Black Summer is a comic book limited series written by Warren Ellis, illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp, and published by Avatar Press starting in June 2007.
The plot revolves around the consequences of a superhero, John Horus, who kills the President of the United States and several of his advisers after discovering them to be war criminals.
[2] Black Summer is regarded as the first series in Warren Ellis's Avatar-published "Superhuman Trilogy" dealing with the creation of superheroes.
"[3] The Seven Guns, led by scientist-inventor Tom Noir, are a posthuman superhero team who have made a reputation for opposing corrupt political institutions.
John Horus, the strongest member of the team, assassinates the President of the United States for his allegedly criminal policies, telling the nation that he was the only person in a position to stop him.
Horus, having repelled attacks from fighter jets and a nuclear missile, threatens to destroy the country in retaliation for Tom's death.
Frank Blacksmith is given approval to unleash his covert "Tactical Stream" of super soldiers, which engage the Guns at their old base.
Zoe, Kathryn and Angela have managed to dispose of their assailants and witness the mushroom cloud explosion of the attack on John.
As the smoke clears a prerecorded message, one which Tom Noir had set to broadcast while waiting for the meeting ("waiting here to kill my oldest friend"), airs over every radio in the country, giving Tom's version of events, exonerating (as much as possible) the surviving Guns and promising, as the book ends, to elaborate on Frank Blacksmith's story and give comprehensive evidence of unspecified "war crimes committed by our government."
The eyes have shown the capacity to withstand several nuclear payloads, and Tom Noir says that Horus "could build cities out of mud" with his enhancements.
He dresses in white clothes that resemble an officer's outfit from the US Civil War, but with Masonic symbols, or Eye of Ra sigils.
Dominic possesses various implants allowing him to remotely control the team's computer equipment in addition to the baseline augmentations.
With help from Tom Noir, she created and installed cybernetic eye implants to project the information onto her field of vision.
He is able to see directly into any target with surgical precision through outer layers of clothing, weapons, devices, as well as bones and internal organs.
His Gun, Inquiry, also follows in this motif, alluding to Holmes's inquisitive mind, and fitting of Watson's role as the "brains" of the group.
More than a year ago, Tom lost part of his left leg below the knee in the explosion that killed Laura Tarrant.
Unlike the other team members Laura does not appear even in flashbacks, and there is no description of her enhancements, save that early in the story Dominic mentions that the sheer power of her gun, which Noir has in fact hidden in her grave, scares even him.