I’ve said before that DC is woefully non-brutha-friendly, but with the help of Tony Isabella, they came correct with his creation of DC’s first Black superhero — Black Lightning.

Jefferson Pierce, (a.k.a. Black Lightning), is an accomplished olympic athlete, scholar, and teacher. Burdened by the death of a student, Pierce sets out to bring down the 100’s — a crime syndicate operating in Metropolis. Disguised as Black Lightning, Pierce delves out justice and lets every cat on the street know that lightning can strike twice!

Tony Isabella was right on time with his writing on Black Lightning, delivering a solid vibe that didn’t jive 100% with the normal blaxploitation hustle & flow of the 70’s. Pierce is educated, but fronts with a street demeanor so that his enemies can’t get down with his true identity. He works in the streets, but, he’s not of the streets.

There is some legitimacy to the format behind Black Lightning that I can get down with on a personal level — sometimes you have to rock the mask in order to deal with the man. Just as true today as it was back then. Isabella didn’t choke you on the notion, however, his awareness is evident. There are 13 issues to this run of Black Lightning, and you better believe I’ll play it like Pokemon and catch ‘em all!!!

Luke Cage is OG in every sense of the word. When issue number one of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire touched down, I guarantee no one could conceive exactly how gangsta MARVEL was about to bring it! This story is raw and takes the Black superhero to a whole other format.

Forget the fact that his origins were your typical blaxploitation format of Black man turned criminal, forget the fact that he was a solid candidate for a Tuskegee type hustle while in prison, and forget the fact that his best man did him dirty over a woman…

Actually, you know what? Remember ALL that and you just might get it regarding this original flavor formation of one of the livest Black superheroes, ever. The original get money hustler comes on strong as the first true Black superhero. There’s no shuck-n-jivin’ here. My man Michael who owns Comicazi layed issue #1 on me as a gift, and it’s best addition to my Dark Stars collection so far!

Get down with the Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol.1, too! Sweet Christmas!, it’s on & crackin’. Bahlactus has spoken.

Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC appearances as they are added to my collection.