Static Shock Volume 1: Supercharged Review

This is static when gear and I aren't fighting

bang babies. We like to listen to the geek cast

radio network You've just jumped inside the pull

bag join TFG one Mike and the rest of the comic

crew here at the GCR n as they make their great

escape into comics from DC Marvel and image to

IDW bloom studios and Xenoscope we have everything

right here. We cover things like transformers

he man superheroes TMNT and radiant black Yeah,

we have all that and so much more. It's all inside

the pull bag here on the Geekcast Radio Network.

So, without further ado, it's time to talk about

the comics we're reading right now, here inside

the pull bag. Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag.

It is the beginning of June. It is hot as hell

for some odd reason out here in the state of

Washington, folks. It's a misconception that

if you just fly into the state of Washington,

it immediately turns cloudy and rains all the

time. It is like 81 degrees and it, ugh. Anyway,

I am of course TF2 and Mike. This is The Pull

Bag, episode 413 .5. Joining me once again. He

joined me in episode 409 for his comic origins

episode. I have mr. Donovan Morgan Grant. Hello,

sir. I Put a shock to your system. Hello. Thank

you for having me back again. Let's Yeah No,

yeah, you do this didn't Ladies and gentlemen,

I really dug some of the new 52 stuff some of

the other new 52 stuff I had not read until recently

and apparently there is or was back in 2012 some

controversy with the title we're going to talk

about tonight and wow I am one of those people

that normally I'm reading this thing and so What

we're talking about is Static Shock Volume 1

Supercharged. Static Shock, the new 52 series,

only got 8 issues and then it got cancelled.

I didn't really know that until you sent me several

different links and things and one of the links

you sent me was from one of the creators or one

of the writers or quote writers that was supposed

to be writing this thing and I didn't know. I

paid attention to a lot of the new 52 stuff,

but like my my attention was Nightwing in Chicago

lovely I love that idea that girl is a you know

psychological comedy character and she you know,

I loved all of that but like I wasn't anywhere

near static at the time when it released so this

is all brand new to me and I'm like I get like

two pages into this and I'm like this was before

you sent me the link you sent me and I'm like

This is static this doesn't feel like static

I Don't know man it just Yeah, loss for words

is like the best way to put it Let me get the

creative out of the way really quick and then

we can start discussing this Sure writers include

Scott McDaniel and Scott McDaniel And John Rosam?

Rosam? I'm sorry, John, I'm not trying to mispronounce

your last name, but... I... And then apparently

on Part 7 and 8, Mark Bernardin. Right. Salma

Daniela did the art. Andy Owens, Jonathan Glapion,

Lebo Underwood were the inkers. Guy Major was

the colorist. Static obviously created by Dwayne

McDuffie Cowan Davis and and Dingle. Yeah, this

is not a Shock to my system. The shock to my

system is how I'm just gonna come out here and

say it folks this I knew normally do not do this

but like I don't know where to go with this because

right now My feelings on this story It's a straight

one out of five I just like, I don't know, like

as I'm going through it, I'm like, okay, he he's

more static than he is Virgil. And he's, you

know, doing his hero thing, but he's in New York,

not Dakota. Why the hell is he like this whole

opening thing in the first issue? I'm like, why

is he fighting villains in New York? Well, let's

back up for a second, because I don't know. What

is your familiarity with static? The cartoon

series. Yeah, the cartoon series, yes. Cartoon

series, gotcha. Mainly the cartoon series. When

Milestone started and when the character was

created and all of that, I was not into comics

at all. Exposure to him was the DC animated universe

cartoon series with Phil Lamar voicing him with

Jason Marsden doing gear and all of that. So

mainly it's the cartoon series. What about yours?

Were you reading milestone stuff when it came

out? No, I would've been too young. I don't even

know I was aware of it. I know I wasn't aware

of it. Yeah, no, I definitely watched the animated

show all throughout its run. Especially in the

last couple of seasons, it became a lot more

heavily integrated into the DC animated universe,

which they paid in kind because Dwayne McDuffie

ended up writing a ton of Just League Unlimited

and Static appeared in there. I read this initially

when it came out. Pretty sure I read every issue.

I know I collected the first few episodes, but

I read until it ended, which wasn't very long.

And a couple of years ago, I did track down and

read every issue of the original Milestone series.

So I do, in 2021, have a much stronger grasp

on Static as a character and its comic history

than I did when this first came out and then

I did it when I first watched the cartoon. Right.

OK. Yeah, I'm basing everything for me of the

character off of what appearances he had not

only in his own series, but as you said, JL,

JLU, you know. And he also appeared in the Teen

Titans like right before the new 52 as well.

Yeah, yeah. I don't just doesn't. It's like certain

writers, no matter who they are, they pick one

side of the character's coin and they go with

that and they forget about like. let's face it,

Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the man. But

sometimes people look at that and be like, oh,

I'm going to write it as it's all Bruce or all

Batman or all, like the whole point of a dual

identity is to write about both sides of the

identity. And this to me just feels like it's

the static show and the moments that Virgil gets,

it doesn't feel like The character I know him

to be Well, what's the what's the what's the?

