The Family That Strikes Back Together — Reviewing ‘Black Lightning’ #4

Parenting is inherently not an easy thing. There is no one-size-fits-all instruction manual or style to employ. Imagine tossing super-powered heroes into that mix.

The “not easy” just became extremely difficult.

That’s where things currently lie for Jefferson Pierce and his family as their penultimate issue heaps up the trouble and mystery. A story further revealed by Brandon Thomas, Fico Ossio, Ulises Arreola, and Lucas Gattoni.

Action is a great and fun thing about superhero comics. What’s even better is the soap opera, character development, and relationship angles of the stories. Thomas understands and delivers that so well in his variety of works across this universe. He really letts characters, chiefly a lot of Black characters, have their big and small moments, allowing them to deal with the highs and lows of life as well as have their positives and flaws along the way.

All of the stuff to do with the council member and the Sons of Liberty is intriguing. Yet, it’s the family stuff with the Pierces and those around them that takes all the attention. As it should.

Every story has to end, but damn I wish this was an ongoing. Everything about the Pierce family is deep, conflicting, introspective, and overall extremely fun. Balancing it with the action and mystery plot seems quite easy from this perspective. It makes every issue feel extremely chock-full of stuff with no moments that feel too lean or meandering.

A rough and lighter touch really works with Ossio and Arreola’s styles.

Sharp edges pair up with softer rounded ones in parts of the artwork, letting the emotions and tone of the story remain clear and focused. Characters move easily through the various panels as the kinetic energy builds up along the way. All of it is boosted by a sense of hefty weight to everything. It makes the story beats — especially the fight scenes — hit with an even harder impact.

Similarly, the color palette comes in with a lot more dark and heavy tonal choices, allowing the lighter and more vibrant beats to drift into play. The palette gives everything a very layered and well-composed aspect. Shadows and darker lines help blend the two differing palettes into one delivery. It might sound odd to say, but there is a toned-down feeling and appearance to these colors, which befits this particular book.

I really like seeing lettering work from Gattoni. It has a similar sense of weight and tonal energy to match what else is on the page. Here it feels light and hefty at the same time. Letting the words shift in style and format to really change how the words are delivered. Giving us the volume and tone very clearly. Bumpy looking bubbles for out of breath words, faded fonts for whispers, or colors tossed in to emphasize specific words/sounds.

All making sure that the voice we create in our head for each character is accurate.

Black Lightning #5 is now available from DC Comics.