Robert Knuckles
“I’ll put a Shock to Your System!”
In honor of Black History Month I
would like to talk about one of my favorite television shows when I was a
little kid and that is Static Shock. Now although it’s a comic by DC we’ll be
focusing on the TV. series.
Static Shock appeared on September
23, 2000 on the Kids WB when they use to have morning shows. The show revolves on
African-American teenager Virgil Hawkins who has the secret identity of the
superhero Static Shock after exposure to mutagen gas during a gang fight that
gave him electric powers.
Virgil lives with his older sister
Sharon Hawkins and father Robert Hawkins in Dakota City. Virgil’s mom past away
when he was a baby and there are some episodes where losing his mom still hurts
him and a lot of people with a lost parent can relate. He attends high school with his best
friend Richie Foley who later in the series gets super powers as well. Virgil
pretty much goes through the same stuff normal teenagers go through in high
school. He deals with a bully named Francis who always gave Virgil trouble.
Virgil later gets help from a gang leader named Wade who wants to recruit Virgil
to his gang. Later that night Virgil meets up with Wade and his crew at the
docks where a huge a fight that had all of Dakotas gang including Francis being
there as well. Virgil becomes hesitant when Wade gave him a gun because his mom
was killed by one. As Virgil is trying to leave the scene the police had
arrived in helicopters. While the police were trying to stop the fight they
accidentally exploded chemical containers releasing purple gas that causes
mutations. This was later known as The Big Bang. The gas gave Virgil abilities
to create, generate, absorb and control electricity thus giving him the
superhero name Static. Together with the help of his best friend Richie who
designed new technology for Static they would stop other people who were
exposed to the gas that use their powers for evil. They call people with super
powers “Bang Babies” in this show.
As the series goes on you see Static
battling many dangerous enemies such as Francis who now has fire powers calling
himself Hot Streak one of Statics major enemies in the season. Another
dangerous enemy is Ebon who leads an underground group known as the Meta-Breed.
Ebon is a living shadow that creates dimensional portals. Static runs into Ebon
and his crew on many occasions.
Later in the series you see Static
teaming with many iconic people such as Batman and Robin fighting against The
Joker who has also teamed up with some bang babies. Other familiar faces like
Shaq, AJ McCain and many other celebrities make an appearance as well.
Season 3 and 4 is when of Static Shock
is where the series got really interesting. Richie becomes a bang baby due to
the first episode when Virgil showed him his abilities his clothes still reeked
of the purple gas. Richie gained the ability of artificial intelligence
designing rocket-powered boots and “Backpack” which is a high intelligence
device that’s worn on Richie’s back detecting surveillance of super human activity.
With all this equipment Richie adopts the name of Gear helping Static fight
crime together. They also team up with the Justice League in an episode called “A
League of Its Own.”
A very important thing about Static
Shock is that at times it takes away from the action and goes into real life
situations. Episode “Sons of the Fathers” had Virgil staying at Richie’s house
and meeting his father for the first time but it is revealed that Mr. Foley is
a racist which makes Virgil uncomfortable and goes home and later makes Richie
run away from him. The show also talks about the effects of bullying in the
episode “Jimmy.” I don’t want to spoil too much of the episode but it’s an
important episode that everyone should watch. Another episode is “When the
Rubber Meets the Road.” Children with dyslexia will relate very will to this
episode. An episode called “Static in Africa” has Virgil and his family goes to
Africa and meets the African Hero Anansi. I don’t want to spoil the ending but
it does have a special ending that many African-Americans would relate too.
What makes Static Shock different from any other superhero in
my opinion is that it goes outside the superhero world and talks about real
life issues. It covers racism, bullying, friendship and so much more. Static
Shock is also a diverse cartoon show where we see many races of people, we don’t see that too often in cartoon shows.
Static Shock also had a huge impact
on not just the African-American community but for the whole country as well.
Static Shock left a huge legacy you also see him guest star on Justice League
Unlimited and Young Justice. You can buy Static Shock on DVD but I’m not sure
who would carry it. You might be better off buying it on Amazon or EBay. You
also have the internet to watch some episodes as well. I would really love to
Static Shock make a return. I believe we will in the future never say never!!