I'm with you halfway on that What's the disconnect

like what contradicts your familiarity in terms

of like his character? The disconnect is and

I don't remember off top of my head and I'm not

gonna sit here and try to type and look it up

Whatever in the in the cartoon series was his

mom alive or dead? It is his um, his mom was

dead in the show, but that did contradict the

comic or she she was alive and okay so she was

alive in the original comic okay yeah for me

the disconnect is all the family stuff and having

the two sharans and i'm like that was always

a problem i'm like wait a minute why are there

two like there isn't even like an explanation

i don't think in this entire opening of why there

are two sharans like there's no line dialogue

there's no nothing there oh there are two Sharon's

and this is the imposter no she's the imposter

no this no it's mainly the fact that Virgil doesn't

really like they try to put the family life into

this but it falls flat for me I remember reading

this and feeling kids because like when static

reappeared You know for the first time in many

years in Teen Titans that was when Dwayne McDuffie

twisted Dwayne or when Danny Dio twisted Dwayne

McDuffie's arm to have the milestone characters

appear in DC basically for the reason of static

Like he was kind of you know brainwashed and

the Titans saved him and he was returning to

Dakota So there was some there was a sense of

some things missed in between the pages But this

whole like his older sister Sharon in issue one

throughout the entire series is clones So there's

two Sharon's neither would knows which one's

a real one. It's basically the clone saga. Yeah,

and right away That that that leaves the bigger

problem of not reintroducing people on because

I think that like the idea is that like they're

they're Targeting people who are only familiar

with the cartoon while also playing it fast and

loose like later on they do Reestablish his milestone

continuity specifically an issue eight the last

issue like they retell his origin story But it's

like I feel that like issue eight where he's

talking to the psychiatrist and he sees or story

should have been the very first issue Yeah Yeah,

it should have been Because you get like his

origin story like the Big Bang and like, you

know his original costume you get his you know,

they actually count his appearances and Teen

Titans and stuff and like and here it's very

confusing because we're like in media rest with

like the sister and also Oh, they're in New York

now. Oh, he's in this internship. Oh, how was

he again? Like like it's it's it's really really

really like in the middle of things and you're

right like it's Much of it is static and not

Virgil and I can say having read the milestone

series. That is not the case It was very much

a spider -man thing where like he was Virgil

first and his like a His his costume life was

a complication for him not the other way around

Yeah, and that would have played better here.

Mm -hmm I really think it would have been played

better here if they were using Virgil as the

main character with the with static sort of being

the sidekick character. And the only reason why

I say that is because as of this recording, I

saw a image that Tom Taylor shared on Facebook,

comic book author Tom Taylor, for those that

don't know. If you don't know, I don't know what

rock you're living under. Anyway, apparently

as of this recording, June 1st, 2021, God for

some odd reason I almost said 2017. I don't know

why Apparently everyone is going around Twitter

giving controversial Batman opinions and Tom's

opinion is I Actually, I just shared it. So if

you went to my profile, it should be the very

first post you see It's got Nightwing in the

foreground and Batman and everybody else in the

back in the background It says Nightwing, you

know Batman is is Nightwing's best sidekick So

it's like this feels like Static is the hero

and Virgil is just the afterthought and I hate

when you do characters like that because Like

you said, it's it's the spider -man thing the

person it like it It isn't like Shazam where

he, it's a kid in an adult's body. It isn't like,

what's another hero that has one identity but

has a completely different identity? Tim Drake,

Robin? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it just... It feels

like they were trying to do something. It actually

reminds me of, and I think this happened in the

New 52, when they did the Batman Superman title.

