Early artwork for Milestone’s upcoming “Static Beyond” story shows Terry McGinnis and Batman Beyondthis is Bruce Wayne.
Announced on the “Jim Lee & Friends Panel” at the 2022 New York Comic Con, Milestone Comics is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with the release of a one-shot anthology, Milestone 30th Anniversary Special. “Static Beyond” will be one of several stories featured in the special, focusing on the adult Static working with Terry McGinnis, both written and illustrated by Nikolas Draper-Ivey. The writer-artist shared his work for the story on Twitter, highlighting a gray and red color scheme and that the story will visit Neo-Gotham during 2039.
During the NYCC panel, Ivey brought up how Static Shock cartoons from the early 2000s never crossed over Batman Beyond. The creators are referring to the Season 4 premiere of Static Shock, an episode entitled “Future Surprises”. In the episode, young Static is launched in time to Neo-Gotham, where he meets Terry and old Bruce Wayne. “Future Shock” features the voices of Phil LaMarr as Static and Will Friedle as Terry McGinnis, and marks one of many vocal performances provided by the late Kevin Conroy as Batman Bruce Wayne.
Draper-Ivey previously released the character designs on Twitter for Static Beyond and Batman Beyond over the weekend at NYCC. While Terry’s civilian and superhero designs were nearly identical to his animated appearance, the designs for Static Beyond gave Virgil Hawkins a suit that was white, black and gold, and gave the aging hero himself a new beard and hairstyle. Variant cover for Milestone 30th Anniversary Special will feature Terry and Virgil, with Bruce Wayne also included.
Where Static Shock and Batman Beyond Are in 2022
Launching in February 2023, Draper-Ivey will team up with writer Vita Ayala on the new version Static: Dakota’s Shadow miniseries, a six-issue sequel Static: Season One from Milestone Comics which was also announced at NYCC. Ayala and Draper-Ivey previously worked together First Seasonwhich released six issues between June 2021 and March 2022.
For Terry McGinnis, no future series has been announced Batman Beyond as writing. The hero’s newest title is Batman Beyond: New Yearsthat spins out of Batman: Urban Legend #7. After Bruce Wayne’s death, Neo-Year forcing Terry to confront the artificial intelligence that has taken over Neo-Gotham. The title is also a six-issue miniseries, written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly with art by Max Dunbar, and releasing between April and September 2022.
Milestone 30th Anniversary Special will be released on February 21, 2023. In addition to Draper-Ivey, the story features work by Chuck Brown, Stephanie Williams, Denys Cowan, Yasmin Flores Montanez, and others.
Source: Twitter