how're you going?
Today we're finally inaugurating the new format of the channel;
all new: new intro, new background, new effects!
And to debut all this I brought a character that was so important to me
and loved by a lot of people:
Static Shock!
We will talk about his first appearance in the comics,his TV series,
personality and powers, curiosities,
social problems that his series discuss
and finally why is he so beloved.
So stay tuned till the end of the video
and if you like this kind content, don't forget to subscribe
and activate the notifications bell so that you will be noticed of every new video
So, let's talk about the character's origin!
If you think that Static Shock's first appearance was in the animated series, ah...
you're so wrong!
His origin was in the comics, through a partnership
between Milestone Media, which works only with black characters,
and DC Comics, that allowed one of its small studios
being used by another publisher,
only if a small amount of the profit stays with DC.
That was the perfect opportunity for Milestone to release
a character that it was developing, curiously, to Marvel:
Static, a black teenager
with electrical super-powers who was based on Spider-man
(I will talk about this in more details later).
And this was how, in June 1993, Static issue One was released,
with a common creation of Derek T. Dingel, Denys Cowan,
Dwayne McDuffie and Michael Davis
(damn, a lot of people!)
(damn, a lot of people!)
This comic the foundations that were used in the TV series:
Virgil Ovid Hawnkis was the Static's alter ego's real name,
a fifteen-year-old boy that lives with his parents and his sister.
he comic already starts with him as a superhero
to protect his friend and love, Frieda Goren,
from the attack of a local gang.
Later we discover the origin of his powers:
during a gang fight which Virgil expected to have revenge
on a guy that bullied him,
the cops intervened using a tear gas that had radioactive compound
that they believed that would only mark the members of the gangs, but actually was a mutagenic compound.
This event was then called the Big Bang and everyone that
was infected by the gas and suffered
mutations were called Bang Babies.
Those, alongside with other individuals that had superpowers, were Virgil's enemies.
Let's be serious now:
I know that a lot of you guys clicked in this video only because of the animated series, right?
And I can't blame you for that: it was part of a many Brazillian
(and American, I believe) childhoods,
being shown in SBT (brazillian TV channel) year after year… but, seriously, it was damn good!
The history was good, the animation was pretty good for the time,
the main character and some of the sidekicks were very charismatic,
and as the cherry on the top ,the song used in the intro sticked in our heads like forever!
This series was originally launched in September 23th, 2000,
on a Warner Brothers kids' channel under the name "Static Shock"
and so it was brought to Brazil with the name "Super Choque",
an amount of 52 episodes divided in 4 seasons.
And, as I said before, most of what was proposed in the comics
was also kept in the series:
Virgil was a teenager who earned his powers after a mutagenic gas hit him
during a gang war,
having to fight other metahumans that were transformed during the Big Bang.
But here we got some major changes:
In the comics, Viril lives with his father, mother and sister.
but in the animated series, Virgil lives only with his father and sister,
since his mother was killed by a stray bullet when he was younger.
His only real friend is Richie,
who was portrayed in the comics as a homosexual guy that suffered bullying because of that,
but the producers of TV Series decided to let this aside
because of the underage audience
(and if the censorship is big nowadays, imagine in the 2000's)
Virgil's charisma is one of the most attractive characteristics
of the character itself and the animated series in general.
Virgil is very smart and intelligent,
full of energy and with a huge sense of humor, always making jokes,in his everyday life
and even when he is fighting his enemies.
His powers, obviously, are related to the control
of electricity and electromagnetism,
allowing him electrocute things and other enemies, levitate metallic things,
produce energy on his own or
absorb from other electric components.
Now we start to understand why Static Shock
is one of the most representative black superhero ever.
Milestone not only worked with black characters,
but also with social issues.
Some of the themes covered In both, the comics and the animated series
(but the later in a light way)
was:
gangs and their fights,
use of guns and the problems that it generates
and bullying.
One question showed in an implicit way
was the structure of a black family.
While in the comics, Dwayne McDuffin, one of the creators,
wanted to show a complete family,
with father, mother and sister, to break the stereotype that black children are never raised by both father and mother,
in the animated series Virgil was raised only by his father.
But that was made to show how strong and loving
can be a relation between a afro descendent father and his son.
The series also pour salt on the wound
of one of the biggest problems that the black comunity has to face:
RACISM!
And this was made in very clear and direct way, guys.
In an specific scene, Virgil
went to his friend's house and hears the father of his friend
talking to the mother
that people like Virgil are a bad influence to their son.
