I’m Not Expecting Much From FOX’s Black Lightning

Fox is supposed to be launching a New Black Lightning series.

Based on who’s involved I’m expecting a Fail beyond Epic.

The new Black Lightning show is being produced by Berlanti Productions and Mara Brock Akil. A Black Feminist and a White man are producing a show about a Black male superhero.

Yeah, this is gonna turn out well. 

Consider the track record of Mara Brock Akil, creator of misandristic Black man hating shows like The Game and Girlfriends. The examples of Black masculinity on her shows leave much to be desired. Almost every Black male character is presented negatively on her shows and the “good” Black Male Characters like William Dent on Girlfriends and are completely emasculated and have no backbone or testicles.

Then consider the track record of Greg Berlanti on Black male superheroes. Bumbling stumbling Gay Mr. Terrific. James Olson, Guardian of the Freindzone. And Asexual Firestorm.  Not to mention Chuck Clayton the Black Brute who lies gives White girls “sticky maples” on Riverdale.

And that Chuck Clayton episode was written by a Black woman.

Damn. Just Damn.  

Combine these two working on a Black superhero show and what can we expect? A complete and utter disaster.

If you thought Batman V. Superman was shit on a plate, Black Lightning will be gonna be Turd McNuggets on a platter.

One of the major rules of writing is Writing what you know. And a Black feminist and a White man know NOTHING about what it means to be a Black man in America. So any adaptation of a Black superhero from them is going to come out shallow, half-done and one-dimensional. If, Mr. Terrific can go from a badass in the comics to a bumbling stumbling idiot, and Chuck Clayton can go from a friendly artist to a Black Brute in the hands of Greg Berlanti’s writers, I shudder to think of what we’ll get in his adaptation of Black Lightning with Maya Brock Akil. 

On a Black Lightning show DC and Warner Brothers need a talented Black man like the late great Dwayne McDuffie running things. It’s only from a Black male perspective that we’re going to get a balanced picture of Black manhood and Black masculinity a show like Black Lightning would need.

Want to know why Static Shock was so well received? Because a Black man wrote and produced it. The Late great Dwayne McDuffie dealt with issues from a Black male perspective he gave us a Virgil Hawkins onscreen that was balanced picture of Black masculinity and Black manhood. It’s doubtful we’d get the episode where Virgil ran from the cops, and the episode where they had to deal with Ritchie’s racist father from a White man or a Black woman, because they wouldn’t understand what those issues were to Black boys or Black men.

Want to know why Netfilix’s Luke Cage is so great? Because a Black man produced it. Luke Cage focused on many of the little things that related to Black manhood and Black masculinity. It’s those little things that made the first season of Cage a CLASSIC and led to the show becoming Must See TV on Netflix.

Based on who’s running the show right now I’m not expecting much from Black Lightning. I’m expecting another shoddy adaptation of one of a DC Comics superhero property from Berlanti Productions and I’m expecting poorly written stories in the vein of Arrow 2.5-5. Black Lighting needs Black male writers and producers who know the source material. Neither Greg Berlanti or Mara Brock Akil know anything about creating compelling Black male superheroes, they have a proven track record of failure regarding them.