Created by writer Jenny Blake Isabella (who writes under the names Tony Isabella and Jenny Blake) and artist Trevor Von Eeden, Jefferson Pierce made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977). This Afro-American schoolteacher from the crime-ridden Suicide Slum area of Metropolis gained electrical superpowers and started fighting crimes under the name Black Lightning as a response by DC Comics to the success of Marvel’s Luke Cage.

This didn’t work exactly as DC envisioned it, as financial difficulties put a quick end to the title, but Black Lightning survived and started to appear in other series and fight crimes as part of a team.

Originally, Tony Isabella had been tasked to retool a series called The Black Bomber with a strange and disturbingly bad premise that the writer described as DC’s first black superhero being a white bigot. He didn’t want to touch that and convinced DC to change the story. To draw the new title, the company recruited a young prodigy. Trevor Von Eeden was only 16 when he was offered the job–at the time, though, Von Eeden didn’t know if he got the job for his talent or because he was black.

Through the years, Jefferson Pierce’s origin story evolved. His powers first came from a technologically advanced power belt, and the schoolteacher also had an Olympic athlete background. He needed something like that because his powers were not the result of a mutation or a science experiment. This didn’t stay that way as it was later revealed that the character possesses a latent metagene.

At first, Black Lightning fought criminals in his neighborhood, especially the members of the criminal organization called The 100. His stories often addressed social issues head-on, from urban crime and gang violence to racial injustice. Black Lightning is not your typical superhero, he’s also a father–and his two daughters also became superheroes, Thunder and Lightning. Pierce is certainly a team player, and he worked alongside Batman as a founding member of the Outsiders superhero team.

In 2018, Black Lightning was adapted into a live-action television series on The CW, starring Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce. The show ran for four seasons and also introduced his daughters, Anissa and Jennifer, as Thunder and Lightning, further expanding the Pierce family legacy.

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