Back in April of 1977, DC Comics debuted its first major African-American superhero with the first issue of Black Lightning, featuring the aforementioned superhero created by the team of Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden. In order to celebrate the characters 40th anniversary and the upcoming television show on the CW, this iconic team, alongside artist Clayton Henry (Harbinger) will release a new miniseries entitled Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands.
The miniseries will feature an all new adventure for Jefferson Pierce (aka Black Lightning) that will have him returning to an earlier point in his life. The series will take place with a 28-year old Pierce living a life as a teacher before he undergoes many of the adventures that fans have read about over the years since the character’s creation. As a prequel of sorts, the main omission in this series will be the fact that Pierce isn’t married and doesn’t have any children at this point in his life (in contrast to the upcoming television series).
Although it would appear that Pierce lives an uneventful life, that is certainly not the case and trouble is coming his way. Black Lightning will have to square off with a younger version of long-time villain in Tobias White, a character that dates back to the first issue of Black Lightning in the 1970’s. Although this version of White will not be albino as was the case with the original character, he will still be African American and fans can expect him to be as ruthless and as powerful as they remember the character to be.
With Cleveland, Ohio (Isabella’s hometown) being the setting for their confrontation, fans can expect a story just a little outside the norm but steeped in gritty realism. Without being placed in a more traditional setting like Metropolis or Gotham, readers can look forward to Isabella drawing on his life experiences of growing up in Ohio to really drive the realism of the story and hopefully offer the setting as an integral part of the story.
If you are looking for some preview shots of the series, you can look below for a sneak peek:
These images already look fantastic and the reunion of the original creative team of Isabella and Von Eeden should give fans exactly what they are looking for!
For more information, visit the press release on the DC Comics website by clicking here.
Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands releases on November 1st, 2017
