While the ’90s were filled with acclaimed stories, surrounding A-list comic characters, including Batman and Spider-man, there was a lack of teenage heroes in the mainstream landscape. To fill that gap, Dwayne McDuffie created the teenage sensation Static Shock, who would go on to enjoy his own animated show in the 2000s, which would go on for 4 seasons.
Although originally created for Milestone Media, the comic-book company pioneered by McDuffie, the character was later incorporated into the DCAU through its animated series. According to McDuffie, the teenage hero took heavy inspiration from the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Static Shock Was Influenced by the Late-Eighties Spider-Man
During the ’90s, the Spider-Man comics featured an adult Peter Parker, which, while great in its own right, didn’t speak to McDuffie personally, as he was more leaned towards the teenage version. To fill that void, he created Static Shock for Milestone Media comics, which was prevalent for focusing on minority characters, who were underrepresented in the mainstream landscape at the time.
Taking heavy inspiration from Spider-Man, especially from his stories in the late eighties, Dwayne McDuffie originally wanted to make Static a Marvel character. But after that failed, the teenage superhero made its way to Milestone Media.
McDuffie told Jim Harvey:
“Static was a group effort. The guys who started Milestone Comics were sitting around trying to create the launch characters for a new comic book universe. Everyone agreed that we should have a teen aged hero and I’d previously tried to develop something along those lines, strongly influenced by Spider-Man, in the late-eighties when I was over at Marvel… I worked on it on and off for a while, developing Static as a Marvel Universe character but for various reasons, it didn’t work out. I sort of dusted him off for Milestone and threw him into the pot. We all worked together to re-create the character as he would eventually appear in the comics.”
Following its depiction of the life of a black teenager, the character was an instant hit among fans, and would eventually go on to secure its own animated show, which too was a great success.
Dwayne McDuffie’s One Complaint About the Animated Show
While the late comic book artist wasn’t himself involved in the creation of the show, McDuffie revealed the creators behind the show were “gracious enough to ask me”.
Although like fans, Dwayne McDuffie was also impressed by the adaptation, the one aspect that he had a problem with involved the killing of Static’s mother, who remains alive in the comics.
He elaborated::
“If I have to complain about any decision, it was killing off Virgil’s mom (she’s alive in the comics). It was important to me to present a black hero with a complete nuclear family, in part to combat an easy stereotype we see far too often in fiction, but also because Virgil’s family experience was supposed to be similar to my own”
However, this decision would result in some great stories later on, so in the end, things worked out in favor of the show.
Static Shock is available to stream on Max.
