black Lightning is probably DC's premiere black male super-hero. The Black Panther, fifty years old this year, precedes him of course at Marvel. But where the Panther is ruler of a fantasy kingdom ( Edgar Rice Burroughs via Kirby)  BL is in the vein of 70s black urban experience -at least through the comic book prism. Perhaps the problem was that by 1977,  creator Tony Isabella had already explored that experience with Luke Cage and Black Goliath at the House of Ideas some two or three years earlier. DC had abandoned its Relevancy phase in the throes of the Energy Crisis and by the Disco Era, BL's heroic forebears, Mal Duncan and John Stewart, were beginning to look a little  like outdated "jive turkeys".

I first encountered BL in his first solo series; it was one my brother followed more faithfully than I did.  There was something ballsy and subversive however about guest-starring Superman in the series and showing DC's premiere African American hero succeed in addressing threats that the Caped Kryptonian "failed "to combat.

Black Lightning also rejected JLA membership in an otherwise rather bland Blaxploitation holdover.

Rats in da ghetto. I can't even 

Subsequently, BL became a regular member of the Outsiders in the 80s, a quirky team that had a consciously retro flavour. His position as premiere black superhero in the League has been filled in more recent years by Cyborg. A New Teen Titans character who is equally stereotypical, I feel his JLA role is completely the result of Geoff Johns' affection for Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

Nonetheless, Black Lightning has been the centrepiece of a superhero dynasty : his daughters Thunder and Lightning have been members of the Outsiders and the Justice Society.

Black Lightning's earliest exploits were re-imagined for a Year One series in 2009. The character's Disco Chic costume was tweaked to make it less dated and frumpy.

The end of the series feels very abrupt but it still achieves many admirable outcomes: Pierce is an aspirational figure as role model, especially as an educator, Criminal organisation the 100 has magickal origins that connect it to Ra's al Ghul's global ambitions. Tobias Whale is repositioned as a corrupt politician. The "grindcore" edge of the series has gone but Superman's "failure" in Suicide Slum has a logical explanation. Black Lightning is represented well in this mini-series. It's disappointing however that, despite Marvel's high-profile heroes of colour ( Sam Wilson, Miles Morales and now Riri Williams), Black Lightning isn't part of Rebirth.

In an upcoming post, I'll revisit a pair of Year One series in trade paperback form. Also, soon: Daleks, Titans, Swords and Deviltry.

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