Teenager Virgil Hawkins has his new powers, but so do his biggest tormenters.
Static Season One #1
Written by Vita Ayala
Pencils by ChrisCross
Inks and Colors by Nikolas Draper-Ivey
I missed out on the first run of Milestone back in the mid-1990s, though I’ve been excited to see the DC Universe Infinite online comics reader continue to add issues from the imprint over the last few months. DC Comics is now giving me a new chance to become acquainted with the Milestone characters with a new modern take on them. The first release is probably Milestone’s biggest standout character, Static.
Coming off the events of the MILESTONE RETURNS special, teenager Virgil Hawkins got powers of electricity during the “Big Bang,” a Black Lives Matter protest where police used experimental gas to clear the crowds. Many people in the crowd died or got sick but some, including Virgil, developed powers. To make matters worse, a jock that bullied Virgil in high school got powers, too, and is determined to keep making Virgil’s life difficult.
Between this first issue and the primer they released last year, it’s a really great introduction to the world of Dakota and the things Virgil has to deal with. Not only does he have to navigate typical teenage stuff, but there’s the struggles of being Black in a time of tumultuous uprising along with learning how to control the new powers that he’s developed.
And then, we have his bully, who goes by Hot Streak now, even angrier that Virgil fought back after he got his powers. In this first issue, the bully comes to Virgil’s house to prove a point. The two fight outside Virgil’s house during family dinner and just when Virgil gets the upper hand, Hot Streak sets fire to his family’s home.
The first issue is a great introduction to the world Virgil inhabits and the struggles he’s facing not just as someone with newly-developed powers, but maybe more importantly as a young, Black teenager growing up in a world that doesn’t necessarily want to listen to complaints about how he’s been treated. Bringing back the perspective that the Milestone characters supplied to the comic book world is a necessary move in such a chaotic time and I’m looking forward to seeing more about these characters, both in the new issues that are coming up and in the original stories that are being posted online for the first time.