After a nearly year-long absence, Static returns for a brand new miniseries that puts him on a collision course with a villain that Static Shock fans should recognize. Static: Shadows of Dakota brings back the creative team of Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey from the 2021 series Static: Season One, with Draper-Ivey added as a co-writer as well as the primary artist. An unspecified amount of time has passed from the events of Static: Season One, and our titular hero has a new costume, a better control over his abilities, and more of a purpose in his home town of Dakota. The refresh results in a more confident superhero comic, one that seems to be more sure of itself and better paced than its predecessor.
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When Milestone relaunched in 2021, it revamped Static and Dakota with elements of the Static Shock cartoon while also tying the “Big Bang” that gave Static and other “Bang Babies” their powers to the Black Lives Matter movement and the police response to it. Static: Season One suffered from some weird pacing issues, with the comic struggling to balance superhero action, the wider Milestone universe, and social commentary together in 20-page issues. To be blunt, at times it simply felt like Static: Season One tried to do too much, although the comic nailed the voice and authenticity of Static and his alter-ego.
Shadows of Dakota picks up where Season One left off – Static is a superhero protecting the streets of Dakota, while maintaining a somewhat secret identity (although, it’s pretty obvious to anyone who interacts with him that Virgil and Static are the same person). Meanwhile, Bang Babies still have a tenuous existence in Dakota, with vigilantes now trying to collect Bang Babies for an unknown purpose. It’s a little strange that armed gunmen are trying to snatch up citizens in a busy street, but it’s implied it’s an offshoot of the government’s own attempt to round up Bang Babies during the previous miniseries. While Static puts a stop to one such kidnapping, one of the vigilantes is suddenly snatched up by a dangerous new force – Ebon, a shadow-powered Bang Baby who is looking for a missing person of his own.
Ebon is arguably the best known villain from Static Shock and is another example of Ayala and Draper-Ivey using the cartoon as an additive force while remaining true to the original comics that inspired him. In his brief appearance, Ebon is deadly, dangerous, and also a wild card – he’s targeting the anti-Bang Baby vigilantes but is clearly not opposed to killing him. Basically, in the handful of pages that he appears, Ebon already makes more of an impact and impression than Hotstreak did during the his multiple appearances in Static: Season 1.
In addition to the tease of a much more dynamic villain, Shadows of Dakota feels much more focused than the previous miniseries. Part of it is that Virgil’s world is already established – there’s no need to try to jam how every person in Virgil’s life feels about his powers like in the previous miniseries. However, the comic still finds time to touch upon social issues, albeit a bit more subtly. In the first issue, Virgil steps in to assist a homeless person being hassled by the cops – the cops are still… well, dicks, but we see the social inequity through actions instead of words and lectures and it makes Virgil’s choices that much more meaningful.
Draper-Ivey’s art really feels like it’s taken a jump in quality in Shadows of Dakota. I’ve always enjoyed his manga-infused style, but the art just seems crisper and more polished. Some of this could be due to Draper-Ivey’s influence on the writing and layouts—he was the artist in Season 1 but ChrisCross managed the layouts in the first miniseries—or it could simply be a better understanding of playing to his strength when crafting a comics page. Whatever the reason, the art looks phenomenal.
Shadows of Dakota starts off very strongly. I was always hot and cold on Static: Season 1, but I recognized that there was a lot of raw talent and passion involved with the book. Something has clicked with this creative team and Static has benefitted. Don’t sleep on this comic, which could become one of DC’s top books if it maintains this level of quality.
Published by DC Comics
On February 7, 2023
Written by Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey
Art by Nikolas Draper-Ivey
Colors by Nikolas Draper-Ivey
Letters by Andworld Design
Cover by Nikolas Draper-Ivey
