“The name’s Static! I put a shock to your system!”

The DC Animated Universe that ran on the old WB back in the nineties and Aughts had a slew of popular, well-regarded shows that had all of the popular, classic characters of DC comics.  You had Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, their various combo shows, Batman Beyond and the various Justice League shows.  All of them did well, a lot of people watched them and they’ve remained popular and informed perceptions of their characters up to now.

And then there were the two shows that were the red-haired stepchildren of the DCAU.  You had The Zeta Project, a show about a humanoid robot on the run from its creators that’s not especially worth remembering or talking about.  But what is worth remembering and talking about is Static Shock.

Originally a character created by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie for Milestone Comics which was then switched over to DC when they bought out Milestone, Static is Virgil Hawkins, an African-American teen living in Dakota City with his father and sister.  Virgil is an ordinary high school student, a bit popular but not a standout in anything.  He has a best friend, Richie, a bit of a tech geek, and various other friends and enemies in school (including a bully named Francis) and the head of the local street gang, Wade, who for his own reasons is protecting Virgil from Francis.

One night, when Wade has strong-armed Virgil into attending a local gang rumble (which Francis is also involved in), the cops break the fight up and chase everyone down to the docks. Some canisters get pierced in the crossfire and everyone is exposed to a gas.  Naturally, this being a comic universe, a ton of the kids exposed develop superpowers (and are dubbed Bang Babies, from the Big Bang of the gas explosion).  Virgil, especially, develops electric powers that enable him to levitate metal objects, make things stick to each other, and shock people.

So with that setup, Virgil decides with the help of Richie to become a superhero and names himself Static.  All of this is an interesting corner of the DCAU because it’s oriented towards a younger teen audience.  Static doesn’t fight supervillains, but fellow teens who’ve also been exposed to the gas and developed powers.  (Francis, for instance, develops fire-throwing powers and becomes Heatstroke).  It’s actually a bit of a shock in an early episode when Batman and Robin come to town chasing the Joker, because Static isn’t dealing with the small fish he’s used to, but an actual villain who’s way out of his league.

Part of the motif of Static Shock, what with that younger teen orientation, was that the show was always a little more issue-oriented than the other DCAU shows.  I’m old enough to remember the days of the eighties when the FCC started to crack down on animated shows  that were nothing but toy commercials and started requiring that shows actually have some sort of educational value for children.  Suddenly, things like He-Man and Smurfs were tackling subjects like drugs and divorce, albeit in very oblique and kiddy ways.  Static could be like that quite a lot of the time, but it was well-enough written and performed that it never felt too preachy.  (Also, it was nice that Static wasn’t always trying to put away his fellow Bang Babies and helped reform some of them to use their powers for good.)

Also, Static was a little more…multicultural.  (Or to use the awful euphemism from the publishing industry: urban.  As in, black.)  So the show dealt with racism and police brutality and issues that affect the black community in the USA, again in a somewhat kiddie-oriented way but that’s not especially a bad thing.  Comics can be a very white place at times, so Static Shock acting as a bit of a course correction was always something to be appreciated.

Like I’ve said, Static Shock isn’t as well remembered as the other DCAU shows.  Static would show up from time to time, usually as his older self, in things like Justice League Unlimited and had his own comic series again for a time in the New 52.  It would be nice indeed if he appeared on Black Lightning, which is a character unrelated to Static despite their similar electric powers.  But it’s nice that we can still watch this show, which is well worth people’s time (and really, is a good intro to superhero shows for younger kids).  Warner Archive has put all four seasons out on DVD (and they are also on the DC Universe service).  If I had to recommend one, fun episode, check out “A League of Their Own, Part 1 & 2”, (season 3, episodes 6 and 7) where Static and Richie are recruited by the Justice League to watch the Watchtower for a day.  It’s a lot of fun with them indulging in hero worship while also having to face off against a real villain in Braniac.

A final note on Static: he was voiced by the great Phil LaMarr, who at the same time was voicing Green Lantern in Justice League.  LaMarr was an MVP of the DCAU in a lot of ways, doing major roles and a ton of smaller ones (as well as voicing the title role on Samurai Jack).  Not bad for a guy whose first major role was as poor doomed Marvin in Pulp Fiction.