Static Shock


Static Shock is an American animated superhero television series based on the Milestone Media/DC Comics superhero Static. It premiered on September 23, 2000, on the WB Television Network's Kids' WB programming block. Static Shock ran for four seasons, with 52 half-hour episodes in total. The show revolves around Virgil Hawkins, a 14-year-old boy who uses the secret identity of "Static" after exposure to a mutagen gas during a gang fight which gave him electromagnetic powers. It was the first time that an African-American superhero was the titular character of their own broadcast animation series.
Static Shock was produced by Warner Bros. Animation from a crew composed mostly of people from the company's past shows, but also with the involvement of two of the comic's creators, Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan. Static Shock had some alterations from the original comic book because it was oriented to a pre-teen audience. Although originally not intended to be part of the DC Animated Universe, it was incorporated into it in the second season.
The show approached several social issues, which was positively received by most television critics. Static Shock was nominated for numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy. Some criticism was directed towards its humor and animation, which was said to be unnatural and outdated. The series also produced some related merchandise, which sold poorly; McDuffie cited the low sales as one of the main factors behind the series' cancellation. In spite of this, its popularity revived interest in the original Milestone comic and introduced McDuffie to the animation industry.

Plot

Virgil Hawkins is a 14-year-old boy who lives with his older sister Sharon and their widowed father Robert in Dakota City. He attends high school with his best friend Richie Foley, and has a crush on a girl named Frieda. He also has a dispute with a bully named Francis Stone, nicknamed "F-Stop." A gang leader named Wade recently helped Virgil, hoping to recruit him, but Virgil is hesitant, as he knows his mother died in an exchange of gunfire between gangs. Wade eventually leads Virgil to a restricted area for a fight against F-Stop's crew, but it was interrupted by police helicopters. During the dispute with the police, chemical containers explode, releasing a gas that causes mutations among the people in the vicinity. As a result, Virgil obtains the ability to create, generate, absorb, and control electricity and magnetism—he takes up the alter-ego of "Static". The gas also gives others in the area their own powers, and several of them become supervillains known as "Bang Babies".

Characters

  • Virgil Hawkins / Static – A high school student in Dakota City. As a result of accidental exposure to an experimental mutagen in an event known as the Big Bang, he gained the ability to control and manipulate electromagnetism, and uses these powers to become the superhero "Static". Countless others who were also exposed also gained a wide variety of mutations and abilities, and Static spends much of his time dealing with these "Bang Babies", many of whom use their abilities in selfish, harmful, and even criminal ways.
  • Richie Foley / Gear – Virgil's best friend and confidant. At first, he merely provides support for his friend, making gadgets for him and helping protect his secret identity. In the third season, Richie develops superhuman intelligence from prolonged passive exposure to the Big Bang gas and becomes the superhero Gear.
  • Robert Hawkins – A social worker who runs the Freeman Community Center as head counselor. He is a widower and the single father of two teenagers—Virgil and Sharon. A strict but caring and genuinely understanding parent, he dislikes gangs and the destructive attitudes of most Bang Babies, and his work at the community center is motivated by a desire to counteract their bad influence.
  • Sharon Hawkins – Virgil's older sister, who attends college, but she still lives at home. She volunteers at a hospital, and counsels young people at the Freeman Community Center. While they do argue frequently, Sharon and Virgil really do care about each other and are quick to come to the other's defense if one of them is in danger.
  • Adam Evans / Rubberband Man – A Bang Baby whose body structure consists of shapeable rubber. He is the younger brother of Ebon. Rubberband Man first appears as a tragic villain when he goes after an opportunistic record producer who stole one of his songs. He subsequently breaks out of prison, but decides not to pursue a criminal career. He and Sharon eventually start dating, with Sharon helping Adam turn over a new leaf. He and Virgil initially clash, but Virgil comes to accept Adam's relationship with his sister, and they become allies in crime-fighting, with Adam becoming an older-brother figure to Virgil.
  • Francis Stone / Hot-Streak - A Bang Baby who was an enemy of Virgil long before they gained their respective superpowers. Prior to the "Big Bang," Francis was a local bully and gang leader known as "F-Stop". He and his gang would antagonize Virgil, being stopped only by his rival Wade. As a result of the Big Bang, he gained pyrokinesis that allow him to ignite fire at will, which lead to him and Static clashing on a daily basis.
  • Ivan Evans / Ebon – The head of a large group of Bang Babies called "The Meta-Breed" and the series' main antagonist. Ebon is an unusually powerful metahuman able to create portals and manipulate pure darkness and shadows.

