Tony Isabella's 1977 creation, Black Lightning (one of the first significant African-American superheroes at DC) has never quite gotten the prominence I wish he had. Perhaps it's, in retrospect, because he ended up being sort of a social justice warrior (in a very preachy era), or because he was an adult family man / educator in his background, or because the comics world even in the late 70s wasn't quite ready for a solo black hero (he came out right about the time that Luke Cage had to change to a team-up book with Iron Fist), or because in later times people felt uncomfortable about calling him out as a black person (even though that was meant as a badge of pride when he started).
Still, he's had a lot of interesting run in his career, and even served as Secretary of Education under the Lex Luthor presidency (something I doubt we'll see in the TV series). It will be interesting to see if the new Fox show actually takes a more adult character with a family, and how he fits into whatever universe Berlanti decides to make over on the Fox network.
More background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lightning
‘Black Lightning’ DC Superhero Series In Works From Greg Berlanti, Mara Brock Akil & Salim Akil
EXCLUSIVE: In a pairing that resembles a superhero team-up, I have learned that Greg Berlanti, king of the CW’s DC universe, has partnered with The Game and Being Mary Jane creator Mara Brock…
Is he supposed to be a static shock version?
+Bikergirl120 Rider Static first appeared in 1993, 16 years after Black Lightning. Static was created by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie.
There is supposedly a live-action Static Shock production in the works (Jaden Smith has been cast into it), but I don't see any info on it more recent than than a year-plus ago.
+Dave Hill wow I didn't know that. Thank you 🙂
Ok