The very first issue of the Batman Superman title

for New 52, there were four characters. There

was two Batman and two Superman, because one

was, two of them, one of the duos was from a

different universe or something. That's what

this kind of felt like to me like this whole

clone thing and I'm like really Really DC you

have to do a clone Well, I mean in this the clone

thing in this was Sharon like really DC you have

to do a clone that really and why does it have

to be his older sister like I Don't think that

they care. Well, I mean like um Do we want to

get I mean do we want to get into like, you know

why this was what it was sure Um, and I honestly

found this out today but like this series was

initially like like the credited writer is John

Rossum John Rossum was a milestone writer. He

I believe created the character zombie He ruined

cobalt and he's written static before like he

had set a guest star and the cobalt title And

also he was he was a friend of Dwayne McDuffie

like they work together So I don't know what

he was doing for DC if you were to DC before

this but like, you know He was a perfectly suitable

writer to choose for this but He writes on this

blog or he wrote his blog about 10 years ago

that Scott McDaniel was the artist Scott McDaniel

he of like nightly fame and he had this editor

it was like Harvey Richards and according to

John Ross and he was essentially railroaded his

ideas for the book were overtaken by Richards

ideas and McDaniel's ideas they were the ones

who had the idea to move him to from Dakota to

New York They had the ones to have Sharon have

this cologne and pretty much they were also the

ones to keep it mainly a superhero book first

and a Virgil Hawkins books like like like basically

not at all and Rosamunds very upfront. He's like,

you know, listen, like, you know, I contribute

some of the dialogue and I'm not free of criticism

if you didn't like This element or this element

that were my ideas. That's fine But like much

of the bulk of what I felt was wrong this book

a lot of people didn't like this book was not

my idea it comes from McDaniel and Richards and

I mean I never Explicitly knew that but I remember

back in the day. It was very obvious Very very

obvious, especially when this book ended at eight

issues that there was there was a real lack of

attention Being paid to the static book. Yeah

Just because just because like it wasn't you

can kind of tell between like, you know The writer

and the artist how coherent the scripts are and

it wasn't like wholly Coherent. I mean, I think

Scott McDaniel is a better Storyteller than this

book shows you because like it's really hard

to go from panel to panel and know Every single

time what's going on and the plots are very like

convoluted. That's not coming with this. It's

too crowded There's using a lot of gang characters

a lot of new villains. They have all these secret

agendas They're watching static. We have to get

used to the fact that statics supporting cast

is not here You know, there's none of his high

school friends or even or even his other superhero

friends like we don't we don't see rocket or

Or any of the other like like mouse out of heroes,

so it's static in a new setting But they're not

treating it as though he's new they're treating

as though he's always kind of been here even

though he says I've just moved here and so it's

a real like cognitive dissonance between what

they want to present and what they want to introduce

new readers with because it's straight up it's

not as though SADC has been around for years

in comic books like Superman or Batman they're

they ought to have reintroduced him properly

because he was a guest in Titans not his own

title and Between you know the differences between

the comic book series and the cartoon series

Don't know what they thought they were doing

because it's just not a very clean reintroduction

to him. Yeah, no, it isn't at all and This whole

gang element part of the story and I'm like really

That's where like gangs of New York kind of and

again I would much prefer him going up against

bang babies than gangs of New York you know the

one scene in here you look just you look just

like the joke and the the the pale face pale

face basically just punches the guy before he

can finish saying that he looks just like the

joker and i'm like huh okay were they really

grasping at you should this is static you should

not have to grasp at straws and make bad batman

puns or references to Batman characters in Static's

comic. His world is richer than being relegated

to a Joker joke. Also, they're like, you know,

oh, let's just let Hawkman or Captain Adam do

this. And it's like, so I guess that those characters

are also in New York, but like that also feels

weird because Static. He's a DC character now,

but I mean he was a milestone character initially

so hearing like DC heroes in tandem with him

It is really really disconcerting because it's

not they're not establishing that they're just

dropping that in without any context Yeah, and

that's not good It's not good writing. It's not

good storytelling The art is okay I It's not

something Daniel's best. Yeah, it's and and this

is honestly truth be told Because I haven't read

a lot of his stuff. This is actually the first

time we're covering Scott McDaniel on this podcast

I have not read any of his nightwing stuff. I'm

hoping his nightwing stuff is better because

nightwing is my number one You fuck with nightwing.

Oh boy Okay, well that's good but Like you said

close to the end like issue seven and eight they

they changed the costume the original costume

the new 52 costume is just Honestly, it's yeah,

it's boring. I Mean much of a superhero suit.