It's impossible to not mention
that the series treated about "being black"
and representativeness.
In an iconic episode that Virgil and his family went to Africa,
we can see how Virgil interacts with all of this,
with a community composed only of black people;
and he even talks about that with his friend.
In the same episode we can see the interaction between Virgil and another black superhero, admitting that he wanted to have
such a representation in his life.
Now some curiosities in relation to the animated series:
Milestone did some little references to other of its productions.
One of the villains, Edwin Alba,
makes reference to an character of the series Hardware,
another black superhero of the publisher,
and the Comunitary Center Freeman
is inspired in a character of the series Icon.
The thid season showed a sudden change in Virgil's visual,
both his normal cloths
and his unifform.
And no one understood nothing, once
there were no explanations or apparent reasons.
But, according to McDuffin, the change
was to represent Virgil's maturity.
Initially, Static Shock was not part of DC's Universe officially,
but this changed in the second season,
with Virgil meeting occasionally members of Justice League
such as John Stewart, the Green Lantern,
Batman, Superman, and many others,
helping them in some missions
or having to fight them.
The cartoon also had some appearences of real celebrities
that appeared occasionally
like the basketball players Shaquille O'Neil and the "living mene" Yao Ming,
musical groups like B2K and Backstreet Boys
and singers like Lio Romeo.
We also had a glimpse of an adult Static Shock,
were Virgil is a regular member of Justice League.
The series were a success in United States,
like, a huge success!
The second season was conffirmed only one month after the first one,
one month after the first one.
Practically every season had a growing in audience,
with the fourth season being surpassed only by Family Guy and Pokemon.
By the way, the success of the show was not only in audience,
but also in the nominations and awards of some prizes,
given to the quality of some episodes!
The last "curiosity" is that you think:
"Man, wich such popularity the show would never be cancelated"
...
but it was!
The fourth season were not supposed to be the last one, but it was because of the low production
of products related to its merchandising.
And I just can't figure out passed through DC and WB's heads
o don't make any products related to the show.
I think that with everything that was said here it's easy to see
why Static Shock was, and still being,
one of the most important superheroes
to the representativeness of minorities.
After all, a production that treats about social problems,
a production that treats about social problems,in a clear way,
to the children's audience
cannot be considered other thing them AWESOME!
But why, among a lot of outstanding black characters
that treats about this kind of things,
Static Shock still being one of the most loved?
The answer is very simple, guys:
Static Shock represents us, young black people, in our day to day.
Do you remember that, at the beginning of the video, I said that Static Shock
was based in Spider-Man?
So, the choice was not for nothing and,
more than that, it was a sure choice!
Spider-Man is THE most beloved character of Marvel because of a very simple reason:
he is the most humanized!
nd think about the similarities:
both are young characters that received powers in an accidental way,
having to deal with new responsabilities
while care about their own personal problems,
friends, love interests
and the school itself,
with challenges such like bullying.
Not only that, but their personalities are very similar:
they are both full of energy,
have strong personality,
are always making jukes with the situation and
with the enemies they face
And this produces two effects in the black boys and, why not,
the black girls that that watched the show:
you identify yourself with the everyday life situations the character has,
despite that, you want to have his personality;
is always smiling and making others smile,
no matter what happens,
making others smile,
always acting in a cool way.
Man, I wished to be like Virgil.
The resume of all of this is that Static Shock is freacking fucking awesome character
that still serving as inspiration to uncountable cosplayers around the world
and that has a considering heavy in my life,
being the first character that I made cosplay and,
because of the super positive reaction, led me to the creation of this channel.
Virgil, you are awesome! S2
So guys, I hope you liked the video.
I want to say thank you all
to all the support you guys are giving to my project.
I don't want to mention specific names to don't be unfair,
but to everyone that watch my videos and in some way interact with the content,
to all my friends that supported the ideia and gave me precious feedback of how to improve,
to everyone that already guided meand taugh me important things,
and taugh me important things,
my most honest THANK YOU.
Is to you guys that I do what I do an I hope we can grown togheter
in this idea of… black nerd world,
that I consider very important nowadays.
But please tell me what you guys think of the changes:
the intro, the background, the effects… everuthing!
everything!
And if you liked the video, please hit the thumbs up bottom, subscribe
if you haven't yet and share it in your social medias.
This is the only way to make this project grows and reach more people.
A strong hug to all of you.
See yaa!
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