When Virgil Hawkins revealed his secret identity as Static to his girlfriend, Daisy, he thought that was going to make their relationship a lot easier. But Daisy is tired of all the superheroics interrupting their date nights on a regular basis. Now, just as Virgil is about to invite her to the big Dakota music festival for her birthday, she’s calling it quits and breaking up with him. Determined to distract his best friend, Virgil’s buddy Richie Foley convinces him they should use the tickets themselves. When they run into Raquel Ervin and Isadora Wellington — who each have secret identities of their own — what follows is a night nobody was ready for, and a blackout, some supervillains and a rapper in disguise are just the start. Static: Up All Night is written by Lamar Giles and illustrated by Paris Alleyne.
One of the first things I appreciated about this comic is the character designs. I felt like artists Paris Alleyne and N. Steven Harris took bits of the ’90s Milestone Comics and the 2000s Static Shock animated series and remixed them for a contemporary audience. Although she was a secondary character, I was especially impressed with how Daisy Watkins looked, especially since the animated series made her into a light-skinned girl with a short bob hairstyle. In this book, she has browner skin and cute, short dreadlocks.
Speaking of the characters, I also enjoyed that Richie, who was written as gay in the original Milestone Comics but faced censorship in the animated series, gets to flirt with a couple guys that the group meets on their night out.
Virgil is written as a flawed yet fun character. He has such a hard time getting over Daisy that he stalks her a little bit on social media and offline, but is called out on it by Raquel and Daisy when caught. At the same time, his superhero shenanigans with Raquel (aka Rocket) and Richie (aka Gear) are entertaining, especially since they are all trying to have a normal night out.
In fact, the book strikes a nice balance between the superhero stuff and the everyday teen stuff. Virgil and Raquel are good foils for each other because Raquel is attempting to take a break from juggling her roles as a teen mom, superhero and student while Virgil uses superhero stuff to get his mind off Daisy. At the same time, Virgil’s tunnel vision about being a superhero is the main reason Daisy breaks up with him. Finally, Isadora is a new character with an unexpected secret that causes trouble for everyone around her.
In addition to the characters and plot, I appreciated some of the page layouts and the colors. One page that stood out is where Virgil is hanging upside down from the ceiling at a club and gets a bird’s-eye view of the clubbers and his friends. The colors pop especially well during the superhero stuff. Raquel’s aura as Rocket and Static’s electrical powers present as a vivid reddish pink and bluish white, respectively.
The dialogue and lettering also synergized well at certain moments, such as when Raquel loses her cool with Isadora after discovering she did something that affected the group’s whole night. Certain words are bolded to put emphasis on Raquel’s anger as she says, “Raquel’s going to take a time-out before Raquel throws Isadora off this building.” One bit of dialogue that was also enjoyable is the running joke that involves confusing Static with the superhero Black Lightning.
Last but not least, I really appreciated how writer Lamar Giles wrote the aftermath of a breakup from the perspective of a teen Black boy. Even though Virgil doesn’t handle it well at first, Raquel and an unexpected new friend named Melanie eventually help him do some self-reflecting and cope better. I also liked how Daisy wasn’t written as a bad person for breaking up with Virgil, but rather as an everyday person who needed some space from superhero stuff.
All in all, this was a great graphic novel that is welcoming to old and new readers of Static. You don’t need to have read any other superhero or Milestone Comic to appreciate it, but those who are fans of the Static Shock animated series will especially enjoy this. Fantastic character designs with a mix of everyday teen and superhero stuff make this an entertaining coming-of-age story.
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Latonya Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others.
