Black Lightning Premiere Review: 6 Ups And 1 Down From 'The Resurrection'

3. A Family Drama First

Although it comes with a superhero dressing, you could take out the costume and lightning powers and still have an engaging drama. The comic book stuff comes second, at least in this first episode, with the drama around Jefferson Pierce's personal life and the community he lives in coming first.

Pierce, we learn, gave up the superhero business at the request of his now ex-wife. His new life is one where he still works hard to protect people, but in a very different way. Everything he does stems from his desire to protect his family and those at his school, and that's where the more immediate relationships and conflicts come from too.

It mixes this with a crime drama, where we have gang violence and political corruption mixed in, to kickstart a story that's closer in kin (if not quality, at this stage) to something like The Wire than Arrow and The Flash.