I like I like sad exclose Particularly I do like

his cartoon is animated looks the best because

I like the idea of like taking Clothes and and

making a superhero costume from them rather than

straight -up spandex Yeah Not everybody, you

know, not everybody can be Spider -Man, not everybody

can be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash,

Aquaman, whatever. Like, you know, and not every

care, not every kid character. And like you said,

what are we like, he has this internship to some

school or something. So we're, we're, we're assuming

he's in either college or like, I honestly don't

know how old he is. Like, did they even say in

this how old he's supposed to be? they say well

it's inconsistent because like they say that

he is 16 um in this in this in this title but

they also say like you know the big bang was

a few years ago but when he had his powers he

was 15 so it's like like how old are you writing

him like he mentioned not being able to like

drive yet like it's because again and and i don't

i'm trying you know you don't want to just you

know hold something to the standard of something

else but in the monsoon series he was very much

a kid I mean he was 15 years old. He was dealing

with kid problems, you know, they were like gang

influences You know, he was having problems with

the girls and stuff, but it was very much like

an immature juvenile Yeah, not even spider -man

that he was a young kid and here He looks like

he's like 18. I like visually and that's a problem

with the artwork. But yeah, that's 16 in this

yeah Yeah, they do because he makes a big deal

about getting a car or something or other and

his dad's like New York has the best transportation,

you know public transportation system in the

world. Mm -hmm Sure. It does. I'm trying my best

not, cause I'm from Boston folks. So New York

and I don't necessarily, I respect it, but I

don't have to like it. But it's one of those

things where I just, I tried my best to not let

John's words of what happened behind the scenes

cloud my judgment of what this book is at the

same time after, cause I, How could I not click

that link? I said like in the middle of reading

this I'm like, how can I not just be curious

and like I couldn't just go back to it I'm like,

oh, I need to find out what happened. Why I quit

static. Yeah, it's like why I quit static and

I'm like, oh They're in trouble And it just The

art is I'm very much a modern and and don't get

me wrong. This is modern. It's not classic art

or anything like that It's you know, this is

the new 52. This is 2011 2012, you know around

that time Like you said almost 10 11 years ago

God has it really been almost 11 years? It'll

be 10 years this August. Oh my god Wow That's

crazy But this art it like I like the colors

and I like the flashes like I'm I'm kind of cycling

through the book as we're talking about it There's

a scene in the middle of it. I forget which issue

but Where static is like don't touch me. None

of you look like you wash your hands after doing

your business Well, first of all, I'm sorry I

for me I Want to be able to hear Phil Lamar's

static voice in my head And I cannot hear Young

Static, Phil Lamar in my head saying those lines.

That's some bad writing. But what I like about

my point in bringing this scene up is I like

the glowy aspect of his powers. I like the brightness

of the colors of it. But the rest of the art,

unless it's him using his powers, it's too dark.

The colors are just... Uninspiring is the best

way I can put it. I guess. Well, he always operates

at night in this title, which is an interesting

choice Because I mean, I mean, you know in the

show and also and also the original series it

didn't really matter We're here. It's like he's

an item hero and I guess it's because of like,

you know school and stuff But again, we don't

see him at school. No, we don't see him at school

at all If we do it's it's like a half of a scene

To just set it up that he is there like they

are in New York because he has this internship

but the rest of it is You know And I love how

they're like static has no civilian identity

computer behind the lady Hawkins Virgil static

like that was that was that was almost funny

because like the joke because they because they

comment on as she won that like He's that was

always when he was younger. He had a different

haircut But at the same time if they cannot tell

the difference between like, you know somebody

with a different haircut with two different pictures

That's a really crappy like, uh, you know system.

They're working. Um, uh I actually I will say

I will say I will say this I remember this this

not being very good and I read this some of this

recently I was doing some articles for DC for

about static and I revisited some of this I will

say this this was better than I remembered it

being and Now this was never good, but like I

I did hear philomar It's something quips because

static is like always quipping whenever he's

going up against the villains I think the issue

is that like it's just a very very busy Script

there's like were balloons on were balloons were

balloons. There's not a lot of times where the

characters like just reacts Yeah, and it's it's

just so much information all this kind of stuff

Think I like how and this is always a thing It's

always something that would bring McDuffie really

put across it like he's not just an electric

electric hero He is an electromagnetic hero who

can use his powers in different ways I like half

the time when people shoot at him like he doesn't

have to try that they just reflect off of him

and he uses a lot of like Unexpected ways to

use his abilities. He's very intelligent that

way And you're right. I think the colors are

really are really are really well applied and

that is That's good, but it's also again. It's

fighting against an incredibly crowded script

With characters that are frankly not that interesting

in terms like the bad guys The bad guys I don't

even care There are no stakes here I think it's

close to the end of this maybe at some point

or another we see a villain that kind of looks

like Alright, what was his name in the show?

What was Adam's name? What was Adam's superhero?

Was it rebound or? Rubber band man. Yeah, sorry.

I I can't believe I forgot that. Yeah, it is

referenced in this Yeah, like I saw that and

I'm like, is that really rubber band man? Because

if it's rubber band man, then that would make

this a little bit better than what it actually

it wasn't rubber band man I generally tend not

to review things that I don't like, but I was

already halfway into this when I realized, you

know, when you sent me the stuff and I'm like,

well, I guess I should finish this anyway just

because I've already started it. And I actually

have a question on the pullback on the in origins

thing. Are there comics you wish you had never

read? I'm sorry to say this is one that I wish

I had never read damn because this is I Don't

hate it. I just feel Yeah, it's not outright

hatred. It's just not Like you've already said

there's way too much script There's a good and

a bad way to do comics Usually, most of the time.

And the good way to do comics is to have the

script and the art complement each other. As

you already said, there are way too many word

balloons. There's way too much script here. And

not enough. And it's because of the way that

McDaniel, and I'm just gonna blame McDaniel more

than John, because John was only actually on

the first four out of the eight issues, and then

he obviously quit. So, when we get to issues

five to eight, it's like, man, they're talking

a lot. Like usually for me, a good comic, like

I said a second ago, the writing and the art

compliment each other and they work together

in a way of, like if you're gonna have Static

do some sort of hero thing, like if you're gonna

have the bad guy holding a... a girl above, you

know, high above on the Empire State Building

or whatever, and you're gonna have static come

in. You know, on one panel, you have the bad

guy threatening the girl or the guy or whoever

it is, and then the very next panel, you have

static come in and hit him with something, whether

it's an electric burst, whether it's a whatever.

