The following contains major spoilers for Black Lightning #5, on sale now from DC Comics.
Black Lighting is about to reunite one of the most underrated super teams of all time.
Following a near-lethal encounter with both the Sons of Liberty and the Masters of Disaster, the titular hero of Black Lightning #5 is finally ready to take what he knows straight to the source of all these problems — Councilman Jay Harriman. As it turns out, Harriman has been orchestrating and funding much of the hatred and destruction that the Sons of Liberty have been spreading, all to further his political career and agenda. And, while Black Lightning knows that striking out against Harriman on its own won’t be enough to quell the threats at hand, reuniting the Power Company might be just what he needs to push himself over the top of the overtly corrupt competition.
Black Lightning #5
- Written by BRANDON THOMAS
- Art by FICO OSSIO
- Colors by ULISES ARREOLA
- Letters by LUCAS GATTONI
- Main cover art by FICO OSSIO & ULISES ARREOLA
- Variant cover art by TOM RANEY & MICHAEL ATIYEH
Introduced in Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett’s closing story from 2002’s JLA #61, «The Power Principle,» the Power Company was a super team formed more out of personal necessity than any set of unlikely circumstances. When Josiah Power, an acclaimed attorney, had his metahuman abilities emerge in the middle of a courtroom, his legal career was effectively shuttered in an instant. With no personal interest in becoming an otherwise ordinary costumed crime fighter, Josiah assembled his very own team of for-hire superheroes in the form of the Power Company.
In their first incarnation, the Power Company consisted of Bork, Manhunter, Sapphire, Skyrocket, Striker Z, Witchfire, and Josiah Power himself. In the years that followed, the team’s ranks would expand with the additions of Garrison Slate, Silver Shannon, Charlie Lau, and even the Justice League’s own cosmic powerhouse, Ronnie Raymond, aka Firestorm. Despite disbanding not long after it formed, the Power Company has continued to influence the DC Universe of today, with Josiah’s desire to reform the group serving as the crux of Brandon Thomas and Charles Stewart III’s «Company Man» from DC Power: Rise of the Power Company.
Councilman Harriman has been a prominent problem throughout the latest Black Lighting series. A Metropolis politician with a somewhat disturbingly fervent base of supporters, Councilman Harriman has made Amanda Waller’s anti-metahuman mission into his political platform. Since Amanda Waller’s failed war on the world’s heroes throughout DC Comics’ Absolute Power event, Harriman has leaned even harder into the idea that all metahumans are inherently dangerous, destruction, and deadly, all while fomenting mistrust and violence by bankrolling the violent neo-nazi group known as the Sons of Liberty.
Black Lightning #5 is available now from DC Comics.
