Snatched up today DC Comics’ The New 52 Static Shock comic that came out last Wednesday. Static is my favorite super hero, yeah he’s obscure and his home company Milestone media is now defunct, plus his father Dwayne McDuffie passed earlier this year (RIP Dwayne), Static is my favorite hero and I’ve been tracking his reintegration 9no pun intended) into the DCU for a while now.SYNOPSIS:
Pretty much thanks to Final Crisis a few years ago and now Flash Point, Static is back and ready for new adventures. Static, aka Virgil Ovid Hawkins has been relocated from the city of Dakota to New York City for an unspecified reason. In addition to his family, including a new baby sister, he’s got a new close bond with the original Milestone hero Hardware. Hardware now acts as Static’s mentor and has set him up with an internship at S.T.A.R. Labs, a new disc and uniform. He’s about to tackle a new set of villains starting off with the mysterious Slate Gang.
MY TAKE:
I like the look of ther cover. Yeah I judge books by their literal covers so sue me. Static’s costume keeps getting better and I like the minimal look and the throwback to his iconic onesie from the 90s LOL. And that jacket will always be slick. I do miss the baseball cap though… I just miss it really. The new disc is cool but that hole in the middle is … I get how idk the hole makes it look “smaller” o_O … man idk but I wish it was filled up. But I think the thing is the hole makes it look “lighter” if that makes sense but I think my common sense says just fill it beccasue its distracting. It does however add new style, in the comic name, and in watching this renewed Static in action. He’s got more physical personality in 2011 I guess and so I overall like this new design.
I do like that the character lived in NY, his personality and style fit the setting and he’s got a big ego and personality often times so it just fits.
I read a review before buying this comic and I agree with it, the book seems kinda wordy and full of exposition. New beginnings are often like that, maybe they could’ve began with more visual and less dialogue, maybe watching Static in the city flying around, maybe even thinking more [only] about his past life; maybe running into a villain, maybe not. You know just pondering his new life, maybe they could’ve done that.
But when I think back, Static did think and explain the uses of his powers often times and he still does that here.
Hardware. He sounds different. more accomodating than he used to in his own book back in the day, he’s not as gruff and I miss that [in his dialogue]. I like him setting up Virgil’s new Static persona and outfitting it with new gear and links to Hardware’s tech. His connecting Static will be fun to watch with new resources and such but I wonder how much the character will still be able to learn on his own. Honestly that was some of the appeal of the character, him figuring out stuff on his own and the humorous ways he’d mess up; but never mess up too bad I don’t remember.
Hardware’s watching over Static does make the comic feel somwhat like Batman Beyond… and I like that. Just as Terry was coached by an aging Bruce Wayne, Hardware coaches Static. Hardwear even uplinks holo-stats to Static as he flies on his disc which looks awesome. The two living in different cities adds an interesting dynamic so far, like Static is a source or an operative planted in a a foreign environment and Hardware is back at HQ feeding him intel. They have to trust each other from a distance versus how Terry and Bruce could easily meet up in the Batcave.
I’m gonna need to meet Virgil’s new friends sappy-A.S.A.P. though! One thing the character had back in the day were close friends and lots of laughs and drama - real drama. I mostly miss Frieda, especially since in the milestone Media denuemont Milestone Forever, in the future she and Virgil got married and started a family. She and Virgil were on again off again sort of as teens but she knew his secret and always covered for him and was just a warm friend to him. i’m wondering if Virgil skyping or communicating with Rick, Larry Wade, Chuck, Felix, or Daisy but that’s assuming any of them exist in this New 52 continuity; but i especially hope that Frieda does ^_^ But any new friends they introduce will be great becasue Virgil is a people-person and needs friends to ground him and laugh with like a realy kid his age, even if its just a few. So heres hoping for a great supporting cast maybe in the vein of Spider-Man or Invincible.
ULTIMATELY:
The first issue ends on a cliffhanger as Static is ambushed by the Slate Gang’s enforcer, Virule. I wanna stick with the book just to see how it turns out. It’s great to see Static again but i’m nrevouse about the DC reboot/relaunch/revamp. It’s a very unstable endeavor to me or maybe just because of certain characters I’m afriad won’t be recieved well, including Static. I’m actually still collecting the issues from the 90s so this is all nostaligia for me but my hope is the new writers will retro fit comfortably Static’s legacy into this new chapter in the character’s life. Hopefully Scott McDaniel and John Rozum can hit readers and fans with new compelling stories and characters and shot at a new life between comic pages. My fingures are crossed.
Still it’s great to see you again, Static ^_^
EL FIN
No comments:
Post a Comment