You know, you have that punch and roll. This

just... Rolls on and on and on with the writing

Mm -hmm. Oh man, it's just I Mean, I think that

like I honestly feel that like Scott McCain was

the wrong artist for this I get I don't think

that he's like, you know, like the worst artists

for this is that I will I will say this, you

know, there's a lot of Classic artists on set.

They're like Dennis Cowan John Paul Leon who

just recently lost I don't I think that The general

art wasn't very good in the original title. It's

very muddy. It's kind of hard to see sometimes

just because that was kind of the style they're

kind of going for a milestone often back in the

time. But this is 2011. This is a different era.

So I think that, like, I'm trying to think of

other artists that could get, but at the same

time, it's also in line with a lot of the new

52 artwork anyway, because they were having guys

like Daniel Cimpieri and you had, like, what's

his name on? Snyder's Batman run like it was

no Yeah, Greg Apolo. Yeah, you had um I'm thinking

of the artwork from I would hope the outlaws

it was kind of a harder -edged Art style generally

speaking I mean, I mean because that's how they're

doing DC back then everything was you know, not

really clean not really meant to be enjoyed So

and so I feel that with here it's you know, it's

not this is not this isn't made for kids Oh static

static shock. I remember that let me read this

combo. It's it's it's It's very confused. I do

think, and I felt this way 10 years ago, they

just did not invest enough energy. I got to say

that they thought this book would sell itself

because it's Static's name. No, they didn't put

enough effort into ensuring that. Yeah, no, they

most definitely did not. And again, I think even

10 years ago when the New 52 started, most people

I was 31, oh God, I was 31 back then. Oh God,

I'm so old. But most people that, at least in

my personal opinion, yes, I know most everyone

knew about Milestone or knew about the origins

of Static, but most people that knew the character

are coming, I would think, most everyday people,

not just comic people, are coming from having

seen the animated series. What the fuck is static

doing in New York This is not Dakota. There's

no rubber band man. There's no this there's no

What was it? Oh god, you you can fill in the

blind. Thank you Maria Hot streak hot streak.

Yep, there's none of that here there that there's

lame -ass gang member characters as Like if static

is supposed to be a superhero then This ain't

the superhero title that was meant for him this

is just You know, we're just gonna put him in

here and have him go up against all these no

names. Oh It hurts for me to say this like I

love the character. I just don't love him in

this Well, I'd like to know and we can kind of

you know play armchair rider load us we should

be to do that Like what would you what would

you have done? Okay, we're launching static from

new 52. What's an idea to launch this launch

this title? What would you have done? What I

would have done is Curious is that if you're

gonna introduce him to a whole new audience Regardless

of what any you know us and I've only been into

comics full -time since I started the podcast

eight years ago But I've known comics all my

life But us comic book fans that have been in

it for like, you know 20 30 40 will however many

years you've been into comics Even though everyone's

like oh and even even I do this. Oh Another Batman

origin story. How many different angles? Can

you show her pearls falling before we get it?

They died they got killed like I get it nobody

and I'm one of the first like oh another origin

story This needed to start with Static's origin.

We need to see... Yeah, because it's not as ubiquitous

as Spider -Man's or Superman's. Yeah, no, it's

not at all. We needed to see what happened. Like,

you look at, um... Oh, what's the... Is it...

I forget the episode title, but the Parasite

episode in Superman the Animated Series. How

Parasite is born. Right, right, right. Kind of

thing. You look at that and you're like, okay...

we need to see or hell even yes this is going

to be bad i know and people are going to groan

but i don't care you look at the awesomeness

that is 2003 daredevil the theatrical cut not

that director's cut crap um not that it's crap

Oh, really? You look at the theatrical cut of...

No, I don't think the director's cut of that

is crap. They just wanted to add more dangerous

minds into there. You look at the theatrical

cut of Daredevil. We see him running through

the docks. We see the thing go across the toxic

waste thing. We see the toxic... That's what

this needed. We needed to see how Virgil Hawkins

became... Static we needed to see okay. If you

have if I have eight issues, the first issue

is going to be where he comes from What he's

doing there What kind of kid he is at the end

of the first issue is when I would have him get

his powers and You would leave on that cliffhanger

like oh, no, what has happened to Virgil Hawkins?

Is he going to cling to the next issue or some

weird static joke, whatever? The second issue

would be him learning how to use his powers.

The third, fourth, and fifth would be him discovering

there are other bang babies. By the fifth issue

is when you should be bringing Yvonne in kind

of thing. And then six, seven, and eight would

be like some big battle for, and it should be

set in Dakota. It should not be set in New York.

Nobody wants to have static in Metropolis. I'm

sorry, nobody wants to. Well, it's like the original

series If you think that well, I hope I'm not

coming off a snobbish but like both the cartoon

in the in the and the Original milestone series

they both start off with like static doing his

thing and then they flash back to his origin

story And that's fine. You can do it as a flashback.

That's fine But the origin story for me if I

was writing this eight -issue series We would

need to learn his origin and even leave his origin

as a cliffhanger at the end, at the first issue.

