Ok, this is something I've never tried before, but . . I've got all 3 issues here in my stack so I thought . . . what the heck. Let's read them all at the same time. The only problem is, I'm not going to know how the story ends because we still have 1 issue to go. Oh well. It doesn't hurt to try something new. Although I think the hardest part is going to be trying to get this posting to actually come out looking right in the blog post. I'm having a problem with the pictures. But . . . we'll see. As it turns out . . . the hardest part I had was with a little something that Jen Van Meter does with here stories. She does this thing with the books where she has a different character narrate their own story on top of what's happening with Black Lightning. In issue #3 it's Frank Tanner. Ultimately the issue is about him, but in the beginning it's hard to tell who it is necessarily that's narrating. Frank is Jeff's ally and confidant, even helping to design his suit. But we learn that part of that participation is out of guilt. It seems that when Jeff's dad was killed, Frank was involved with setting him up in the right place . . at the wrong time. The Hundred was into him and forced him to decide between his friend Alvin . . . and his kids. He knew that Alvin would gladly sacrifice himself before his kids,
so . . . that's what he did. This issue, Jefferson learns of that betrayal from none other than the Hundred himself. Issue #4 is narrated by none other than this Hundred character. At the end of issue #3 we learned that the Hundred was actually this centuries old character whom in trying to find eternal life became a form of emotional vampire. He and his colleagues learned that they could tap into the strengths of the people that lived on the lands that they owned. But this Hundred character soon found out that their emotions provided better feeding. Especially the stronger more intense emotions . . fear, guilt, remorse, pain . . which is why the Hundred, under the guise of Tobais Whale's legal firm, has bought up all the land on the Southside. It and it's inhabitants all belong to him. This is basically what issue #4 is all about . . filling us in on this Hundred's background. Which, I guess, is why he serves as the narrator this issue. He insists . . "I, too, was a man with good intentions . . once. A mere man. Now, I am something else . . . suffering cannot be alleviated. It is the human animal's natural state. They seek it like water finding it's level. Even their finest . . are drawn to it eventually . . . as was I, as he shall be." It appears that the Hundred is trying to mold Jefferson into something that suits him . . . literally. Finally, in issue #5, our narrator is this new Police Detective, Bill Henderson. He's one of
the good cops that's still left on the Southside and he's watching Black Lightning to see if he's the real deal. When the Hundred threatens everybody at a track meet Jefferson's school is holding, it's up to Black Lightning and a few good cops to pull everyone's fat out of the fire. The Hundred, and Tobias Whale, are hoping that Black Lightning will show up and in the confusion of their illusionary spell, somehow he'll end up getting hurt. At the very least, he'll watch those around him . . those important to him . . be put in harms way because of his association to them. Which is what the Hundred feeds off of. However, by now, Black Lightning is become and important piece of urban legend to this community. He's begun to give them something to hope for. Instead of blaming him for their circumstances, they come running to his side in support and admiration. They love what he's doing . . what he's attempting to do. This leaves the Hundred depleted, and he dissipates as Superman approaches. Overall, I thought it was an ok couple of issues. Like I said, I didn't particularly like the way Jen had the narration set up, but . . it was still a decent origin story. The part that's really surprised me though is Cully Hamner's pencils. I'm not a huge fan, but I do like what he's doing with this series. I'm not sure why his style has changed for this one, but I like the finished product more than previous efforts. So there's just 1 more issue to go. I think this is a decent introduction for people who might not know the character.
Ok, this is something I've never tried before, but . . I've got all 3 issues here in my stack so I thought . . . what the heck. Let's read them all at the same time. The only problem is, I'm not going to know how the story ends because we still have 1 issue to go. Oh well. It doesn't hurt to try something new. Although I think the hardest part is going to be trying to get this posting to actually come out looking right in the blog post. I'm having a problem with the pictures. But . . . we'll see. As it turns out . . . the hardest part I had was with a little something that Jen Van Meter does with here stories. She does this thing with the books where she has a different character narrate their own story on top of what's happening with Black Lightning. In issue #3 it's Frank Tanner. Ultimately the issue is about him, but in the beginning it's hard to tell who it is necessarily that's narrating. Frank is Jeff's ally and confidant, even helping to design his suit. But we learn that part of that participation is out of guilt. It seems that when Jeff's dad was killed, Frank was involved with setting him up in the right place . . at the wrong time. The Hundred was into him and forced him to decide between his friend Alvin . . . and his kids. He knew that Alvin would gladly sacrifice himself before his kids, 
so . . . that's what he did. This issue, Jefferson learns of that betrayal from none other than the Hundred himself. Issue #4 is narrated by none other than this Hundred character. At the end of issue #3 we learned that the Hundred was actually this centuries old character whom in trying to find eternal life became a form of emotional vampire. He and his colleagues learned that they could tap into the strengths of the people that lived on the lands that they owned. But this Hundred character soon found out that their emotions provided better feeding. Especially the stronger more intense emotions . . fear, guilt, remorse, pain . . which is why the Hundred, under the guise of Tobais Whale's legal firm, has bought up all the land on the Southside. It and it's inhabitants all belong to him. This is basically what issue #4 is all about . . filling us in on this Hundred's background. Which, I guess, is why he serves as the narrator this issue. He insists . . "I, too, was a man with good intentions . . once. A mere man. Now, I am something else . . . suffering cannot be alleviated. It is the human animal's natural state. They seek it like water finding it's level. Even their finest . . are drawn to it eventually . . . as was I, as he shall be." It appears that the Hundred is trying to mold Jefferson into something that suits him . . . literally. Finally, in issue #5, our narrator is this new Police Detective, Bill Henderson. He's one of 
the good cops that's still left on the Southside and he's watching Black Lightning to see if he's the real deal. When the Hundred threatens everybody at a track meet Jefferson's school is holding, it's up to Black Lightning and a few good cops to pull everyone's fat out of the fire. The Hundred, and Tobias Whale, are hoping that Black Lightning will show up and in the confusion of their illusionary spell, somehow he'll end up getting hurt. At the very least, he'll watch those around him . . those important to him . . be put in harms way because of his association to them. Which is what the Hundred feeds off of. However, by now, Black Lightning is become and important piece of urban legend to this community. He's begun to give them something to hope for. Instead of blaming him for their circumstances, they come running to his side in support and admiration. They love what he's doing . . what he's attempting to do. This leaves the Hundred depleted, and he dissipates as Superman approaches. Overall, I thought it was an ok couple of issues. Like I said, I didn't particularly like the way Jen had the narration set up, but . . it was still a decent origin story. The part that's really surprised me though is Cully Hamner's pencils. I'm not a huge fan, but I do like what he's doing with this series. I'm not sure why his style has changed for this one, but I like the finished product more than previous efforts. So there's just 1 more issue to go. I think this is a decent introduction for people who might not know the character. 
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