Static Shock #1
Written by Scott McDaniel and John Rozum
Art by Scott McDaniel, Jonathan Glapion, Le Beau Underwood, and Guy Major
So, what do you look for in a story? Do you want likable characters? Original plotting? Creative storytelling and use of the medium? Your answers will likely determine whether Static Shock #1 is for you or not. This first issue of this new series sees Static having recently moved to New York City, with a job, regular action as a superhero, a family life, and school. The only real problem, though is that precisely half of that is done well.
The NYC idea is a good one. Dakota is extremely closely tied with recently deceased creator Dwayne McDuffie, and, even so, is rough to both pay homage to the history of and introduce to new readers. DC’s NYC, without the JSA, is essentially without a hero. That allows Static to make a home here comfortably, as does the fact that DC is clearly positioning him as their own Spider-Man, a smart mouthed, genius with real life problems, whose home is likewise in the City. The problem arises from the fact that NYC seems remarkably generic, as if the creators just used it as any old city, without any real personality being given to it. Further, and this is pedantic, the driving age in NYC is 18, not 16, so none of Static’s classmates could have, as he stated, been driving already. It just has a false ring to it and is emblematic of the problems with the city’s personality.
Also lacking personality are both Static’s job and school life. I understand this is just the first issue and it can be tough to include everything, but Static speaks of school and work, yet nothing is actually shown of either. Comics are a visual media and since we’ve already set up Static as an outcast at both locations, there would be far more dramatic tension if we saw him running into trouble there, rather than merely being told. Again, if space were the issue, this should just have been held off until it could be on panel in the book with more subtle foreshadowing.
Static’s family is thus far a bit generic, but two dimensions are fine for an introduction and give us a building point for the family. They’re likable so far, though, and that plays a big role in making Static likeable as well. And make no mistake, Static is likable. His personality is a major drawing point to the series.
Superhero action takes up the majority of the issue and it is very well put together and clear. Static’s powers are very much effective, although perhaps an even looser style would help the, excuse the pun, energy of action scenes. There is nothing really fancy being done art wise, but this is attractive and fitting for a comic that’s aimed at an adolescent market. This feels like it’s of its era, and given there was a popular television show that this stays consistent with, that’s totally fine.
As good as the action was though, the villains were forgettable, cliché and hokey. Ideally we’ll get some more established DCU villains soon because if this is the fare Static remains up against, he’s going to have to be very likable indeed. Indeed, a great deal of this is very obvious young hero set up, with only some creative power usage and good characterization of the protagonist lifting it from a pure cliché.
And that’s ultimately what this book will come down to. Aimed at younger audiences, Static Shock can afford to use some clichés – they’ll be new to the target audience – but given the show aired so long ago, many of its fans are now old enough to want and expect more. Given that John Rozum, the writer, was reportedly stellar on Xombi, and Scott McDaniel is a proven quality artist in collaboration, I fully expect we will, in fact, get more. As of now this is basically your run-of-the-mill young hero set up, with some strong characterization and weak plotting. Let’s split the difference and say 5/10.