I don't want to wait a month, because hello,

this was monthly. I don't want to wait a month

to find out his origin. You can start with the

whole, like how TV does now, where it's a pre

-credit scene. You can start with that. You can

have him fighting people, and you could have

him say something cool like, oh, by the way,

Two years ago ten years ago, however many years,

you know say he's 15. So let's say a year ago

Like look, let's just say he's been doing this

for a year, you know you you know So at 14 is

when the Big Bang happened At 15 he's been doing

it for a year, but he's like something in that

first battle whatever that first battle is Something

in that triggers his memory and that's when we

get the flashback of how he actually got The

powers and we learned that part of the story

Don't put him in a city that he doesn't belong

in Don't just make him go up against gang members

that look like other DC villain like and I also

think that like it's it's kind of crap generally

because because Hardware is in this is in this

book and if you don't know who our words he was

one of the main temple characters of milestone

because milestone began with it was icon and

rocket Hardware static in the blood syndicate

in our and hardware is essentially like like

milestones Iron Man. Yeah, I Would rather static

be surrounded by mouse and curse and didn't just

like oh the dress is sleek. Oh, man It's like

cuz like it's like Where's his world because

if he's in Dakota, I want him to you know, kind

of at least be I'm not saying he can't be the

DC universe But not just those guys because why

why is it only sad? I know he had a cartoon and

stuff. Yeah, but it feels Almost like a firm

of action where it's like, oh we have static

But we're not going to introduce these other

heroes in the same way that we introduced sack

through the through the cartoon series it's like,

you know, you know, because these other characters

are great and and Again, hardware cameos throughout

this title, but again, it doesn't feel like an

honest reintroduction of this character. It's

just like, okay, well, it's sad, the kids will

love them. Yeah, and no. Sorry about your luck,

but no. Yeah, no, hardware is here, but I think

hardware is here in name only. They turned hardware

into Jarvis. Essentially there but like I mean

it's weird that like he like and nothing I think

an issue six or something He and technique just

show up to help and it's like I mean I would

kind of be I would almost think that this is

a backwards Back to our pilot to his own stuff

just how frequent he's it he is but it's it's

like Let's not let's not give people the impression

that hardware is a static supporting character.

Like that's that's wrong It would be like saying

that spider -man's an Iron Man supporting character.

Yeah, and he's not yeah, and that's the thing

like hardware was his own character and Had his

own story just as static has his own story, but

in this it feels like They just felt like oh

we can just turn them into Jarvis and It just

it doesn't It doesn't play right and it doesn't

it just I'll say this right now issue 8 is my

favorite issue out of all of this Yeah, mine

too. Not because, you know, the old joke of how,

oh, what was the best thing about this movie?

It ended. No, it's not even that. It's more so

issue seven and eight are my favorite because

it actually feels like static. The first six

issues feel like static is in some other world.

It's like you have to have... You have to have

the character be affected by things and this

is going back to the point of what you know his

Supporting cast is not here. I mean, yes, his

family is here But there's only so many times

you can kidnap his clone sister but at the same

time it's good that they focus at the end of

this kind of on the whole family aspect of it

all because Let's face it. He's a 15 16 year

old kid who needs and wants his family and I

find that if you focus on that it's Like we actually

started the pullback this year with covering

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's Takeover of

batwing from the new 52 Look at bat week volume

four and five and you guys can go back to episode

393 and 394 to hear our I think my friends Edward

And Kendra Hale and I, in total, I think we talked

about Batwing for about five hours between two

podcasts. But Luke Fox, all of that Batwing run

was centered around his family and how he would

protect them. And I think with Static, you need

to have him, DC should not just be New York,

Metropolis, Gotham, New Jersey. Coast City Central

City like Dakota can be like just because static

is a milestone character just because Dakota

is a milestone city that doesn't mean anything

they brought Batman Beyond into the new 52 they

found a way to get Batman Beyond from the future

back to the new 52 you can put Dakota and have

static in Dakota doing his own thing And then

every once in a while, maybe if you're doing

an event title or something, you could have him

go to Gotham to team up with Batman or something.

You don't have to put every kid superhero in

New York. Well, also, I mean, like, why not have

Dakota in the same place as Metropolis or Gotham?

Because that's the city where he is, isn't it?

Yeah. That's the joke. It's not North or South

Dakota. It's just Dakota. It's a fictional place

for him to live in. Yeah, it's like, you know.

Central City, I know is not, you know, Central

City is a fictional city. Coast City is a fictional

city. Star City is a fictional city. Keystone

City, yeah. All of these cities are fictional

cities where they have heroes that don't have

to be, yeah, that don't have to be Metropolis

or Gotham or actual real cities like New York

or New Jersey or whatever, like... I know the

allegory has always been Metropolis is New York

and Gotham is New Jersey, and that's fine. But

they're also their own cities. They're not stand

-ins for the real thing. And I just think putting

him in New York is just a bad, like... Well,

also, it doesn't really matter that it's New

York, because it's not like any of the New York's,

like... landmarks play a part in the role. It's

not like New York has a character that affects

SAC in any way. It really doesn't matter that

his family doesn't harm him other than just,

you know, it's a recognizably black place and

they don't really specify it more than that even.

