30 Days of Comics, Day 7: Static Shock #1

Similar to Swamp Thing, Static Shock is another property I didn’t realize belonged to DC for quite a while. I was a casual viewer of the Saturday Morning cartoon but it showed up around a time in my life when I wasn’t really getting up early on Saturdays to watch cartoons. I don’t really know much about Static outside of the character’s basic origins so this seems like a good enough position to approach the character for the relaunch.

We join our hero, self-proclaimed teenage uber-genius, Virgil Hawkins, in his superhero guise as Static. He’s in the sky over New York City in hot pursuit of Sunspot, a thief who’s hijacked an experimental plasma suit designed to explore hazardous environments. Sunspot is making a mess of things, bringing down buildings and prompting Static to use some fast thinking to ensure no citizens are harmed during the fight.

Static tries to use his electrical powers to restrain Sunspot, but the plasma energy is too powerful to be restrained. Static finally manages to create a plasma lasso from ionized gas particles and uses it to drag Sunspot away while he plans his next move.

Don't know if it really works that way but... sounds good!

Static decides to try and short out Sunspot’s suit by generating a big enough charge so he flies him into the Queensboro Bridge. The bridge acts as a giant conductor and overloads Sunspot’s suit. I would imagine civil engineers would insulate bridges like this to prevent just such a thing from happening, but Static’s the uber-genius and not me. Static checks on the thief and reassures him and the people of New York that everything is all right, but the citizens are less enthused about Static’s methods.
The thief is even less enthused, proclaiming that he needs to get away now or he’s going to die. Static restrains him and demands to know what’s going on. Sure enough, Static and the thief are shot at by what look like green lasers but are apparently some kind of disc shaped projectiles; the thief is killed on the spot, but Static’s E.M. field protects him from the shots.

Static tries to trail the bullets but is unable to find their source. We can then see a group of Power Rangers on hover bikes were recording the incident and they flee the scene.

Rangers, fall back!

Static confers with Hardware, who seems to be his boss, who congratulates him on the good work. Static feels he just made a mess of things and should go back to assist the police with the case. Hardware reassures him that the police will just try to arrest him again and that the best thing would be to just go home to his family.

Meanwhile, a meeting of New York’s super villain underground is taking place under the authority of Piranha. He and his associates are furious that their attempt to steal and sell the Plasma Suit technology was foiled. It seems that New York has been free of bothersome superheroes for quite a while now and Piranha demands to know who this new guy is.

Wait, why is there some punk in a Joker costume just hanging out?

We see the power rangers from earlier and learn that they’re known as the Slate Gang; they explain to Piranha that Static is a superhero formerly from Dakota. The footage from the incident reveals that Static talked to the thief before he was shot; the criminals don’t know if he squealed so they decide that killing Static might be a worthwhile investment. They order the Slate Gang to do it using their secret weapon: Virule.
We’re now taken to Harlem where Virgil shares some screen time with his family. Virgil tries to convince his father to let him get his drivers’ license since he’s the only teenager in his class without one. His father points out that they live in New York City and that a car would be too expensive, much less the cost of insuring Virgil. With the conversation settled, Virgil heads to school.

After school, Virgil heads to Wright Tools, where his secret headquarters is located. He calls up Hardware for tonight’s plans before changing into costume. Hardware tells him that he’s prepared a gift for Static, and tells him to be over Lower Manhattan in 15 minutes. Static does as he’s told and finds that Hardware’s given him an upgraded… that blue holographic looking interface thing Static always uses.

This is awesome I guess?

Static appreciates the gift but things take a downwards turn as Static is seen through the sniper scope of Virule. The Slate Gang take up ground positions to retrieve Static and give the order. Virule takes the shot which proceeds to slice off Static’s arm and destroy his transport. Our comic ends on this cliffhanger with the teaser for next months issue: Disarmed!
I have to say that while this issue was enjoyable I felt incredibly lost reading it. For the most part, they do a good job of setting up our protagonist and where he is now, but there’s not much mention of how he got there. I’m also largely in the dark about his relationship with Hardware which also makes the significance of his gift completely lost on me. The extent of Static’s powers is also something of a mystery to me since I always thought he could just generate electricity. I do like how Static gets a lot of mileage out of his power and his thought process in coming up with plans is enjoyable to see.

The art work is a little hit or miss for me; I genuinely like this stylized, iconic look, but there are a few panels where the quality seems a little inconsistent and lazy at times. That being said, these are minor issues and probably won’t matter to most readers, especially if you’re more familiar with the characters than I am. I’m not enthusiastic about this one, but I’ll probably check out a few more issues before I decide whether or not to follow it.

Be sure to come back tomorrow; we’re taking on Animal Man #1.