An excerpt from Dwayne’s script for Static Shock! #4 – Rebirth Of The Cool titled, “Places Left Unfinished At The Time Of Creation”.
This is from his First Draft, dated August 3, 2000. There are some unusual notes in this script – such as the “[ed." on page 11. It's not clear if these were notations that Dwayne made in this first draft to be changed later - or if perhaps the data file has gotten corrupted. Either way, the text is presented below unchanged from Dwayne's first draft document.
Page 1
SPLASH
Similar to last issue, page 22. In the CHAMBER OF HORRORS. STATIC is looking at HARDWARE’S corpse in shock. POWER JUNKIE stands over Hardware’s smoldering body. It’s cut in two.
LEGEND
(typeset)
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." --Frederick Douglass
LOGO
MILESTONE COMICS PRESENTS
LOGO
STATIC SHOCK!
TITLE
"Places Left Unfinished At The Time Of Creation"
CREDITS
Dwayne McDuffie - Writer and Editor
John Paul Leon - Artist
Melissa Edwards - Colorist and Separator
John Workman - Letterer
POWER JUNKIE
So much for the Calvary.
STATIC
You killed Hardware.
POWER JUNKIE
Yes, Static. I did.
CREDITS
STATIC created by McDuffie, Dingle, Cowan and Davis
INDICIA
[LEAVE SPACE]
Page 2
Panel 1
Angry Static fires a huge, two handed electrical bolt.
STATIC
(burst)
Nooooo!
SFX
ZZZRRRRAK
Panel 2
Power Junkie casually blocks the bolt with a FORCE FIELD.
POWER JUNKIE
That would have hurt.
POWER JUNKIE
No need for the disguise any longer, I suppose.
Panel 3
Power Junkie bursts out of his clothes, transformed into his NEW COSTUME and appearance.
SFX
(clothes bursting)
rRRRIPPPPP
POWER JUNKIE
The blood of your fellow bang babies did more than just heal me, it changed me--
Panel 4
Closer on Power Junkie, his eyes are glowing, crackling with power.
POWER JUNKIE
You have no idea how much power --how many powers I now posses.
Panel 5
Static, flying on his disk, dodges the deadly EYE BEAMS from Power Junkie. Power Junkie is fading out in his TELEPORTATION EFFECT.
POWER JUNKIE
Energy Projection.
SFX
ZZZZZOKKKK
Page 3
Panel 1
Power Junkie is teleporting in right behind Static, he’s grabbed him from behind, by the collar. Static’s forward motion is stopped, his disk is still going.
POWER JUNKIE
Teleportation.
STATIC
(burst)
Wha!?!
Panel 2
Power Junkie flings Static through the air and across the room.
POWER JUNKIE
Super strength.
STATIC
Ahhhhh!
Panel 3
Entire second tier. Power Junkie’s speed lines zip from where he was just standing, right past Static (still flying through the air), and coming to a stop right where Static is headed.
POWER JUNKIE
Super speed.
Panel 4
Power Junkie is holding up one hand, projecting an energy field that wraps around Static and suspends him helplessly in mid-air. Static is in pain, as if being crushed.
POWER JUNKIE
Telekinesis.
STATIC
Nnnnnnn...
Panel 5
On Static, struggling in vain against the energy bands.
POWER JUNKIE
Pyrokinesis. Flight. Agility. Weather Control, Shapeshifting. Time Travel. Enhanced Healing. Invisibility. Energy and Matter manipulation.
Page 4
Panel 1
Favoring Power Junkie, gesturing with his energy projecting hand.
POWER JUNKIE
All the powers of any bang baby whose blood I’ve tasted is at my command. I’ve barely scratched the surface of my abilities.
Panel 2
On Static, sweating, looking very bad.
POWER JUNKIE
But we appear to have reached the limits of yours.
Panel 3
On both. Static’s hands begin to crackle with power.
POWER JUNKIE
Still, your electrical talents will make an interesting addition to my collection.
STATIC
You want a taste of m-my powers?
Panel 4
Static fires a huge lightning bolt.
STATIC
(burst)
You got it!
SFX
ZZZRAK
Panel 5
Static’s electrical bolt passes harmlessly through Power Junkie’s semi-transparent body.
POWER JUNKIE
Intangibility.
Panel 6
Static’s lightning bolt strikes the wall where WISE SON is pinned, shattering his bonds. Power Junkie is partially turned to see what happened.
STATIC
Overconfidence.
SFX
SHRRAAKK
POWER JUNKIE
Eh? Wise Son?
Page 5
Panel 1
Wise Son strains against his bonds, his muscles swelling.
WISE SON
You son of a bitch! Sucking us dry. Holding us against our will. It ain’t right!
Panel 2
Wise Son tears free of his bonds and is leaping down, his blood tubes trailing from his body.
