Black Lightning closed out its first season tonight, solving many of the mysteries and resolving most of the issues Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) and his family faced during The CW series’ first year.
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The series was officially renewed for a second season a few weeks, so we know that we haven’t seen the last of Black Lightning, but we don’t yet know when exactly the show will return. The CW announced earlier this year that it was going back to programming six days each week by having original content on Sundays in addition to their normal Monday through Friday schedule. We also know that the network prefers to have no more than four superhero series airing at one time which, in part, lead to the unique timeslot-sharing situation with Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl this year. As fans might recall, Supergirl went on a nine-week hiatus while Legends finished out their third season. Supergirl returned on Monday.
With Black Lightning being the network’s fifth DC Comics-inspired superhero show and with the series not being connected to the Arrowverse, it’s anyone’s guess where in the season Black Lightning will land. Can’t deal with the uncertainty? Already craving more Black Lightning? Don’t worry, we have you covered. We’ve come up with a list of eight comics you’ll want to check out now that Black Lightning‘s season finale has aired. Our selections have some pretty unconventional choices but given some of the themes and issues raised this season on the show we think these issues will definitely be worth your time.
Read on for eight comics (or comic book runs) you should read after Black Lightning‘s season finale.
‘Outsiders: The Good Fight’
Black Lightning has already teased The Outsiders. Early in the season the show made a direct reference to the DC Comics team when Anissa (Nafessa Williams) was talking to Grace Choi (Chantal Thuy) and noticed an issue of The Outsiders comic book in her pocket.
In comics, Black Lightning is a founding member of the team comprised of superheroes that don’t really fit into the mainstream community. This specific story arc, which runs from Outsiders #34 to Outsiders #43 features the team having faked their deaths to operate in secret overseas. Thunder in particular operates undercover in the government of Mali, but the team ends up having to blow their covers when Thunder intervenes to stop child soldiers from massacring a small village.
The story sees the team go up against a dictator with brutal chemical weapons and a ton of action. Given Anissa’s development into the hero Thunder this season on Black Lightning as well as her efforts to save the missing kids of Freeland, this story arc is a perfect on to read to get a little deeper into the comic book version of the character.
‘Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool’
No, Static Shock is not part of Black Lightning, but if you’re looking for a comic about someone reluctantly getting back into the vigilante hero life then Static Shock Rebirth of the Cool is an excellent choice.
If you happen to not be familiar with Static Shock, the character, which originated in Milestone Comics, an independently-owned DC Comics imprint but is perhaps best remembered by some from the animated television series of the same name that aired on The WB. The show ran for four seasons. The series was part of the DC animated universe and its popularity led to the Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool miniseries. Like Black Lightning, Static Shock has electricty-based powers, though Static can create, generate, absorb, and control electricity along with magnetism powers as well. There’s also another interesting similarty between Static Shock and Black Lightning: they were both created as metahumans, Static by the explosion of chemical containers and Black Lightning by the ASA’s experiments.
‘Manhunter’
One of the challenges Jefferson Pierce has to balance in Black Lightning‘s first season is his life as principal of Garfield High as well as his secret role as Black Lightning. In Manhunter, Kate Spencer has a similar challenge. A federal prosecutor tired of seeing criminals evade punishment, she takes matters into her own hands as Manhunter. While Kate’s methods are a bit different than Black Lightning’s, you’ll see some definite parallels in Marc Andreyko’s writing as Kate tries to balance her public career and her real quest for justice.
‘Chase’
The shady government agency the ASA played a major role in Black Lightning‘s first season, and if you enjoyed that element of the show, you will want to check out Chase. Written by Dan Curtis Johnson and illustrated by J.H. Williams III, the series focused on Cameron Chase, an agent of the DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) whose job it was to monitor and neutralize metahumans perceived as threats to national security.
Sounds a lot like Gambi, huh?
‘Fantastic Four’
Yes, we’re suggesting a Marvel comic in relationship to a DC show, but just go with us.
Family is central to Black Lightning. From the very first episode, the series made it clear that family was important not just to Jefferson Pierce, but to his mission as well. The season finale drove that home as it took the whole Pierce family to defeat Martin Proctor and if you’re looking for a comic run that is focused on family, you can’t do any better than Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo’s run on Fantastic Four.
‘Justice Society of America Vol 3’ #12
Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McCLain) came into her own in the season finale with many viewers wondering if they witnessed the beginning Jennifer stepping up and taking on her DC Comics role as the hero Lightning. If Jennifer really is headed towards becoming Lightning in Season Two, why not check out the character’s debut? The issue sees Mister Terrific, Cyclone, and Stargirl pay Black Lightning a visit where he introduces the heroes to his daughter, Jennifer. As Jennifer is struggling to control her abilities, the Justice Society of America agree to take her help her learn to control her powers.
‘The Janus Directive’
It turns out that Proctor wasn’t really working under the orders of the ASA and everything came apart when Black Lightning and his family showed up to finally put a stop to his experimentation on the children of Freeland.
In comics, the ASA disbanded after their team of super-agents, called the Force of July, were killed in a battle between the US government and the Janus Directive. To get an idea of how that went down, we’re suggesting the eleven-part crossover series called “The Janus Directive”. The crossover storyline ran through Checkmate! #15-18, Suicide Squad #28-30, Manhunter #14, Firestorm #86, and Captain Atom.
‘Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands’
No, Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands has nothing to do with the television series. Jefferson Pierce is younger here, doesn’t have children, and Tobias Whale isn’t an albino. What the miniseries does have, though, is that it confronts various social issues just like the television show does.
The series is also written by Tony Isabella, the writer who created Black Lighting along with artist Trevor Von Eeden back in 1977. Isabella told ComicBook.com earlier this year that seeing the show come to life has been amazing.
“It feels amazing [to see the show come to life],” he said. “Every casting choice has been brilliant. I see these cahracters and I see a lot of my own work in this show, but so much more than 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.”
Isabella has also said he’d like to write an episode of the show, so checking out his most recent work with the character might not be a bad idea.
Black Lightning has been renewed for a second season on The CW.
Do you have any comics suggestions you think we missed? Let us know in the comments!
