Review by destdest - Static: Season One

Static: Season One by Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Vita Ayala

3.0

adventurous emotional fast-paced

PROS

+ Reboot to Static. I’m glad he’s coming back into the mainstream. Static Shock the cartoon was gold and a highlight of my childhood.
+ Love the modern take of how Virgil and the other bang babies get their powers. Trigger warning: police brutality
+ the art style
+ Virgil’s style; the updated designs. It’s so surreal for me to see all the old characters again. And the old outfits from the show too!
+ Virgil’s narrative voice.
+ The supervillains’ motivations made sense, but then he just disappears after a few pages. I’m going to assume it’s a setup for an overarching story concerning him or a teaser for his next appearance.
+ think Virgil’s parents’ conflict with trying to protect him was good. It showed a realistic take on how having a child with superpowers would be terrifying in a way. You don’t want them to hide who they are, but you also don’t want them dissected for science.
+ Sharon has more of a presence here than just being an older naggy sister like in the show.
+ An interesting take on Virgil’s electric powers; they either manifest as or are tied to his anger issues.

CONS

- Dialogue (Ex: No one says “TL:DR” in actual conversation; “Long story short” would sound more natural)
- Pacing
- Coloring looks ashy and blurry like a cartoon filter. Certain shots look unfinished.
- Frank, the white boy antagonistic bully, acts like a hotep. I don’t expect the average white guy to use “ivory princess.” Static Shock’s Hotstreak he is not. He could still be a wannabe-down white boy, but his dialogue got to tighten up.
- Supervillain’s name is Holocaust. I get that’s the character’s original name, but with the reboot I would’ve opted for changing it or giving him a nickname. Looks like they did it for Ebon or perhaps he would get the name in his next appearance.
- I don’t think they explained well what Rocket’s or Daisy’s powers were. I still don't know.

For volume 1 there are some hiccups and some bumpy pieces, but I’m still interested in seeing more.

Content Warnings