WISE SON
What are you thinking? Some of the guys in here ain’t even Bang Babies! You don’t even need them!
Panel 3
Power Junkie catches Wise by the throat in mid-leap.
WISE SON
>Gack<
POWER JUNKIE
True. But I may find a use for them later. Waste not, want not.
Panel 4
Power Junkie has opened his hand and is telekinetically levitating a struggling Wise Son back up to the wall.
POWER JUNKIE
You belong to me. All of you do. Not because it’s right. But because I can.
WISE SON
Arrrrgh!
Panel 5
Wise Son struggles against the wall. Power Junkie lifts one of Wise’s thick blood tubes in his fist.
POWER JUNKIE
My continued existence depends on you --and many more like you.
Panel 6
Power Junkie is pouring Wise son’s blood into his open mouth. The blood overflows and pours down his chin and onto his chest.
POWER JUNKIE
I’ll never let you go.
Page 6
Panel 1
On Static, watching the off-panel action in horror.
STATIC
Oh, no!
Panel 2
Wider, Static bursts free of Power Junkie’s energy with a SURGE OF ELECTRICITY.
STATIC
(burst)
Nooooo!
SFZ
SHZZZZRAK
Panel 3
Static has dropped to the floor. On hands and knees, he reaches out with one hand. His flying disk is heading towards him.
STATIC
(thought)
Gotta get out of here...
Panel 4
Background Static flies out of the room, foreground Power Junkie is still drinking blood, oblivious.
STATIC
(thought)
Maybe I can find Xombi, or get Icon to come back and help.
Panel 5
Static flies towards the camera, he’s just entered a cavernous chamber.
STATIC
(thought)
Maybe...
STATIC
Geez...
Page 7
Panel 1
Big panel, establishing TOWER’S TROPHY ROOM. It should evoke the Batcave and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. The room is filled with Display Cases and trophies from John Tower’s career. Like the Batcave’s Dinosaur, the room is dominated by a GIANT RAT. Instead of the giant coin, there is an equally large DAKOTA SUBWAY TOKEN (the token reads, “Dakota Token” and “Good for one” although we can’t yet read all of this). By no means do you have to work all of this stuff into this panel, but I’d like to see it all in the sequence that begins on page 13. I’ll make suggestions as to where you can place items. Ignore me if you have a better idea.
Other items around the room include; a black LAWN JOCKEY, carrying what looks suspiciously like Green Lantern’s Power Battery; A STATUE of two planets crashing into each other, as in the Worlds Collide ads (they are the DC bullet and the Milestone “M”, rendered as planets, but we can never quite make that out); Tower Girl and Kid Tower’s costumes hanging empty in GLASS CASES, ala Batman; a brass URN, inscribed “Fair Play”; a glass case with a girl pirate in it labeled “ADVENTURE OF PIRATE JUDY.”
STATIC
...Some people never throw anything away...
Panel 2
Static flies out of the chamber.
STATIC
(thought)
I think this is the way out.
Panel 3
Angle on TRAFFIC MAN #2 from issue # 3 is prominent standing at the front of a dozen or so more TRAFFIC MEN.
TRAFFIC MAN #2
Hello, Static. Remember me?
Panel 4
New Angle, Static facing off with Traffic Man #2. Other Traffic Men stand at the ready.
STATIC
[.
TRAFFIC MAN #2
Yep. And guess who just stepped in it.
Panel 5
Flying Static dodges blasts from the staves of several Traffic Men while firing a bolt back at them.
TRAFFIC MAN #2
This time you can forget about electrocuting us with our staffs. These are insulated.
Page 8
Panel 1
Wide. Virgil is surrounded on all sides and from above and below.
TRAFFIC MAN #2
Thanks to you, I haven’t had a hit in over a day.
STATIC
C’mon up here, I’ll hit you right now.
Panel 2
Favoring Traffic Man #2.
TRAFFIC MAN #2
Brave talk. You’re outnumbered and surrounded. If you got another card up your sleeve, it better be an ace.
Panel 3
Big Panel. New angle, HARDWARE bursts into the room through the ceiling. He’s firing away from both fists.
SFX
CHOOM
TRAFFIC MAN
(burst)
Hardware!!
HARDWARE
(signature balloons)
Sorry I’m late, I was waiting for a good entrance line.
Panel 4
Static blasts a Traffic Man. Hardware fires a bolo shell that wraps up two others.
STATIC
But I saw you get killed!
SFX
(Static’s blast)
zZZRRAAK
SFX
(bolo)
whupwhupwhup
HARDWARE
Oh, please. That was a robot.
Panel 5
Interior HARDWARE’S LAB. Curtis Metcalf, legs still broken, is sitting in a high-tech Virtual Reality rig, his arms in the same pose as Hardware’s in the previous panel. On a SCREEN in front of him is Hardware’s point of view.
