When it comes to my current writing style, many shows have managed to serve as my influence. But I would be lying if I said that the animation piece that had the most impact on my life would undoubtedly be the DC Animated Universe. Often named the Timmverse and vice versa, this term mainly involves the era of syndicated shows from Batman the Animated Series to Justice League Unlimited from 1992 to 2006. Across these fourteen years, we were treated to not only some of the greatest pieces of superhero animation in the modern era but some of the greatest animated series of all time. And while there are many reasons why this is the case, I'm not here to discuss that. Because I think that the show I'm about to shock you with shows my favorite part of the DCAU, its ability to take risks very well. So in honor of its recent return on HBO Max, the 10th anniversary of Dwayne McDuffie's death, news of a possible movie on the rise and black history month, I want to dedicate myself to the show that will leave a shock to your system: Static Shock.
Context
So before I can talk about the show, let's talk about the man behind the show. Dwayne McDuffie was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan; he attended and graduated from the Roeper School, a school for gifted children in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1980. He would later go on to work on writing and editing for various comics. However, after writing for both Marvel and Dc, Dwayne would later confound the short-lived Milestone Media. This comic book universe and company was made by Dwayne, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle to represent various minorities and sexualities. From this, we were greeted by various African American superheroes like Hardware and Icon. However, the most popular of these superheroes had to be Static.
Eventually, Milestone Media fell out of business and was absorbed into the DC universe. Dwayne McDuffie became a head writer for many Dc animated projects like Justice League, All-Star Superman, and more. His Static ideas were later picked up to form the series we know today, which aired on the Kids WB from 2000 to 2004. Unfortunately, Dwayne's masterful career was cut short due to complications in a heart surgery. Though his legacy has remains strong to this day.
Summary
Enter the Dakota city, a location filled with a wide web of gang violence and illegal business. Trapped in the middle of this web is 14-year-old Virgil Hawkins, a kid who's used to getting pushed around considering his mother died to this same violence. To escape getting stepped on Virgil's big mouth, unfortunately, lands him in the position to entertain the idea of joining a local gang to prevent further torment from his bully F-Stop. However, once he realized that this prevention involved a huge showdown at the docks with every other gang in town, Virgil quickly tried to get out of dodge. However, it was already too late, as the massive shootout caused illegal tanks of experimental mutagenic gas owned by Alva Industries to rupture. This event, later known as the Big Bang, would later cause hundreds of people to be changed into superhumans known as Bang Babies. Virgil returns home with strange electromagnetic powers and a host of other bang babies that want to bring the city to its knees. Noticing this, Virgil would later realize that he can finally put his money where his mouth is and become Dakota's superhero Static!
Cast
While it is truly hard to grasp Dwayne McDuffie's style, I do think that the man seemingly had a natural way of deconstructing yet humanizing every character he's touched. And that is no different here in Static Shock. Our main character Virgil Hawkins for the most part remains somewhat static (pun intended) for most of the series as a Spiderman-like character (take that Miles Morales). He is often witty, talkative, boastful, doubtful, and a bit of a nerd. However, this could be seen as a mask to cover up the pain he still feels over losing his mother at such a young age. At his core, Virgil genuinely is a person who seeks to use his powers to the fullest to help his community any way he can and would rather save both friend and foe alike. Static is also a lot smarter than he seems; most electrokinesis in media is your standard zapping, technology control, and weakness to rubber and water. However, Static from day one has effectively been a human cd player, house phone, flashlight, electromagnet, and a taser, to name a few.
Outside of that, there is also his best friend Richie, who often shares much of Virgil's traits but does display a lot more supportive and chill attitude compared to him. He also eventually becomes a partner to Virgil in the form of his supergenius persona Gear. Outside of that, the main cast includes Sharon Virgil's temperamental but well-meaning sister, Pop's his strict, wise, and well-meaning father, who helps his community center every chance he gets as a social worker. Daisy, Virgil's maybe loved interest from another school, and Frieda, the popular head of the school newspaper.
