DC COMICS – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Bryan Hill
PENCILS: Denys Cowan
INKS: Bill Sienkiewicz
COLORS: Jeromy Cox
LETTERS: Janice Chiang
EDITOR: Jim Chadwick
COVER: Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz with Jeromy Cox
VARIANT COVER: Chris Cross with Gabe Eltaeb
48pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (July 2018)
Rated “T” for “Teen”
Black Lightning created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden
“Revenge of the God Fist”
Black Lightning is a DC Comics superhero. Created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, the character first appeared in the comic book, Black Lightning #1 (cover dated: April 1977). Black Lightning is the civilian, Jefferson Pierce, an African-American school teacher who originally obtains electrical or lightning-based power via technology. [His origin has since been changed.] Black Lightning was DC Comics third African-American character, and the first one to star in his own comic book series.
“Hong Kong Phooey” was a half-hour, Saturday morning animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It was broadcast on ABC from September 7, 1974, to December 21, 1974. The main character was Hong Kong Phooey, an anthropomorphic dog character who fought crime as a martial-arts hero. He had a secret identity, a clumsy and mild-mannered janitor named Penrod “Henry” Pooch also known as “Penry.” Hong Kong Phooey and Penry had a pet/sidekick, a striped cat named “Spot,” who was sly and talented.
DC Comics has been re-imagining Hanna-Barbera characters in ongoing comic book series, miniseries, and one-shots and specials since early 2016. Black Lightning and a re-imagined Hong Kong Phooey are united in the one-shot comic book, Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special. It is written by Bryan Hill; drawn by Denys Cowan (pencils) and Bill Sienkiewicz (inks); colored by Jeromy Cox; and lettered by Janice Chiang.
Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1 (“Revenge of the God Fist”) opens in Metropolis in the year 1976. Here, we find Black Lightning getting beaten up by the supervillain team-up of Professor Presto, Bronze Tiger, and Cheshire. [Professor Preston a.k.a. “The Malevolent Magician” was a villain that appeared in the original “Hong Kong Phooey” TV series.]
Later, Black Lightning's civilian alter-ego, Jefferson Pierce, is summoned by an old acquaintance, Penry. When he returned from Vietnam, Penry, the kung fu master who is an anthropomorphic dog, opened his own inner city detective agency. Penry tells Jefferson a tale of the darkest kind of “wushu magic.” Generations ago, a monk bound a demon and forced it to teach him the most powerful wushu technique, “the Way of the God Fist” (or “God Fist” for short). Although he realized how dangerous the God Fist was, the monk did not want it to die with him. So he made a scroll with the secrets of the God Fist written on it, and he divided that scroll into three sections. Penry inherited one third of the scroll.
Presto wants to revive the scroll and already has two sections of it, and now, he makes his move against Penry. Bronze Tiger and Cheshire even attack Rosemary, a friend of Penry's who teaches kung fu. [Rosemary was a character and friend of Penry in the original animated series.] Now, Penry leads Black Lightning and Rosemary in a bid to stop Presto from gaining the God Fist and using it to destroy the world.
I have enjoyed some of DC Comics re-imaginings of classic characters from Hanna-Barber animated TV series from the period of the late 1950s to the 1970s. I really like this re-imagining of “Hong Kong Phooey” via Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1. I credit some of the success of this comic book to writer Bryan Edward Hill. I enjoyed his standalone Miles Morales' Spider-Man Annual #1 (2016). [In fact, I was shocked how much I liked it.]
It is not so much that Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1 features a great story as it is that the story is inventively conceived and executed. I would go so far as to say that this comic book presents the groundwork for what could be a cool Black Lightning comic book miniseries or series, written by Bryan Edward Hill, of course.
I am also a big fan of both pencil artist Denys Cowan and inker Bill Seinkiewicz. Separately, Cowan and Seinkiewicz are great artists; together, they make a cool art team. I like the gritty style they have concocted for this story, which is the perfect visual mood for this 1970s-era kung fu tale. Colorist Jeromy Cox brings some needed brightness to this story, and veteran letterer, Janice Chiang, perfectly paces this story with her smallish lettering and balloons that somehow make an impact without being obtrusive and showy.
BACKUP STORY: The Funky Phantom in “Spectre of the Gun”
STORY: Jeff Parker
ART: Scott Kolins
COLORS: Tony Avina
LETTERS: Janice Chiang
EDITOR: Jim Chadwick
The Funky Phantom was a Saturday morning cartoon that was televised on ABC from September 1971 to September 1972. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, this “Scooby-Doo” knock-off featured three teenagers and their dog who solved mystery with a ghost and his cat. The ghost was an American patriot named Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore who died inside a grandfather clock where he was trapped during the American Revolutionary War.
Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1 contains a backup story, “Spectre of the Gun,” a re-imagining of “The Funky Phantom.” Written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Scott Kolins, this story only uses Jonathan Muddlemore. The story opens at some kind of gun rights slash Second Amendment rally. The grandfather clock containing Muddlemore's skeleton is on stage, and Jason Blood (also known as “The Demon”), summons Mudsy's spirit from the skeleton. So how will this former American rebel, soldier, and patriot react to this new world of modern gun rights? Hilarity ensues.
There is nothing special about Kolins art or Tony Avina's coloring of it. Even Janice Chiang's lettering does not stand out. None of it is bad work; it just is not particularly special.
However, Jeff Parker's story is an excellent bit of satire, and I must commend Parker for the intensity in which he skewers gun rights extremists. His disdain for people who insist that the United States Constitution grants them the right to posses military-style weapons is also admirable and brave. Among comic book fandom is a strain of reactionary and right-wing extremism, sexism, and racism that has been vocal enough to scare some comic book creators and to even get a few creators dismissed from assignments (Chuck Wendig, to name one).
I am a fan of Jeff Parker and have immensely enjoyed quite a bit of his work. “Spectre of the Gun” is the cherry on top of Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey Special #1's chocolate, kung fu ice cream sundae. I wish DC Comics could serve up another sundae of this type.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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