Tony Isabella Wants To Write an Episode of 'Black Lightning'

Tony Isabella, the creator of Black Lightning in the comics with artist Trevor Von Eeden and writer of the just-concluded Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands miniseries, would like to have a shot at writing an episode of the TV series based on the character.

Black Lightning, which airs Tuesdays on The CW, was just renewed for a second season. While he has not been directly involved with writing on the show's first season, Isabella's name appears in the credits and he has been a frequent guest at events centered around the show.

"I would love to write an episode for the show," Isabella told a fan who asked him about it on Twitter. "I'm looking into how I might be able to make that happen."

Comic book writers like Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates have made inroads writing for TV, but it remains relatively rare. Writers like Jay Faerber and Julie and Shawna Benson make most of their money on TV, and work in comics for the passion, but rarely or never get called upon to write for comic book shows. The exception seems to be in animation, where writers like J.M. DeMatteis and the Man of Action studio partners all manage to work regularly on both superhero and non-superhero works.

"It feels amazing [to see the show come to life]," Isabella told ComicBook.com at the series' premiere in Washington. "Every casting choice has been brilliant. I see these characters and I se a lot of my own work in this show, but so much more that Salim and Mara and the writing team and the actors are bringing to it. It's like Tony Isabella's favorite comics amped up, and I couldn't be more thrilled with this show."

While the veteran comics writer did not say during that first interview that he hoped to work on the TV show, he did admit that he found himself inspired by what the showrunners were doing with the character he was best known for.

"I get inspired by stuff I see on this show, they've been inspired by my work," Isabella said at the time. "We're writing Black Lightning at different periods in his life, but it's all the same core values that define the character, and I love seeing the different versions of it."

Black Lightning airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.