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Another week another CW show to pay close attention to. Seriously, as much as I love the expanding CWniverse I’m going to have start dedicating this entire blog to following their vast exploits now they’ve added a 5th show to the lineup. If you’re unfamiliar with the new series it’s called Black Lightning and revolves around Jefferson Pierce, a teacher, and father with electrical powers and a tendency to take on the establishment.
Jefferson’s had a long and storied carrier in the comics from early solo comics to being a core part of the Batman team The Outsiders to his role as Secretary of Education for President Luthor all the way to being a member of the Justice League of America. Given that lengthy time I’ve decided to celebrate his new series with a bit of a cross-section of Black Lightning’s work with a look back at the top 10 comic covers, he’s starred in.
10.
As I said, Black Lightning’s had quite the history of clashing with the authorities in comics and this cover may be the purest extrapolation of that. Overall I’m not really as big a fan of the modern era of comic covers but this one does a good job with a sense of promise and scale without feeling overly reliant on past iconography. Any hero fighting the cops is a pretty clear statement of purpose for the comic but Black Lightning specifically doing it adds a racial dynamic to it that I especially like, though I’m not entirely clear how he’s up as high as he is in this picture.
The riot cop gear is a nice addition as it helps the authorities look more menacing and totalitarian and the deep blue hue that informs the entire cover helps the electric arcs from Jefferson’s hands pop a lot more. It creates a nice 4-level divide to the cover with the yellow and red of the title and subtitle creating a top and bottom to the scene that is then split between Black Lightning and the cops collapsing beneath him.
9.
So this is what Black Lightning used to look like when he first premiered, in case you only know him from the TV show. Fun fact actually: his hair is part of his mask here as part of masking his identity involved wearing a ridiculous false afro, later on, he’d just take to shaving his head. That chalk-white Kingpin-looking bad guy he’s tussling with is Tobias Whale, his most common antagonist and closest thing Lightning has to an archenemy. Tobias is actually supposed to be an albino black man though that doesn’t totally come across here or in most comics because coloring skin tone was a difficult task for most of the medium’s history.
The big reason I chose this cover to spotlight was the great use of energy symbols. You’ve got that crackling aura around Jefferson himself that looks cool and is complemented by the explosion lines in the background. It all creates a sense of big movement, a genuine clash of forces that gives the cover real energy. This is nicely accentuated by the logo featuring that swooping lightning bolt design: everywhere you look on this page something is in fluid motion.
8.
As you can probably tell the comics have never really settled on a definitive costume for Black Lightning, this being the 3rd version of his suit to appear in the list so far. I’m not really sure why that is aside from a weird tendency to reinvent the character with each successive decade. In this case, Black Lightning was re-worked in the ‘90s to act as one of DC’s many answers to Dwayne McDuffie’s successful black-centric superhero line Milestone Comics, hence the new costume and grungier, rougher artwork (this is very reminiscent of Milestone’s Blood Syndicate comic.)
Personally, this is my favorite costume for the character and, much like last time, I really love the energy work and logo design here. The crackling lightning around him has the real look of electricity and the street art graffiti look of the logo speaks to the more grounded version we were meant to be getting here. Finally, that pop of red on the costume and brick behind the logo is a great addition color to the cover that helps balance things.
7.
An unofficial rule of comics is that if your comic book features a Batman appearance you HAVE to use a Night/Knight pun for the story, that’s just how it is. In any event, this is probably the best of the energy designs I’ve yet showcased with a real Lichtenstein figure look to the energy as it branches off Pierce yet still maintaining a weirdly unnatural appearance to it like it isn’t quite the same as lightning from the sky. I also really dig the symbolism of Batman standing in judgment over Black Lightning, who himself has his arms stretched out in a crucifixion pose.
It’s subtle but it adds to the mythic eeriness of the visual- see also the decision to have Jefferson shirtless and out of costume, again drawing those Christ parallels. As you can see the logo has defaulted back to the stylized lightning bolt designs which makes a bit more sense, the brick backed graffiti is a good design but difficult to maintain when a cover needs more room like this one does thanks to Batman’s pointy ears. Finally, I really love the gradient color of the lightning starting out white as it comes off Jefferson’s body before sliding into a deep red as it drifts towards the edges, it helps guide the eye in what could be a really cluttered image.
6.
I admit, I’m kind of a sucker for covers that feature reflection gimmicks but even so, this is a really striking image. The visual design of titular Butcher of Broadstrip is obviously inspired by S&M with the gimp mask, though the metal looking plate over his mouth adds an extra layer of DIY serial killer menace. Full face covers like this can be difficult to do well but there’s a real menace to this guy thanks to his hateful eyes, deeps shading, and really good color work. The blacks and blues of his main body never bleed into each other and the soft purple of the background sets up the logo to pop nicely overhead.
