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Comic book masculinity and the new black superhero
African American Review, Spring, 1999 by Jeffrey A. Brown
"What're you dumpin' into meeee!?" screams Tarmack as Static throws several canisters into the now completely liquid villain. "Old aerosol cans," Static explains. "Got 'em on sale. Freon, don't you know. Amazing what you can find in a bargain bin, huh. Wanna see what else I got?" All Tarmack can do is howl in pain and frustration as Static hurls flashbulbs and dry ice onto the quickly solidifying form lying on the ground. "Sheesh! I gotta get a better class of supervillain," Static scoffs as he spells out his plan for Tarmack. "See, I figured your liquid body and all that heat went hand in hand. So if you went through some changes, you'd burn up."
"Ssllowwinn' downnn . . . brrr . . . ," Tarmac gasps. "Brrr? You actually say brrr? I don't be-lie-ve it!" Static jokes as he pours a canister of freezing liquid oxygen over the now defeated Tarmack. And as a final insult, Static climbs aboard a steamroller from a nearby construction site and proceeds literally to flatten Tarmack. "You are sorely in need of a name change, dude. That 'Mack' thing is so '70s. . . . I know what . . . how about I paint a stripe down your middle and. . . Presto! Tada! 'I-75, the Living Interstate'!"
Static #3 ends with the humiliating defeat of Tarmack and the arrival of Holocaust, a bigger and badder villain for Static to deal with in the next issue. On one level it is tempting to develop the case that this issue of Static critiques an outdated model of black masculinity. After all, apparently inspired by Tarmack's one-dimensional macho posturing, Static goes so far as to declare "That 'Mack' thing is so '70s." But for the Milestone fans who pointed to this specific book as a favorite, it is the story's difference from the current hypermasculine and "brainless" Image comics that makes it important. The message of "Pounding the Pavement" is clear: Brains win out over brawn. Nor is this message an isolated incident. Static storylines have repeatedly portrayed the teenaged hero as victorious because of his quick thinking. Numerous bragging and swaggering supervillains have faced Static, most of whom are clearly more powerful than he, and boastfully macho about their intentions to beat him up. Yet time and again Static outthinks the baddies. Other examples cited by readers include Static's capture of a superpowered car thief, Joyride, by pretending to lose a drag race and thus playing on the villain's ego and tricking him into stepping out of his car, whereby he loses all his powers, or Static's continual outsmarting of the recurring villain Hotstreak, who is too stupid to realize that the new hammer he wields so proudly is made of metal and thus can be controlled by Static's electrical currents. Static's form of intelligent victories is clearly read by some Milestone readers as a positive alternative to the standard formula found in the market-dominating Image-type books. "You'd never really see an Image hero winning a fight by being funny and smart enough to know dry ice and aerosol cans could knock out a serious bad guy," a thirteen-year-old Static fan explained. "In other comic books they're much more likely to just keep on pounding each other until the good guy rips the villain's head off, or something crazy like that."
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