Yes, I'm still livid about the cancellation of the Static Shock comic (although, admittedly it was bad, but you can't blame it on Static. Blame it on poor editorial direction at DC!), but I want to know from you people, is Black Lightning a character that can carry a title? I think he might be able to. He has a family. What else should be done in order to sustain a title? I recommend moving him out of Metropolis, but what else can be done?
Black Lightning comic! Could it work?
@Twentyfive said:
Yes, I'm still livid about the cancellation of the Static Shock comic (although, admittedly it was bad), but I want to know from you people, is Black Lightning a character that can carry a title? I think he might be able to. He has a family. What else should be done in order to sustain a title? I reccomend moving him out of Metropolis, but what else can be done?
Yeah he could, I've always said no character is incapable of success.
@AtPhantom: Interesting setup. His wife actually did divorce him pre-new 52, but I would retcon it to have her as a major character too. And by your description, I'd also have one of his students discover s/he was a metahuman. Would be interesting.
They wouldn't let it run past twelve issues! Black characters have a hard time getting the support they deserve when they are in their own series, plus it's more important to keep the 7 Batman titles going along with 4 Superman titles plus a team up title between the two.
@evilvegeta74: You know, that's very interesting, what you said (not to mention, very true). It is very puzzling to me because we have a character that is black who is also a bat character lol. So I guess the Bat beats Black in that regard, as I see no end to Batwing in sight.
But in all seriousness, I must agree with you. And I guess part of that problem is that nobody wants to read books featuring those characters.
This is just me ranting here. I was stoked when DC said they were going to do brand new things, and give characters like Static some publicity, only to see some months later that that statement wouldn't hold. They cancelled that and began another Bat title like he needs one more. If you think about it, we have three solo Batman books, two Batman and Robin books, and a total of twelve books under the Batman name. That means almost one in four new 52 books that a DC faithful picks up is a Batman brand book. Also, I could've sworn that DC said they're going to do one universe, yet there are two books about a second Earth. I guess old habits die hard at DC.
Anyway, I'm just waiting for DC to eventually cancel Voodoo, and Batwing before I lose confidence in them, and confirm to myself that DC is a company that is unwilling to evolve in their storytelling, and is unable to take themselves seriously in their own claims of wanting to diversify their comics.
Yeah, we will never see Icon, Static, Black Lightining , or Blue Marvel, Luke cage,GL John Stewart, they are too powerful, and if you're as strong as Superman or in the range of the Hulk or Thor you will not be represented well in comics.
@evilvegeta74: Thank you for your understanding. It is a shame that everything you said was the truth. I remember reading that DC canceled their book Green Lantern: Mosaic, which starred John Stewart abruptly. In that comic, his powers were either elevated, or were about to be elevated to the point that he was the strongest GL. But that title met the axe after 18 or so issues. As a comic fan, this is very disheartening to me.
@Twentyfive: I think the real question is less about whether the character can sustain a title and more about when the character can sustain a title.
Unfortunately, the character has hit a touch of lull for the moment and I fear that if they attempted to launch him in a regular series it would fall as flat as Static did...
The character needs to return to attention in another form, as he did during the (relatively) recent popularity swing afforded by his membership in the Meltzer JLA... even then, mini-series sales were not fantastic, but it came just a touch out of sync from the fan wave... again, its all about timing.
I would certainly entertain buying one, but it would take a really great hook for them to be able to sell it cold turkey without that wave of fandom behind it...
And that isn't due to the character being black or not a Bat... fact is, the reason why we have so many Bat books is because they pulsed it right that people were riding a Bat-high... people wanted it. They'll eventually fade out and then back in again (historically this happens pretty frequently)... what they've got to be able to do is watch the pulse of what is exciting fans in the off moments... and they can't do that by just spray firing at everything... Red Tornado is similarly a character that could not support a title... that character earned a ton of fan support at the same time as Jefferson during the JLA run, but because they delayed for some time before putting out a Tornado mini, it ended up tanking far lower than the potential afforded at the peak moment.
Timing, and a decent hook.
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