Static Shock #3 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel & John Rozum (writers), Scott McDaniel (penciller), Andy Owens (inker), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: Even gangsters can’t resist the allure of electronic gadgets.

The Review: Besides the various diversity issues that all comics publishers have to grapple with, one area the DCU infrequently explores is the urban setting.  By and large, most of our heroes operate out of middle-class suburbia, the gentrified cityscape, or in outright luxury.  Even though the Bat-family fight crime in the worst cesspools of Gotham, they eventually return to rather extravagant abodes, so we don’t really see characters rubbing shoulders with the less-privileged.

So it’s intriguing to think of Virgil not only working his vigilantism in the Big Apple, but also living in the less glamorous parts of the city.  Unfortunately, the first couple issues kept almost strictly on point with the crime-fighting plot—as it should, but it would’ve also been just as entertaining to see Static dealing with his home, school, and work life as well.  That was half the fun of his solo series, both in comics and on television.

This issue has Virgil applying real street sense to get a lead on his current target, the Slate Gang.  Any gang has its leaders and followers, and the facts of life are that the followers tend to be of school age.  Virge uncovered one of these would-be delinquents last issue, and here he smooth-talks his way into Quentin’s favor in the time-honored fashion of all teens: tall tales of extreme exploits (“You rocked at Paris Island, son?  What’d you pack?”  “Snub-nosed revolver.”)

Static Shock #1 – Review

By: Scott McDaniel & John Rozum (writers), Scott McDaniel (penciller), Jonathan Glapion & Le Beau Underwood (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: He’s not just a smart-talking kid who shoots lightning—he also loves physics!

The Review: I may have mentioned before at some point that I’m a fan (not an avid one, but a fan nonetheless) of the Static Shock cartoons.  Having few ethnic superheroes to look up to at the time, I suppose I just glommed onto whichever ones wandered into my awareness, and Static was among the most accessible of those.  I just appreciated that for once, someone other than the white dude—someone young—could be the heroic center of an entire show.

In spite of the anticipation following DC’s assumption of Static and other Milestone characters some years back, the teenaged lightning rod didn’t really show up as much as expected, and made little impact even when he did.  After seeing him get marginalized for so long, it sure is a pleasure to watch him flying around in a solo title again.

Better yet to know this isn’t a drastic reconceptualization of our hero, despite the updated threads and equipment.  Though transplanted into New York City (in Harlem, of course), Virgil comes packaged with his Dakota background and colorful family, and, as his constant communiqués with Hardware shows, he still retains ties to his Milestone fellows, possibly signaling more sightings of them in the future.

For now, we can simply enjoy seeing Static in action, mostly on his own, and delivering his usual potent mix of witty, nerdy, and hapless dialogue, penned by the always dependable Rozum.  Though electric-generating characters (and black ones in particular) come a dime a dozen in comics, Static’s unnatural zeal for science allows him some excellent usages of his powers even in the first few pages, where he uses double positive charges to repel innocents from danger.