By the time I finished reading Black Lightning #5, I felt a mix of adoration and frustration. The former feeling comes from how Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio have been delivering what feels like a truly fresh take on Jefferson Pierce and his family. The latter is due to the fact that this is billed as the end of the series, setting up a plot thread that will be continued in The Power Company: Recharged.
I’d rather it continues in the pages of Black Lightning, because Thomas is doing a phenomenal job with the character dynamics. No matter the situation, he puts the bonds between the Pierce family at the center of his story. Black Lightning is overwhelmed by the Sons of Liberty? Lightning is there to point him in the right direction of the faces that need to be punched. Thunder’s new powers are malfunctioning? Her girlfriend Grace shows up to emotionally support her. Thunder also shows she inhereited more than superpowers from her father when she manages to talk Batman into getting her to help her father; the list of people who can sway Batman’s unbreakable will is a very small list, but Thomas sells that moment for all it’s worth.
I also remain a massive fan of Fico Ossio’s artwork. The man can draw a splash page like no one else; a two-pager features Thunder dropping from the heavens, sending the Sons of Liberty flying with a massive burst of energy. The way the page lights up with golden energy thanks to colorist Ulises Arreola is magnificent, and it’s not the only time he and Ossio bring blockbuster energy to their artwork. A confrontation between the House of Lightning and the Masters of Disaster results in fire, wind, water and lightning hurled with pinpoint precision, capping off with another massive splash page of Thunder flying at the reader, fist cocked. It’s this kind of work that deserves to be in a monthly book.
DC Comics
To its credit, Black Lightning #5 manages to wrap up its ongoing plot points. The Sons of Liberty’s true mastermind is revealed, Lightning and Thunder form a new team, and there’s another major plot development with Jefferson that is screaming to be explored in future comics. Most of the time when a series ends, there’s one or two plot threads left dangling, and a creator is lucky if anyone gets to explore them.
But it feels like the book was just hitting its stride, and for it to be cut short after five issues eats at me. This comic is proof that Black Lightning can be just as compelling as Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman; any character can be an “A-lister” in the right hands. Thomas and Ossio were those right hands, so I pray they get to return to Black Lightning in the future (and the end credits do tease that there’s more in store for Jefferson so I could get my wish.) Black Lightning #5 is the end of what’s been a spectacular series, and though future adventures have been promised to Jefferson Pierce, I can’t help but feel that this series was only getting started.
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