Static Shock

STATIC SHOCK (2000-2004) was such a great series. I have great fond memories watching it growing up. While in some ways it was pretty typical in terms of hero stories, there's still a lot of entertainment value. Static Shock is still a very cool show and certainly worth watching.

"In the city of Dakota, a teenage boy, Virgil Hawkins, with electricity based powers, with the help of his inventive friend, fights crime as a superhero."

Not sure if there was any "blaxpoitation" going on, as some have previously said or just early attempts of representation, but either way this Superhero series was a really cool show, and one of the earlier series that had a black superhero lead characters (Blade, Spawn, Storm, Bishop, Black Panther etc.), especially in a time when there were very few of them. So that should count for something. Static Shock was a fun show, regardless of race and definitely worth notice. It shouldn't have been cancelled.

Next to justice League and Young Justice, this is one of few great DC animated shows that have been made in the last 15 years. I won't go into detail about how well the writing in this show is whether I'm talking about the theme of an episode, or the actual dialogue, but man oh man this is awesome. I remember watching this show when I was younger (only 16 now) but this was a cartoon that I only got to "sometimes" watch. The feeling I got when it aired was something I haven't felt from a show in a while. This show basically covers all things such as racism, finding yourself, and even simpler things as accomplishing a goal. Only of shows were made like this now a days... sadly there are no DC animated shows anymore and it breaks my heart. PROPS TO STATIC SHOCK.

I first saw Static Shock several years ago on the Kids WB! morning schedule.

This program is honestly one of the smartest and funniest on children's television today. Virgil Hawkins is a teenaged superhero who is given powers in "the Big Bang," a chemical sort of explosion. With the help of his friend Richie, he turns himself into Static Shock. Static fights the "Bang Babies" who go crazy and steal or hurt others.

One of the best things about this show is how real life topics such as school shootings and gangs are easily worked into the plot without feeling fake. The stories feel relatable. Other topics include racism, judging by appearance, the loss of a family member, and more. Virgil and Richie make the best friends duo work without coming across as cheesy or unreal, and they both deal with the problems they face maturely.

The only bad thing about the show is how guest stars are not well worked into the script. The only exception of this was Shaq. The guest stars take some getting used to, and sometimes distract from the rest of the show, but they usually don't feel too out of place. One of the most amusing things is when Virgil and Richie talk about superheroes and get starstruck. At least the show is believable, and highly recommended.

I'm pleased that you all like the show. I love "Static Shock". It is indeed (or at least was) one of the better toons on TV. Though every now and then, it appears to go a little over-board with the whole racism awareness biz, the show was definitely an anchor point for individuals who felt that they were not equally represented in the pool of superheroes that we know of today.

However, I must bring forth the fact that Static is not a new character. He isn't the first African – American superhero either. In fact, his character was taken from an earlier DC character named Black Steel.

Also, FYI… Green Lantern, Cyborg, BumbleBee, Herald and HotSpot are all African American – in addition to Static.

But I agree with all of you – Bring Static back! Induct him into the Justice League – as a matter of fact, BRING BACK THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!!!

Virgil Hawkins (Phil LaMarr) is a high schooler from Dakota City. Virgil lost has paramedic mother to stray gunfire from gang violence some years back and lives with his widowed father Robert (Kevin Michael Richardson) a social worker who runs the Freeman Community Center, and older sister Sharon (Michele Morgan) who attends college and volunteers at the community center. When Virgil stands up against bully Francis "F-Stop" Stone (Danny Cooksey), the fight goes poorly until a rival gang of F-Stop's protects Virgil but soon demands Virgil's loyalty in return. After being pressured to attend Virgil is brought to the docks where a fight among Dakota's gangs is happening, but the police firing tear gas causes a chain reaction that leads to an explosion of volatile chemicals and gasses, in what becomes known as the Big Bang, that start to mutate everyone at the docks into super powered beings known as "Bang Babies" including Virgil. When Virgil awakens the next morning, he discovers he has developed powers to manipulate electricity and magnetic fields and with his best friend and confidant Richie Foley (Jason Marsden) Virgil becomes the hero Static.

