A fine enough retelling of Black Lightning’s early career and his first encounter with Tobias Whale. In some ways I like this over Black Lightning: Year One, where the setting is more grounded and doesn’t have a supernatural component. On the other, Jefferson is missing his familial relationships (his wife and daughters get cameos), and while a lot of complex themes are included like systemic racism and gun violence, they aren’t explored in a meaningful way. In short, Cold Dead Hands is good, just not great.