Live Action Static Shock!

It’s been ten years since the last episode of Static Shock aired, and unfortunately because of massive incompetence handling such a prime comic book character, he’s been flying somewhat under the radar ever since. After the new 52 line of comics crashed, Static was going to be on the phenomenal show Young Justice, but Cartoon Network pulled the plug on the whole show. So for ten years the character that’s tied for first place with Batman in terms of favorite comic book heroes, has not been highly celebrated. This is extremely unfair especially since at least in the animated universe he goes on to become the most powerful hero in the DC universe. I mean he took down the entire Justice League single-handed at the age of 14(granted they were under mind control but they still had their powers).

But apparently this strange Static banishment is changing! Yesterday Warner Brothers announced a new digital production unit called Blue Ribbon, that has immediately announced three series.

“Blue Ribbon has already given series orders to three shows, including an untitled Mortal Kombat series produced in partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment that is tied to the upcoming Mortal Kombat X video game release in April 2015,” they write. “The action series include Static Shock, an adaptation of the Static comic from writer-producer-director Reginald Hudlin (Django Unchained). Also in development are Ouroboros from Akiva Goldsman (Paranormal Activity) and Damon Santostefano, which follows two police officers over one night in a remote part of Wisconsin.”

Static has so many rich story lines they can pull from, I really can’t wait to see what they are going to go with for the first major story arch. I’m sure Francis the hot head will come to play soon enough, but right after him I’d love to see Holocaust and the blood syndicate. I mean how much more evil can you get than calling yourself Holocaust?

All in all this is pretty cool and hopefully this is just the beginning. I would love to see Static have his own show on the CW like Arrow and Flash.

Thanks for reading! Any comments leave below!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell

Phil Lamarr

Great voice actor, also got shot in pulp fiction lol

They Canceled Young Justice! A fan’s outrage

Bad news for fans of good television everywhere. Another deadly blow has been struck against our people in the quest for quality television. No not another “Baby Mama” reality show, we won that battle. No I am referring to the cancellation of one of the newest, yet most beloved shows on the newly dubbed “CN”. Young Justice, one of the best superhero shows in recent memory, has been taken off the air. The worst part about it is the network has not even given a reason why. All that can really be seen is that “Teen Titans Go” has, apparently, usurped the mantle of teenage crime fighters as they will be on the air this season in Young Justice’s former time slot. Now I understand financially why a switch from dark material to more comedic…”stuff” could potentially put more money into CN’s already overstuffed pockets. However by the same token if you will, they could definitely lose money by attempting to rehash the same idea that was already effective, and still rather current. The old teen titans only went off the air a few years ago. I currently watched every season and it still stood up very well. To be clear “Teen Titans GO” is based off of a comic book, that was based off the original television series, that was based off the comic book “The New Teen Titans.” Too much? I know but i digress, there is no real reason to attack a show that hasn’t even seen the light of day. I only mean to address the fact that remakes are starting to take over original ideas. Thus leading to the cancellation of one of the most innovative superhero shows on television.

Different-

This show stood out in several ways. First off it was set on Earth-16.  This allowed an unprecedented amount of maneuverability for the writers. Being an almost completely untapped area in the DC universe, they didn’t have to deal with most of the preconceived notions of the heroes and their back stories. This lead to a world that, even though inhabited by heroes we know and love, still felt fresh and new.

The villains

I can’t say enough about the villains. they were extremely well done. Plus I’m a sucker for little know, underrated characters getting the spotlight. Blockbuster was awesome for me. Black Manta being brought in as a major character was pretty cool too.

The jump ahead

Most people were jolted by this seemingly random jump after the first season. I was included at first. However eventually I was able to understand that this was actually for the best, not only moving the story along past unnecessary and boring plots and got us right into the action. This also let me know that these writers were not scared, they were willing to do what it took to make this series work. These guys weren’t about pandering to the audience, they realized that the audience was there because they liked what they did in the first place, so give them what they need, not what they feel they want.

Diversity

I can not fully express my love for the diversity in this show. Not just the race thing, which was great, I mean bringing in milestone favorites like Rocket and Icon? Amazing! I was waiting for the Icon Vs. Superman fight! But the diversity transcended race by utilizing the histories and back stories of all the many different characters. Aqualad, Superboy, Robin, three different Flashes, Beast Boy? What’s not to love? Plus they were going to have one of my favorite characters of all time in the next one, Static Shock! Virgil was seen in a few teaser episodes looking pretty cool, not in full static mode but still pretty awesome.

So after all of the promising things in this show we are left wondering why, why they would take something this good off the air. Hopefully the answer will be “they didn’t”. The producer still claims it is a possibility of a comeback but we’ve all heard that one before. Still lets keep our fingers crossed and hope that CN (cartoon network died with the removal of Courage) makes the right decision. Here’s a petition, not sure if these things work but it’s worth a shot! https://www.change.org/petitions/cartoon-network-continue-young-justice

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

A man with a camera.