Created in 1993 by Milestone Media, a coalition of African-American writers and artists Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle, the character was the second longest running Milestone comic behind Hardware. Following the cancelled development of an X-Men esque series called The New Guard the team, which consisted of veterans involved in both Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series were assigned to work on adapting the Milestone character Static. While the comic's initial creative team had no direct involvement in the development of the series, series/character co-creator Dwayne McDuffie would be hired on eventually as a story editor and writer on the show in a capacity he'd serve to the series' conclusion. The show became a staple of Kids WB throughout the early '00s and reignited interest in both Static and associated Milestone Media characters. The show also lead Dwayne McDuffie to work on other animated series such as Justice League and Justice League Unlimited as well as the Teen Tians cartoon series and Ben 10: Alien Force. Static Shock has a few rough spots as you'd expect from a gritty early 90s comic retrofitted for Saturday Morning television, but in terms of creating a memorable hero and engaging world Static Shock succeeded.

As with the comic book upon which it was based, Static Shock takes a lot of influence from Stan Lee's Spider-Man. Much like Peter Parker, Virgil Hawkins is a typical teenager still finding his way in the world. There are some key differences such as the loss of a family member serving as a motivating force and despite Virgil's dead mother the show doesn't copy the "Uncle Ben" framework regarding it and its purpose is a more subtle motivation rather than the overt "With great power comes great responsibility" guiding phrase of the Spider-Man books. The show, especially during its first two seasons, tackles issues related to gang violence, bullying, racism/bigotry, mental illness and even homelessness. The strongest episodes of the show are where Virgil/Static comes across a supervillain or even a regular person who's tied to some real world societal failure with haunting episodes like bullying/school shooting episode "Jimmy", Homelessness/Mental Illness episode "Frozen Out", Racism/Bigotry episode "Sons of the Fathers", and even episodes about stalkers like "Now You See Him...". Static Shock when it addressed these issues did so in a way that was relatable and approachable to its target audience without ever feeling pandering or condescending. Yes episodes like Jimmy had a fourth wall breaking epilogue directly addressing the audience, but when you approach a topic like school shootings on a show aimed at children it kind of goes without saying you need something like that, even when adult shows like American Crime tackled this subject the episode was intercut with testimonials from survivors of the Columbine Massacre. Despite showing a willingness to tackle "real" subject matter, Static Shock still allows itself to be fun and enjoyable as well. With a varied assortment of rogues for Static to square off against, the show has plenty of opportunities for action and adventure, and even allows for some metanarratives to play in the background such as Rubberband Man's character arc from villain to hero, meta human She-Bang trying to escape her past, or billionaire Edwin Alva trying to rectify wrongs between him and his son. The show also features entertaining exchanges between Virgil/Static and his best friend and eventually partner Richie with Phil LaMarr and Jason Marsden exhibiting solid chemistry.

And then there's those "growing pains" I mentioned. Over the course of the show's run Static Shock had a tendency to do a large number of cross-overs and celebrity guest spots from seasons 2 through 4. While on occasion they were reasonably unintrusive with guest spots from AJ McLean or Lil Romeo working somewhat in context with the established music industry scene as it relates to Rubberband Man's career as musical artist Adam Evans, some of the cameos felt pretty forced such as the episode Static Shaq where Shaquille O'Neal comes to the Freeman Community Center for a charity event or the season four episode Hoop Squad which features NBA players Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Karl Malone, and Tracy McGrady as a superhero team taking down a mad scientist named Dr. Odium. Admittedly these episodes are corny and pretty harmless and from what I've heard the writing staff only did them because The WB forced these premises on the team and they had fun recording with the guest celebrities so I glad about that, but it is the type of thing the screams "executive notes". I also felt the show got a bit more crossover crazy with other DCAU shows with Static crossing over with Batman: TAS 3 times (technically 2 and a half), Justice League twice (three counting the Green Lantern episode), Superman: TAS once, and Batman Beyond once. While there is a novelty to seeing Static crossover with other DC Superhero shows you know and love, the seasons only being 11-15 episodes long felt like this was taking away from time that could've been spent building characters established in Static's universe rather than fighting the spillover from other series.

Static Shock stumbles a few times, but when you're trying to do a show like this without much of an established supporting framework you're not going to begin with the smoothest stride. The show features strong superhero action as well as addressing of real world topics in a way that feels well thought out. The show did have a tendency to get a bit bogged down in DC crossovers as well as celebrity appearances that didn't feel all that well integrated, but outside of those relatively minor hiccups Static Shock was and remains a good show and its late showrunner Dwayne McDuffie has left an endearing legacy and character behind that helped expand the superhero landscape.