Black Lighting #11

Black Lightning #11 (October 1978) 
title: "The Rise and Fall of The Ray!"
writer/co-plotter: Roger McKenzie

penciller/co-plotter: John Fuller
inker: Bob Wiacek
letterer: Shelly Leferman
colorist: Mario Sen
editor: Jack C. Harris
letter column: Tony Isabella
cover: Rich Buckler & Vince Colletta

Order of Appearance: The Ray is the only Freedom Fighter to appear in this story. 

Guest Stars:  None

Supporting Characters: None

Opponents:
None (mention of Quake Master and Killer Moth)

Overall Summary: 
The Ray revives after almost being beaten to death, and then must help put out a chemical fire on Gotham Bay!  

Plot Summary:

The Ray wakes up in Metropolis after a humiliating defeat at the hands of Quake Master and Killer Moth. He isn't sure how long he has been unconscious, and his first thought is to track down his Freedom Fighter friends. Then he reconsiders, altering his uniform into street clothes. He wanders the city forlorn. 

Across the bay in Gotham City, a fire has broken out at a chemical processing plant. He is almost hit by a speeding fire engine, so he absorbs fire from an escaping tugboat and flies off to investigate. He realizes that it won't be easy to quit being a super-hero.

The Ray flies into the heart of the fire, stopping some pipelines from combusting. After confronting a cop about his intentions, he rushes off to put out another explosion. He saves a plant worker from being crushed by debris but is crushed himself; or so it seems. He converted himself into energy to save himself. 

As he saves another person, the Ray overhears that if the vat of chemicals explodes everyone in the immediate area will be killed. The Ray flies into the sky and commits to absorbing all of the heat of the fire, successfully putting it out. However, it was too taxing; he absorbed too much energy too quickly, and he splash lands into Gotham Bay, unconscious! 

Review: 

And so, it ends. 

Yes, this is the last in-continuity appearance of any of the Freedom Fighters for five long years. 

As a kid I was not aware that my DC world was crumbling around me. When I got this story, with its references to the Secret Society of Super-Villains, I naturally assumed that that story actually existed somewhere. It was about a year before I realized that it had never been published! 

Eventually I found out that Secret Society of Super-Villains (SSOSV for short) had been cancelled with issue #15, even though the story for #16 had been written, drawn, and lettered. When writer Bob Rozakis found out that SSOSV #16 was slated to be the last issue, he took action. Preferring that the series go out before rather than just after starting a three-part epic, Rozakis convinced editor Jack C. Harris to end the series one issue early. So the beginning chapter of SSOSV #16, which was the prologue to this Ray story, was shelved. And because parts two and three hadn't been completed, they now never would be. 

However, nobody took the time to amend THIS story, so it appeared as it was written, referencing a story that was never published. (Eagle-eyed readers will notice that there is actually no specific reference to the issue where the events prior to this story supposedly take place. I had missed that the first time around.) 

As a child I had no idea any of this was happening, and only wanted my Freedom Fighters' fix. When SSOSV #16 failed to appear, I was devastated. I then looked forward to Black Lighting #12 to find out how the Ray had survived. Of course, that issue, too, failed to ever appear. 

Not only did we never get to see the epic battle between the Freedom Fighters and the Secret Society, but it was never mentioned, either. In 1982 Roy Thomas began to use the Freedom Fighters characters in All Star Squadron, but that series was set in December 1941, a full thirty-some years before this adventure was supposed to have occurred. Then they appeared in a 1982 issue of DC Comics Presents, but instead of continuing this adventure, it was a completely new team-up with Superman. Parenthetically, in that issue's letter column writer Bob Rozakis tells what his plans had been for this storyline; we'll cover that information when we get to that DCCP issue. 

In the meantime, I often wondered why Bob Rozakis hadn't taken over an issue or two of either The Brave & The Bold or DC Comics Presents post- DC Implosion in order to complete this storyline. After all, Batman had met the Freedom Fighters over in the pages of JLA, and both he and Superman had met Uncle Sam at the heroes vs villains baseball game (DC Super-Stars #10). And here we have the Ray nearly drowning in Gotham River, after battling bad guys in Metropolis. It should have been easy to shoe-horn Superman and/or Batman into this story and finally give us a conclusion! 

Alas, it was not to be. Not until 2012 did we get a chance to see for ourselves what was supposed to have happened. But that, as they say, is a story for another time. 

Next week please join us BACK on Earth-X, as we see one of the other Freedom Fighters guest-starring in another DC book! 

The Ray's Best Moment

The Ray is willing to sacrifice himself for a civilian. 

Worst Moment

This inner monologue REALLY lands flat.   

This issue's letter column is all about Black Lightning, with no mention whatsoever about The Ray or the Freedom Fighters. In fact, it's written by Tony Isabella, who had already been replaced by Denny O'Neil by this point, so it was probably an old column written months before....! 

Freedom of Information

• This is the last issue of Black Lighting.  
• As this story has never been reprinted anywhere and is often overlooked in the pantheon of Freedom Fighters appearances, I am reprinting the story in its entirety below. Enjoy! 

Next Week: 

Believe it or not--- Wonder Woman~!