Static Shock – 14bigleagues

Dakota gets a real jolt when THE JOKER (yes, The Joker) hits town, recruiting a band of metahumans to wreak his own special brand of havoc. Of course, with Joker on the loose, BATMAN and ROBIN can’t be far behind. Static must put his hero worship in check as he teams up with the Dark Knight to put a shock to Joker’s system.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by Matt Zimmer

Voices:
Phil LaMarr as Virgil Hawkins/Static
Jason Marsden as Richie Foley
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Mark Hamill as Joker
Eli Marienthal as Robin
Maria Canals as Shelley Sandoval
Danny Cooksey as Hotstreak
Kevin Michael Richardson as Kangor
Tia Texada as Talon
Brian Tochi as Shiv
Chick Vennera as Ferret
 

Batman and Robin team up with Static to stop the Joker who has come to
Dakota to recruit Bang Babies.

After a clash with Ferret Static is knocked down by exploding balloons with smiles on them while a hand spirits Ferret away. It turns out to be the Joker who has come to Dakota to recruit Metahumans and has already recruited Hotstreak, Kangorr, Shiv, and Talon. Ferret balks at joining the gang so the Joker hits him with his laughing gas. At the hospital the doctors try to help Ferret and Static sneaks in to question him.
There he finds Batman and Robin who has given Ferret an anti-dote to the toxin and are now searching for the Joker. Virgil offers to help but
Batman dismisses him telling him if he sees anything to contact him.

Virgil follows the Bang Babies’ trail and signals Batman who tells him to wait outside the sewers. Static is feeling pretty bad about this and even worse when Batman and Robin are kidnapped by the Joker and the
Metahumans. With help from Richie he locates the batwing and hones in on
Batman and Robin’s location. The Joker has set a death trap for the duo and is about to do them in when Static comes to the rescue. He frees
Batman and Robin and they defeat the Meta-humans. Joker tries a joy-buzzer on Static but it backfires and shocks him instead. Static asks Batman if they can work together again and Batman smiles and says
"We’ll see."

The first DCAU crossover on Static isn’t the best. The plot is rather pedestrian and predictable. The best thing about the episode is Static’s frustration with feeling like he’s not good enough to help Batman. I think it adds an interesting dynamic to their relationship that is explored further in Hard As Nails.

Batman doesn’t really do that much this episode but the Joker has a pretty big role. It’s good to see that they’ve used the Return of the
Joker/ Justice League design on the Joker while Batman and Robin are done in The New Batman Adventures style with Robin looking a little bit older. I usually don’t mind the puns on Static Shock but I have to admit they sound a little strange coming out of Robin’s mouth. (Well, the Tim
Drake Robin anyways).

The episode is okay as an introduction to Batman to the series but as a
Static episode it’s not that good. I think people have been a little harsh on this episode for the wrong reason. It’s Static’s show so the hip-hop Batman theme doesn’t really bother me. It’s just that it’s a rather boring episode of Static Shock.

Story: **1/2
Animation: **1/2
Average: **1/2