Peter Gambi
67 years ago - Peter Gambi is born, the son of a tailor.
55 years ago - 12-year-old Peter meets his best friend, Alvin Pierce.
48 years ago - 19-year-old Peter takes over his father's tailor shop.
45 years ago - 22-year-old Peter's best friend Avin's son Jefferson Pierce is born.
36 years ago - 29-year-old Peter watches as Alvin investigates real estate developer Victor Swann, putting himself and his family at risk.
31 years ago - 36-year-old Peter is given a choice by Victor Swann and the 100, and to save Alvin's family he gives them his friend's location, leading to his murder. He does his best to help raise Jefferson Pierce, teaching him to suppress and control his metagene.
15 years ago - 52-year-old Peter welcomes Jefferson Pierce back to Southside Metropolis, and helps him become Black Lightning. When Jefferson discovers his part in his father's death, he confronts him. Gambi learns that the 100 would come for Jefferson's family while he is battling Victor Swann, and gives his life to protect them, living long enough to reconcile with Jefferson.
Peter is a pretty well-known part of the story of Black Lightning, mostly thanks to his inclusion in the live-action tv series (played by James Remar, who to me will always be Ajax from the Warriors). He's only appeared in a relatively small number of issues given how important his role is in Jefferson Pierce's story, but in a lot of ways that works for us, because we know exactly what his place is in the story.
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Peter Gambi's Comic HistoryGambi appeared for the first time, along with Jefferson himself, in 1977's Black Lightning #1 by Jenny Isabella. While you might be able to argue that having the first ever black superhero to headline his own book have an old white guy make his technology for him is a little undermining, but in those early issues Black Lightning actually barely used any powers at all. It was much more about his physicality as a two time Olympic medalist, and in fact he didn't start manipulating electricity at all until his second issue. The costume was more of a motif than anything else, and so Gambi really was just a costumer and ally.
Later in that original arc, it was revealed that Gambi is actually was complicit in the death of Jefferson's father Alvin. It's a little lost in a milieu of costumed characters, but when this story was retold in 2009's Black Lightning: Year One by Jen Van Meter, his motivations are much clearer, in that he was given an impossible choice by the 100 to save either Alvin or his family. In both stories, Gambi would go on to sacrifice himself. In the original he jumps in the path of a bullet, but it's so much more moving in the 2009 story, where he stands up to a group of killers sent after Jefferson's wife and kids. |
Our Peter Gambi Story If the Incredibles taught us anything, it's that a character who specializes in superhero costumes is actually very useful. There really isn't anything like this in DC, but Gambi is probably as close as anyone gets, and that would actually be a pretty cool inclusion in our timeline. We probably would have considered ignoring his death and keeping him alive, if his death hadn't been so poingnantly written by Jen Van Meter.
The fact is, Peter's attempt to defend Jefferson's home and family while he is away fighting Victor Swann isn't exactly necessary. No one knows that Talia Al Ghul has put herself in play in Southside Metropolis in an effort to destroy one of her father's rivals. The men sent to kill them will all be swiftly dispatched by one of the most lethal women in the world, but Peter didn't know that. All he knows is that once again, he has to make an impossible choice, this time between a family he loves, and himself. This relationship is so profound as a part of Jefferson's story, and totally worth including. |
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