Sunday, January 12, 2014

Black Lightning and Daredevil in "Whale Watch!"



Black Lightning has had a lot of different costumes over the years, but in my opinion he never looked better than he did in the mini-series Black Lightning: Year One.  Cully Hamner made a few very smart tweaks to Jefferson Pierce's classic costume and gave him a new hairstyle, resulting in a look that has a modern sensibility while respecting the past.  It's too bad that DC didn't stick with it.




8 comments:

Isaac said...

Truly a "Whale" of a tale to be told here. Would love if this were an actual crossover, but those days are over.

Bob Greenwade said...

There are a lot of great things that DC has gone back on. The idea of having a modern sensibility while respecting the past is something that they did for a long while (the Silver Age in particular) but have lost sight of.

One of my all-time favorites was Wonder Woman's redesigned costume -- the one with the leather jacket. I could tell right away that this was Wonder Woman, but not the Golden Age or Silver Age characters -- she was a Wonder Woman for the modern age. I'd love to see that costume on the site here, Ross!

As for today's cover, this is definitely one of your better efforts. It almost looks like it could have been drawn as a unit, and even though the two characters are very different they also have very similar sensibilities -- I can almost imagine an Amalgam version combining them into Lightning Devil!

Dr. OTR said...

Is it just me, or is the perspective off? Normally Ross does a bang-up job mixing these different images. But Daredevil, despite being behind Black Lightning is much larger. If Jefferson took two steps back he'd only come up to Murdock's ribs!

Ross said...

It works if you consider that BL's right leg is bent.

besides, this is the Earth-STF Black Lightning, so it all makes sense. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

pblfsda said...

@Dr. OTR: Assuming that you're reading this on a PC or laptop and not a handheld device, place a ruler on your computer screen. Start measuring from the characters' belt buckles to the tops of their heads. Black Lightning looks slightly taller than Daredevil, appropriately since he's in the foreground.

The illusion that it's the reverse is due to their leg placement, as Ross said.

Anonymous said...

Awesome depiction! As a fan of all those "mistaken identity" slugfests between Spidey and Daredevil, how about a conjectural team up where Dr. Doom uses Ovoid transmigration to swap bodies with Matt Murdock (as the Man Without Fear chosen to replace Abin Sur, rather than HJ)? Prompting Murdock to seek the help of...X-O Manowar!

Anonymous said...

I can see it, now. X-O Manowar standing in between GL and Doc Doom. With the latter proclaiming:

"Aric! That Green Lantern is _not_ the real Matt Murdock. I AM!"

Anonymous said...

I'm kind of surprised that The Man Without Fear hasn't been found by a Green Lantern ring yet.

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