Summary: When the Watchtower is hit by a cosmic superstring, the Justice League depletes their energy reserves to maintain their shields. Desperately low on power and falling out of orbit, the Justice League recruits Static to replenish their power core using his electromagnetic powers. After recharging the core, Static and his partner Gear are allowed to stay on the Watchtower unsupervised while the League responds to a distress call in deep space, but it is revealed to be a ruse by Brainiac, who used the emergency to take over the space station's computer system. Trapped onboard and hunted by the League's own security systems, Static and Gear must stay alive and help the League defeat the Kryptonian menace but, even then, is it really over?
JL Roll Call: Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, J’onn J’onzz, Hawkgirl
Featured Character:
Static
Villain:
Brainiac
Supporting Villains: The Metamen
Kids' WB!
on "A League of Their Own": “In
this special crossover event, the Justice League enlists Static's help to
recharge the Watchtower after it's struck by a cosmic anomaly and the central
power core begins to drain. When the
'J. League' receives an emergency call, Static and Gear are left behind only to
discover that the computer virus, Brainiac, is taking over the system.
A chase ensues as they try to save the Watchtower from Brainiac's corrupt
takeover tactics until Batman, the Flash, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and
Green Lantern can make it back in time. Just
when everything appears to be under control, things take an unexpected turn
before all is revealed in the stunning conclusion of Part Two (courtesy of
[website name removed]).”
Dwayne
McDuffie on "A League of Their Own":
“I remember Alan Burnett was in the planning stages of a Teen
Titans crossover and the concern was voiced that the Static episode
would air before Teen Titans
premiered. Someone from the studio
asked how we felt about doing Justice
League instead and I guess it's obvious how we responded.
I'd still like to see Static meet the Titans someday, though. [As
it currently stands], it's a large-scale
story worthy of the Justice League, but it's fundamentally a Static Shock
story. It will feel like two
episodes of Static Shock with cool guest stars.
“[As for
the show’s different art styles,] I'm not really qualified to talk about it
from the visual side, except to say that I've seen it and it works.
From the writer's perspective, it was tricky—Static
Shock is paradoxically both lighter in tone and more naturalistic
than Justice League. We
needed a story with stakes big enough to challenge the Justice League, but
personal enough so that Static wasn't completely overshadowed by the big guns.
John [Semper Jr.] and Ernie [Altbacker] solved the problem
beautifully—tons of action, great interplay between Static, Richie, and the
Justice League; lots of humor, and frickin' Brainiac!
Flash steals the show, I think (courtesy of Toon
Zone)."
Dwayne
McDuffie on Phil LaMarr's dual roles:
“I tried to torture Phil in that script—because he does the voice of
Static and the voice of Green Lantern, I wrote this really involved sequence
where he has to go back and forth (courtesy of [website name removed]).”
John
Semper, Jr. on "A League of Their Own":
“I recall really pushing for the idea that the episode teaser should
really start out just like a Justice
League episode, with no hint of Static Shock—I
wanted it to look like the Kids'
WB made a mistake and was airing the wrong show—then, at the end of the
teaser, Batman says something to the effect that, 'There's only one person who
can help us here.' He punches up the
image on screen and we see...gasp!...Static!
“I
remember how much trouble Kevin Conroy had saying the line, 'It looks like some
sort of space anomaly.' He kept
flubbing it and we all kept laughing. I
almost expected Batman to flub it in the final cartoon.
“The
second part—the next episode—is more of a Static
Shock episode with the Justice
League as guest stars. Most
of the action takes place down in Dakota and we see the usual cast of
characters. So we get a whole new
perspective on Static's interaction with the Justice League (courtesy of Toon
Zone).”
Corey
Burton on Brainiac in "A League of Their Own":
“I was a little surprised when I first read the script—it wasn't in
the same vein as Justice League. The
overall feel of it just seemed, by comparison, a little on the 'hokey' side, and
Brainiac's character had been altered quite a bit, from what I figured had
already been so well-established in the other shows.
The lines made him come across as a hands-on-the-hips,
challenging-the-universe, stereotypical villain as opposed to this vast, cool
intellect.
“[The
Brainiac voice is] entirely effortless…I look at the words and say them in a
steady tone, and they just ring the right way and have such drama.
It's the choice of words and the way they're arranged [in the script]
that give the character its wholeness, its power.
[With 'A League of Their Own'] I looked at the script and panicked—all
of Brainiac's lines seemed to be off.
“[However,] once I started hearing the rest of the show, I discovered that this show was intended to be sort of campy, even though presented in a serious manner. I mean, Justice League scripts are really juicy—the show really simmers with great melodrama that's appealing to the 'slightly more mature' crowd. This particular Static Shock episode was heading in that direction, while having some light moments. It's definitely entertaining (courtesy of Comic Book Resources).”
Dwayne McDuffie on "A League of Their Own" (circa 2005): "I think of it ['A League of Their Own,' Parts One and Two] as a separate meeting because, other than suggesting that it be 'Home Alone' on the Watchtower, I barely knew anything about it when I wrote Part Two (courtesy of DwayneMcDuffie.com)."
Images
Commentary
Commentary coming soon!
Images courtesy of [website name removed] and The World’s Finest.
