Virgil Hawkin, better known as Static, has returned to comics with Static: Season One #1, DC has announced that this is the first of an ongoing series released as part of the new Milestone Media.
Static first debuted in 1993 and was created by Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Derek Dingle, and Robert Washington III. Static was meant to be a wise-cracking comic relief. But soon the hero was given a more thought-out origin story.
As explained by the DC Infinite Universe encyclopedia, Virgil Ovid Hawkins was a gifted teen growing up in Dakota City, but his smarts often made him the target of bullying. A friend’s wayward advice on how to handle his bully problem landed Virgil in the middle of “The Big Bang,” a massive gang fight. The police quelled the riot with tear gas laced with Quantum Juice, a deadly chemical capable of altering the laws of physics. The deadly gas killed most of the rioters, but Virgil survived and gained the superhuman ability to control, generate and even absorb electricity. With his new powers, he began a crime-fighting career as an electrifying Super Hero called Static.
Milestone was published and distributed through DC Comics in 1993, but its characters existed in another universe when they made their debut. In the 1994 crossover Worlds Collide Static, Icon and Rocket, Hardware and the Blood Syndicate crossed over with Superman, Superboy, and Steel. It wasn’t until Dwayne McDuffie’s run of Justice League of America in 2008 where the Milestone and DC heroes were officially part of the same universe. That slightly changed this year when Milestone Returns #0 released. Milestone’s heroes are part of the same universe, but they will be separate from the DCU.
Static: Season One #1 by Vita Ayala, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, and ChrisCross is now available in stores and on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.