CURTIS
So is this one. I’m using a telepresence rig. My legs are broken, remember?
Page 9
Panel 1
Back at the fight. Hardware wrestles with two Traffic Men, he’s facing panel left. Panel right, IOTA is holding a BOWLING BALL is GROWING in multiple images, from a spec on the floor. She’s up to about half-size, and grinning.
HARDWARE
Unfortunately, I’m down to my last working model. So I’m going to need a little help, here.
IOTA
You called, sweetie?
Panel 2
Full-size Iota uses her bowling ball to clock one of the TRAFFIC MEN Hardware was struggling with.
SFX
THOK
HARDWARE
Good to see you, Iota. But you left the spare.
Panel 3
Static zooms in and blasts the last man.
STATIC
Got’ems.
SFX
ZZZRAKK
Panel 4
Hardware, Static and Iota stand talking to each other. Unconscious Traffic Men are all over the room.
IOTA
The rest of our people will be along presently. They’re following my beacon to this position.
STATIC
Well, Tower’s probably on his way too. We better jet.
Panel 5
Favoring Static. Iota is skeptical.
IOTA
John Tower?
STATIC
Yep, still alive. He’s the one behind all of this.
Page 10
Panel 1
Similar to previous.
IOTA
That simply cannot be true. John Tower has been a hero for generations. He’s the greatest of us all.
STATIC
Was. Now he ain’t nothing but a power junkie.
Panel 2
Favoring Hardware.
HARDWARE
Yep. And junkies steal. In this case, lives.
Panel 3
PANEL. Wide as all react to the HEROES arriving: IRON BUTTERFLY, GLORIA MUNDI and PAYBACK. Captions label the new guys.
CAPTION
Iron Butterfly.
CAPTION
Gloria Mundi.
CAPTION
Payback.
PAYBACK
You guys have been busy.
Panel 4
Favoring Iota.
IOTA
You didn’t do so badly yourselves, dears.
IRON BUTTERFLY
What is our battle plan?
Panel 5
Favoring Hardware. Payback frowns.
HARDWARE
We retreat. Their top man is way out of our weight class. We don’t have enough power to fight him.
PAYBACK
Where’s Blizten?
Page 11
Panel 1
Hardware explains to Payback.
HARDWARE
She was captured. We’ll come back for her, later. Right now we have to regroup, find more help.
Panel 2
FLASHBACK PANEL. Reminiscent of panel 3 page 18, Issue #1 Static’s’s big, panel left face dissolves into an image of DUSK bounding towards a burning building. Let’s go in closer on Dusk, this time and see her face.
OFF PANEL STATIC
Dusk, please! Don’t go back in! We got everybody, there’s no time!!
Panel 3
Similar to previous. Static is speaking now.
STATIC
No.
Panel 4
Wide on the group. Static on one side of the panel, everyone else on the other.
GLORIA
(ornate balloon and script)
I’m sorry. Did you say, “No”?
IRON BUTTERFLY
I understand your loyalty to our comrade. But in order to win the war, we must survive the battle.
Panel 5
Favoring Static, stubborn.
STATIC
Do what you want. I can’t leave Blitzen behind. The last time I didn’t go back for somebody, she died.
Panel 6
Wider. Iron Butterfly is irritated. Hardware.
IRON BUTTERFLY
That is irrational and futile. If we are ever to prevail, we will require your power.
HARDWARE
She’s right, kid. You stay here and fight, we’re pretty much [ed.
Page 12
Panel 1
Iron Butterfly looks at Hardware with irritation.
HARDWARE
So I guess what I’m saying is, I’ll stay too.
IRON BUTTERFLY
Hardly a sacrifice, as I sense your real body doesn’t reside within this shell.
HARDWARE
Never claimed to be noble.
Panel 2
Iron Butterfly has turned back towards Static. Payback is visible.
IRON BUTTERFLY
Nevertheless, I will also remain here and fight.
PAYBACK
Stop showboating, Kahina. We’re all staying.
Panel 3
Favoring Iota. Static explains.
IOTA
One assumes you have some sort of plan?
STATIC
Kinda. You guys mop up the rest of the Traffic Men. Keep them away from the torture chamber. I need maybe half an hour.
Panel 4
Gloria is curious. So is Payback. Static is still filled with resolve.
GLORIA
(ornate balloon and script)
And what will you do?
STATIC
I’ll take care of the Power Junkie.
PAYBACK
How?
Panel 5
Hardware has a hand on Static’s shoulder.
STATIC
I dunno. Reason with him?
HARDWARE
You got a lot of guts, kid.
STATIC
Yep, I don’t even know the meaning of the word “fear.”
Panel 6
Static flies away from the group.
STATIC
Which does not bode well for those fast-approaching SAT’s.
