Static: Shadows of Dakota #4

COMICON

‘Static: Shadows Of Dakota' #4 puts its title character through one of the toughest trials of his young superhero career, showcasing how dangerous the threats faced truly are. A tough but powerful issue, that feels as heavy as it should thanks to the amazing artwork and a focused deep narrative.

Comic Watch

Static: Shadows of Dakota is absolutely amazing! Fusing action horror and social commentary, this is absolutely one book that no one should miss! With amazing writing and art by @DefinitelyVita, @NikDraperIvey and #WilQuintana, this is definitely one of the best books that DC is publishing today.

The Super Powered Fancast

The Story: An engaging story filled with mystery, tension and tragedy. Draper-Ivey and Ayala put Virgil through the ringer in this issue and teach him a sobering lesson about his own limits. The Ebon fight was definitely a highlight of the issue and Virgil’s humbling definitely enhanced the drama of the issue as well as the final moments with his family. I look forward to seeing what happens next. The Art: Draper-Ivey delivers some fantastic visuals throughout the issue. The imagery is beautifully detailed and visually unique with a style that draws in the reader.

Geek Dad

After three issues of hype, the debut of Ebon is finally here, as the most visually intimidating Static villain finally steps onto the scene. But despite this, the character doesn’t seem nearly as evil as he did originally. Mostly driven by the search for his brother—one of many missing Bang Babies—he’s on the same trail Static is, but is much more ruthless about it. Given how dismissive and possibly involved the police are in the kidnappings, it’s not hard to sympathize—and when Static tries to stop him from torturing a mercenary, he responds by plunging Static into a terrifying trial by fire aimed at scaring him off. He’s a rare example of how to do this kind of character, the ruthless antihero at odds with the hero while fighting for the same cause, right. But the end of the issue takes a seriously dark turn that might just make it impossible for Virgil to maintain his own optimism.

Lyles Movie Files

In one important way, this was the strongest issue of this arc thanks to a much more focused plot. But the issues with the art, which has long been a strength of the Static revamp, struggles again with consistency problems. Virgil is searching for his mentee, Quincy, and starting off utilizing the system. Writers Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala take the low-hanging fruit approach and have the white cop basically being overtly racist and useless. The story takes a better turn when Static tracks down the Bang Baby kidnapping crew of vigilantes and encounters the mysterious Ebon figure. With his abilities to send Static and the vigilantes to a void-like space, Ebon proves far more formidable than Static expected resulting in a humbling first encounter. This provided the same setup as vintage Spider-Man stories where Peter would initially get overwhelmed by a villain only to figure out a smarter way to combat them on the rematch. That’s certainly the best model to follow and it works well for Static. Draper-Ivey’s art has been disappointing the last two issues. From a lack of detail to non-descript outlines, there’s a lack of polish on too many pages. The art has been a highlight of the first two Static volumes so it’s been a surprise that it’s been the big anchor these last two issues. With Ebon stepping up and a shocking ending, this issue ramped up the story setting it on an encouraging path. If the art gets back on track, Shadows of Dakota should return this to Milestone’s best title.

ComicBook.com

Static: Shadows of Dakota suffers from what appears to be increasingly rushed art. Nikolas Draper-Ivey's artwork looks increasingly rushed at times, with at least one page featuring little more than rough outlines of figures. While the story is still compelling, it looks like Draper-Ivey is struggling to keep up his high energy and stylized art over the course of the miniseries. Hopefully, this is just a one-off problem, because Static's second miniseries has been much more compelling and evenly paced than the first one.