The only real bring down is the reflection of the blade on the left which is decidedly cluttered. I have no idea who Black Lightning’s two anonymous chums are in that image but suffice to say they never proved important enough to return after this series was canceled and based on my limited look at their design here it’s pretty easy to see why. Still, we get a nice energy crackle in Jefferson’s knife reflection with a good pop of yellow added to the silver even as the other knife’s colors are a bit too muddled to fully segment the cover.
5.
Back to the Bronze Age with this cover, as evidenced by the clean lines and crisp yet muted colors- also speech balloons, those are pretty rare outside the ‘70s which makes them all the more valuable. That was still an age when you had covers trying to trade on extreme shock value, even while accepting readers probably weren’t falling for whatever trick of the week they were pulling. In this case, not even Superman is totally convinced Jimmy Olsen is actually dead in this issue. What I really like about this cover though is the scale and perspective. Putting Superman so close to the POV is a great way to keep this as Black Lightning’s comic while also clearly telling readers the big red S is in this.
What’s more the red of his cape serves as a nice backing color to the logo and it creates a neat kind of border to the main image, which has a lot more color variety to it. I’m not totally sure why the sky is a bright yellow here but that kind of background shading tended to happen in the Silver and Bronze Age, my best guess is that a bluer sky would’ve too easily bled into Black Lightning and Superman’s blue costumes, which is a fine excuse given the rest of the detail on display here.
4.
Another modern era cover and a good example of how color uniformity can still create a great cover. In this case, pretty much all the color on this page is filtered through the rose hue of the lighting created by the stained glass but it gives it a unique and moody vibe. It has the feeling of a twilight setting that I like, especially with the visible sunbeams streaming through the stained glass behind the two boys. It’s a much subtler sense of movement than previous covers but still does a good job guiding the eye from bottom to top.
You start with the two boys and follow upward to see their weird gun, which is handily pointed right at the cover’s caption explaining it. By that point, it’d almost be easy to completely miss Black Lightning and Tobias Whale hidden in the stained glass window but the proximity of Tobias’ face to the text helps avoid that. They even manage to mute the electric blue of Black Lightning’s outfit to keep things feeling uniform, though I do wish he were as large as Tobias on the glass to give a greater sense of symmetry to the background.
3.
Here’s another single color cover, this time going damn near monochrome if you don’t count the red of the text. This is easily the best of the ‘90s Black Lighting covers, largely because it’s the clearest as it ditches some of the grungier color work that held back other covers I didn’t bother showcasing. The black and white of the visual here creates a ghostly mood that’s only enhanced by the plethora of skeletons on display here. I like that it’s unclear if the skeletons are falling on Pierce or somehow alive, all we know is that he’s in extreme distress over their presence: which is pretty fair.
I like that even in this moment he’s still got the glowing electricity in his eyes, it makes him look all the more otherworldly and bizarre even as he’s beset on all sides by human remains. The background gradient also creates the vibe of a wall or pit that makes the whole thing even more macabre and like unto a mass grave. Finally, that use of red in the caption text and logo backing is a very creepy pop to the final product that definitely evokes blood and horror.
2.
This cover features easily the best use of color in the entire list and not just because it’s doing silhouettes. Silhouettes, in general, are a mixed bag for covers as they can easily end up feeling cheap and lazy but not here, this look absolutely sells the visual design at hand. Overall the cover feels like a callback to some of the ones I’ve previously showcased: the expanding movement lines around the core of the image create a sense of energy that the crackling lightning backs up nicely and the blue color work for the lightning is a great new direction.
You’ve still got the primary colors from the ‘90s comic only now with the red background and the black silhouette to create a real neutral backdrop for Black Lightning to pop on. Finally, I really like how they’ve left his blue, yellow, and white costume elements colored in, it helps identify the lightning arches on his clothes as the defining aspect of his visual design. It’s also a really clever conceit to make his hands turn electric blue as well when he’s using his powers.
1.
Like I said previously, speech balloons elevate almost any cover by their presence and this cover was already a knockout before taking them into account. It starts with the point of view angle, with the camera positioned slightly below Jefferson helping him to not exactly LOOM over us but he’s definitely standing taller than any previous cover. The arrangement of the view makes it look like he’s filling up the whole sky, which is befitting of a guy named “lightning.” Then you’ve got him copying that great “I Want You” Uncle Sam poster design complete with speech bubbles, that’s a really clever way to speak to Lightning’s greatest powers as a community organizer.
Lastly, we have him backed up by the community he’s working with to really sell the image. The color is also incredibly well balanced with the orange/red gradient of the background making his blue costume all the more vibrant. We even get a nice splash of the electric blue on his hand as it crackles with energy, creating a nice binary between his left hand holding his superpower to wield lightning and his right hand the more human power to inspire others to action.
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