[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Tony Isabella
Artists: Clayton Henry
Summary
A deadly shooting. Two kids orphaned and on the run…with one of the alien super-weapons Tobias Whale is putting on the streets of Cleveland. Black Lightning must find them before tragedy strikes again. Because they are being hunted by police who consider them armed and dangerous…and by the murderous terrorist White Thunder!
Positives
We get a civilian view of how it is to be on the ground when a villain wreaks havoc, something that was satirized in the tv show, Powerless. We also get a dramatization of a police shooting of an unarmed civilian, and everything that follows a tragedy, which Tony Isabella and Clayton Henry dramatize in a scarily accurate fashion.
This book is very relevant to what is going on in the news, to how the relationship between the black community and the police have rotted everywhere and especially in cities like Cleveland where Black Lightning lives, where he even mentions Tamir Rice.
Lastly, this storyline of these two boys with this alien gun becomes sociopolitical in a way most comic books rarely do, as it holds up a mirror to how even children of color can be seen as public enemies.
Negatives
None, as this book is both relevant and entertaining.
Verdict
Buy, as this book elevates its quality each issue. Between Isabella’s storytelling to Henry’s art, and the intermingling of relevant issues, this has become my favorite book at DC.