    Production

The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation based on the Milestone Media/DC Comics character Static. Its supervising producer was Alan Burnett, and Scott Jeralds was the main producer under executive producers Jean MacCurdy and Sander Schwartz. The production team consisted mostly of people who were involved with Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, but also included Static's co-creator Denys Cowan. Although the show hired the comic series' co-creator Dwayne McDuffie as story editor and writer, McDuffie had no direct involvement on the development of Static Shock. The idea of a Static series first emerged with DC's editor-in-chief Jenette Kahn during the time McDuffie was working for Milestone under Kahn. In 1993, Kahn proposed to adapt some Milestone comics; Burnett was hired to write a pilot episode for an X-Men-esque series with Milestone superheroes called The New Guard. After attempts to produce several other Milestone projects, Static was eventually the series "they went for". By the time Milestone and DC drafted their contract over DC distributing Milestone comics, the characters were from separate fictional universes. However, when crossovers between Static Shock and other DC animated series were suggested, it was established that they were from the same DC Animated Universe—"rather than having to muck around with multiple dimensions, or whatever."
Although McDuffie stressed that the show remains loyal to "the spirit and the tone" of the comic book, some changes were done because of its timeslot and target audience of pre-teens. For example, guns appeared less frequently, Richie is not explicitly portrayed as homosexual, and he is Virgil's confidant instead of Frieda. Virgil is also younger in the animated series, his costumes and use of his powers are different from the original, and his mother is dead in the show despite the fact that she is alive in the comics. The latter change was done because producers had the intention "to focus on a strong, complex relationship between an African-American father and son." Nevertheless, McDuffie was concerned by the change because he originally intended to oppose the stereotype of black people not having a complete nuclear family. However, McDuffie said "that worked out okay" as the crew could use the absence of Virgil's mother to create a "couple of great stories". Virgil's father, Robert, "for all intents and purposes, is a new character", as he was reconceptualized as a social worker. The same goes for Richie, who is described as an amalgam of different characters from the original comic. For the villains, Hotstreak was reused from the Static comics, Edwin Alva was brought from another Milestone's series—Hardware—, and the Meta-Breed was created for the series.
The third season saw some of the biggest changes; in addition to Richie's superpowers and a new opening, Static changed his costume. Cowan stated that the change was done to give his clothes a "feel of the comic book", while McDuffie said it represented a growth that Virgil was passing through. This maturation made possible to "explore some of the darker places in his world," and to have more varied conflicts, as the villains have also become more mature. He described it is as "a natural outgrowth of all that, as is the new, more naturalistic look of the show." This change followed the second-season premiere—"The Big Leagues"—when Static meets Batman and Robin. Burnett said, "after that show, everybody went, 'Let's go in that direction.'" Writer John Semper Jr. commented, "of course, I always lean toward the dramatic... But the same old light-hearted Static spirit is still there." Richie gains superpowers because it was becoming hard to fit him into the story and the producers wanted to keep the "chemistry" between voice actors Phil LaMarr and Jason Marsden. There was also a positive response from children in focus groups so "he answer seemed pretty obvious."
The series' music director was Richard Wolf, while he, Stanley Clarke and Max Gousse were the composers, and Kennard Ramsey was the orchestrator. For action sequences, Wolf wanted to use "real adrenaline-pumping beat" of 125 beats per minute; however, hip hop music usually only reached 110 beats. The predominant score was electronica with hip hop-type and DMX-type vocals. R&B and old school hip hop melodies were also used depending on the scenes, and each character had a specific theme. Wolf composed the opening theme for the first two seasons. Starting from the third season, the show had a new opening theme, written by Master P and Lil' Romeo and performed by the latter.