So it's like he could have lived anywhere. Yeah,

he could have. Yeah, I think the two main things

that they reference in this to tell you, besides

the fact they say it's New York at one point

or another, they reference Harlem, like you said,

is where they're living. and he takes the one

girl up to the spire of the Empire State Building.

Other than that, it could be any city in the

United States, or hell, any city in Europe. You

just have to change the building styles for Europe,

obviously. And I don't know, as I'm kind of just

looking through this again, like you said, the

psychologist thing, or the doctor thing at the

end here. That is some of the best stuff because

It's Virgil. It's not static. It's also easy

to understand and you know, I mean she specifically

says here I'm gonna read this people like me

are trained to look for certain things when dealing

with a typical students chronic lateness social

isolation strong grades frequent bruising anymore

Then three usually point to either gang activity

or child abuse like I'm not saying I wanted static

to be in You know a psycho a psychologist's office

throughout this entire thing But this scene rings

true and rings real more to me than anything

else that's in this book Because it's Virgil

It's not static and I don't have anything against

that is his static persona I just feel that there's

no balance here between the two personalities

after I read this these eight issues today I

went back and read a three -parter from the original

static run it was it was called like like like

louder than a bomb or something that and You

know, this is like 1993, right? So like this

is a very like Particularly intense time in America

as well as just in the high schools and stuff

because what's going on that storyline is that

there are race riots between Jewish synagogues

and like radical black activists and there's

one guy who's like threatening a lot of the Dakota

areas and he's like kind of like, you know, kind

of like making his threats on like cable television

and stuff. And so he's somebody that static has

to stop. But this spurs a conversation between

like static and his friends. Like, you know,

he talks to like get quote unquote, Richie and

Frida who's Jewish. And you learn that both Frida

and Virgil have their sort of like like taught

prejudices like like like like Virgil believes

that like Jews control like like like the banks

and all that kind of stuff and like freedom,

you know is saying well, you know, like like

black people have this sort of like Advantage

and like sports and stuff and they make a lot

of money and this is something that like these

these are prejudices that they have that they

have to work through throughout the three the

three -part story while static has to track down

this character and it ends with you know, like

the parents see the parents simultaneously listen

like, you know, it's It's easy to have prejudices

when you also experience oppression. And so Static

uses that to take on this guy who he thought

that he agreed with who was basically a terrorist.

And that was really Static at its best because

it was a story about Virgil who happened to be

Static and using his experiences as Virgil to

augment his crime fighting career. And not that

like every issue has to be like that and it wasn't

really like like a very special I said, I mean

it is all the time It doesn't the cartoon the

cartoon dealt with like poverty the cartoon dealt

with like racism the cartoon dealt with gun violence

And so it's not as though you need a quote -unquote

special topic But if you want to introduce people

to the character Thematically it is about Virgil

Hawkins dealing with real -world issues He also

happens to be a superhero that really is in my

opinion the core of the character and I wish

that was understood by DC at the time because

it's really, really ignored in this run. Yeah.

And that's kind of just depressing that it is

ignored. All right. Uh, so zero to five, what

would you rate this? Do you guys do 0 .5? Yes.

Yeah, I got a 2 .5 because it really, I mean,

I remember this being just like slap shot and

it kind of is, um, I wasn't upset when I reread

this, probably because I was expecting worse,

but also knowing the behind the scenes, you know,

like, kind of like, like, railroading of Jon

Rossum. It could have been worse. So like, it's

not it's not really good. But like, I think I

think a 2 .5, I think it's fair, because honestly,

like the new feature two had way worse titles

that I read that I hated. And this one I didn't

hate was just also like, you know, man, you know,

you can't say that the heart is in this one.

And there is zero heart in this one at all Like

I said before For me and I think it's more because

all of the information of what happened is kind

of like clouding my judgment and I admit that

I Got to give it somewhere between a one and

a half and a two Because looking back through

it, like I said the first six issues I don't

like the art The writing is so It's not even

high school like I would have liked this better

if it was static and Please forgive me for saying

this but if it was static as Sean Patrick Thomas

and not another teen movie where he's just the

token black guy I think that would have been

a better direction than what this is. I don't

know, man. I don't know. You know, talk me out

of it, please. Talk me out of it because it's

just one of those things where it just didn't

hit home with me. I mean, even if it's a mediocre

story, I would rather have the hero of his own

book than just be a token black guy, which I

was afraid he was going to become in the Titans

book. But I don't know. It's just, you know.

It's confusing and it's misbegotten, but like

it wasn't it could have been racist and it wasn't

It was just you know, it's just kind of boring

more than anything else. I I didn't think it

was like contemptible and then you Super had

contempt like like just just just done right

hateful books That that they could have they

could have they could have turned this into at

any moment So it's probably a blessing in disguise

that it ended when it did but I will say that

like um Because milestone is returning having

seen the sort of like, you know, reimagining

of static. I'm interested to see, because I know

that the writer and artist of that series is

a gigantic, gigantic static fan. He's been posting

all over Twitter about how excited he's going

to do it and like all this artwork and stuff.

