The original Black Lightning character was the first African American D.C. character to get his own self-titled comic series, and first appeared in Black Lightning No. 1 in April, 1977. Over 40 years later, this iconic title has been brought to television by director/producer/writer Salim Akil, whose resumé very much speaks to his experience working on successful “black” shows (Being Mary Jane, The Game, Girlfriends, etc.).
The comic book backstory and the one from the show vary slightly from one another but are still fairly simple. In the comic, Jefferson Pierce was born with the ability to generate and manipulate electricity. Additionally, he was an Olympic-level athlete and expert martial artist so, after the death of his father at the hands of The 100, a dangerous and powerful local gang (not to be confused with the CW show of the same name), Jeff left his hometown, having opted instead to become a gold-medal winning decathlete. Some other things happened, then tragedy struck and he returned to his hometown where he tried to better his community not with his powers but as the principal of his former high school. Although his less physical methods do have a huge positive impact they prove to not be enough, and eventually he is reeled back into a life of one-on-one crime fighting.