Static Year One #4

Static Year One #4

DC Comics/Milestone 2021

Written by Vita Ayala

Layouts by Chriscross

Finishes & Colours by Nikolas Draper-Ivey

Lettered by Andworld Design

The Dakota crackdown comes for Static’s friends! As the government cracks down on the super-powered teenage Bang Babies, Dakota’s schools are getting emptier and emptier…and with someone he loves in the sights of the roundup, Static must put his own life and family at risk to protect them!!

I’m really loving this series. The way that we see the sequence of events unfold and how the natural progression feels is simply amazing. The fact that after the Big Bang goes down and the government decides to step in and round up the kids things begin to get all too real and dangerous. The real life equivalent to putting the kids in camps until they can either be controlled or rendered harmless isn’t something to take likely and it wasn’t all that long ago in our own history when we did the same thing to the Japanese, Pearl Harbour anyone. That they’d allow someone like Francis, who has no trouble turning in all the classmates he knows were there whether he knows they have powers or not all or the feeling that he’s got some sort of power going for him is a dangerous thing in its own right. Vita is creating a very highly sensitive and powerful story here and it’s so much more hard hitting than I was expecting it to be.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are exceptionally well handled. The character development that we see the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a magnificent job spotlighting these ever evolving personalities.

I am quite fond of the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also like how we see the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored. Whether that’s Francis’ new role or that Virgil's friends are willing to go that extra mile with him to how his family reacts to the unspoken threats, all of this and more adds such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are rather magnificent in their own right. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the level & quality of the detail within the work that we see is astounding. There’s this fusion of classic Western comics with this Manga essence that seems to work out considerably well. I do wish we’d see more backgrounds being utilised but what we do does enhance and expand the moments while also working within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

My only real exposure to the character came through the cartoon and the limited time he spent with the Titans so for me this is a fresh take on the character and while it holds true to some memories it really goes above and beyond in making him feel like a brand new original character. The writing is really rather remarkable, the characterisation is strong and powerful while the interiors are just bloody gorgeous.