So I know that like, however, that series may

turn out, maybe good, maybe bad, but I will know

that at least they're going to try. Wait, there's

going to be a new static series coming? Yeah,

because Milestone is coming back. Oh, right.

Right, right, right. Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah,

and like they're relaunching static and like,

I mean, they're retelling the story like, like,

at this, he doesn't he doesn't get his, the Big

Bane is not at like a gang, a gang war thing.

It's out of a protest. Yeah. He's, he's, it's

still very much like a modern reimagining that's,

that's done with both the animated series and

the comic history. It's in its hindsight because

I've seen images of him and the milestone costume

I've seen images of him and the WB costume and

stuff So it's I'm interested to see where it

goes because it definitely looks like it's done

from fans. Very cool Very cool. Very cool. I

yeah and Later this year folks When are we doing

that later this year? We will be covering static

rebirth of the cool and I almost want to Add

it because that's only four issues. I know if

the art wasn't already done for it. I almost

want to add Trial by fire to that because I'm

looking at the trial by fire Trade here on comicsology

and I'm like, ooh written by Dwayne McDuffie

with Robert L Washington the third and John Paul

Leone and I'm like the first four issues of the

series. Yep Yeah, very very cool. Yeah I kind

of want to do some more static to see how other

people write it better. Sorry. It just is one

of those things where it didn't feel like a genuine

story. Well, I mean, the new 52 was really, really

bad. That was kind of like the curse of it anyway.

There's only two exceptions I put to the new

52 Batgirl and Nightwing See I I I hate it Batgirl

more than life itself Batgirl and Red Hood in

the Outlaws really pissed me off, but there was

also like Catwoman. There was also like Various

other books. I was not a good mood in 2011 Batgirl

by Gail Simone I thought was really good when

they switched it over to not Gail Simone. I wasn't

happy with it, but her five volume run I thought

was fairly good, fairly well done. And Kyle Higgins'

Nightwing is... That was solid. Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, I mean... I like, I like Nightwing. I like

Batman and Robin. You know, Batman was pretty

good, but like I really, really, really did not

like a lot of other things. And part of that

is because like, like the continuity was so aggressively

messed with. But part of it was, I just thought

it was very mean -spirited. Era for the DC Comics.

I mean like that Justice League was some of the

most like cynical writing I remember reading

at the time and like I mean, I'm not gonna I'm

not gonna get into the Batgirl stuff but like

a Red Hood in the Outlaws and Catwoman it was

all like like it was very very like it reminded

me of like the worst of like the 90s image wannabe

kind of stuff but like um, I mean, you know those

in the past I was ten years ago. You know need

for me to dwell on it Hard to believe that the

new 52 is 10 years ago. Oh my god. It feels like

30 Yeah, it kind of does because there's been

so much that's happened since then All right.

Where can the people find you online sir? Well,

thank you very much for having me back on again,

uh Even though i've been a debbie downer on the

whole thing But not often I talk about static

on podcasts, um, if you can't get enough of me

You can find me at my own podcast, Questions

We Don't Have Answers, at qdunwerses .com. I

do that with my pal, Harrison Chute. You can

find me on Twitter at DonnoDMG1. I am also a

content contributor to both the Batman Universe

and DC Infinite. And yeah, I write editorials,

I write reviews, and I do a pretty wacky podcast

called Questions Without Answers. But again,

once again, thank you for bringing me back on.

Absolutely, man. This has been fun. Like I said

last time, ever since I listened to you for five

hours talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe,

and I had heard you in other things that you

had done. And I'm like, yeah, I need to talk

to that guy. I don't remember it's been almost

a year since I listened to it so I am at TF2

and Mike on Twitter you can hear all the other

contact info in the outro coming up next here

in the month of June we have episodes 414 through

417 414 I had to move some things around because

Steve Megatron was not ready to talk about or

read our Every once in a while people will submit

their stuff to us and say hey, would you cover

this on the podcast? We will just as long as

you know that I have a predetermined schedule

that's usually scheduled a year in advance Well,

Steve didn't have time at the time to do it,

so I had to move contraband around, but it is

still going to be covered. In its place is going

to be Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Nice. So the Boom Studios, IDW,

Mighty Morphin, TMNT, Crossover Trade, and then

my buddy Jesse Raz is joining me for Shattered

Grid and Beyond the Grid. Oh, Beyond the Grid.

How do you have something as epic as Shattered

Grid? and then you follow it up with a broken

universe story. Anyway, and then at the end of

the month, Steve Megatron will be back in episode

417 when we talk about Transformers Beast Wars

number 4 and 5 from IDW Publishing. That's what's

coming up here inside the pull bag. Make your

greatest game in the comics and we will catch

you next time. You've just heard the latest episode

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