Finally, we have Static's various enemies. One of the best aspects of this show, in my opinion, was the way the world revolved around Bang Babies. When I was watching the Flash, something that always messed me over was how the show seemingly treated the concept of metahumans like it was this normal thing, with the story rarely focused on how it affects society. In comparison, Static Shock mainly focuses on how despite the continual chaos surrounding Dakota, the real victims are the Bang Babies themselves. Most of Static's rogue's gallery is one time misunderstood teens who, more often than not, are innocent souls who've had to let one event dictate their entire life tragically.
Outside of that Static,'s main bad guys include his archenemy and old temperamental bully Hotstreak and various others like Ebon, the villainous gang leader of the Meta Breed. But outside of BangBabies, we also have Edward Alva, the corrupt businessman who owned the gas that created the Big Bang. Overall for a show with a largely original villain roster, Static is far more solid than most.
Presentation
Out of all the DCAU shows Static was easily the one that had the most changes. For the most part, Static's first season had a very realized digital art style with a detailed background and saturated colors. Dakota itself, for much of the first seasons, was a city filled with influences from cities like Detroit and Chicago, with many abandoned locations filled with gang members, graffiti, and everything in between. However, over time, the series adopted a cleaner and more consistent art style in seasons 3 and 4. This was often shown off with the rather darker color palette and sleeker redesigns. However, I don't care because Static, ever since his comic debut, has honestly gotten some of the best suits in comics.
Finally, to add to the, series, Static Shock probably has the unique soundtrack out of the DCAU. To appeal further to its location and roots, we treated to a variety of uncredited Hip hop, rap, and RNB tracks (Richard Wolfe is responsible for the music, but it's not him all the time). Honestly, most of these tracks are hit or miss, but it does gi,v,e the show its flair when certain tracks get repeated.
Overview
The best way to describe Static is the two eras. Season's 1 and 2, for the most part, are more your traditional superhero story, with most of the drama coming from Virgil having to balance his two lives. However, the latter half of the series quickly focuses more on Static's side of the story, focusing on superhero action and threats outside of the Big Bang. Other than that, this pretty much remains your standard villain of the week light-hearted superhero show. Seeing how the show finds multiple ways of bringing the Big Bang to the focus is honestly entertaining as we get privy to corporate conspiracies, illegal experimentation, possible cures, further mutation, and multiple episodes of meta-human gangs being established. It makes the world fresh and interesting while also giving good allegories to runaway teens and gang violence in real life.
However, despite this beginning, a superhero kid show, Static wasn't afraid to get real. While it's delivered a few clunky episodes like Frozen Out, Jimmy and Sons of the Fathers tried to acknowledge issues like bullying, school shooting, homelessness and even racism. Like I said before, it wasn't always the best handling of these subjects, but I still would like to give it applause. Shows like Supergirl have just made me appreciate even more about how well Static could at the very least give awareness to these issues in half the time while still giving an engaging story that doesn't feel too much like it's coming from a biased perspective. There was real heart and underlying themes in this show, and that shouldn't go unnoticed as they are timeless.
What isn't timeless is the crossovers and celebrity appearance jam-packed into the series. I get that they were all the rage back in the time but my god, this show overdid it. Most of Static's crossovers are fine but between the pop culture references and appearances of Little Romeo, Shaq when he was still a Laker and the Backstreet Boys, the accessibility quickly tanks. Still, that's largely my biggest complaint, and it's not even a big one.
Epilogue
Honestly, for what this show could've been and where it came from, I would say that Static Shock, over 20 years later, is one of the most inventive superheroes shows ever made. While I can't personally speak for Dwayne, I do think that this show, for all of its changes, held up to the original vision of Milestone Media. It sought to give representation to a young minority in need of it while also being a fun show that tackled issues that will remain relevant far after it's ended. Just like how I believe Dwayne's legacy on comics and animation will remain for another ten years after his death for all people of all races. I just hope I can take the inspiration that he has shown me as I also get another year older. But overall, for those willing I highly recommend Static Shock a watch. It'll put a shock on your system.