Milestone Media's character "Static"

Animated version of "Static"

Milestone Media is a company best known for creating the Milestone comics imprint (that was published through DC Comics) and the Static Shock cartoon series. It was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers (namely Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle) who believed that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comics. Milestone Media was their attempt to correct this imbalance. Virgil Hawkins going into action as Static in an episode of Static Shock This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Virgil Hawkins going into action as Static in an episode of Static Shock This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Virgil Hawkins going into action as Static in an episode of Static Shock This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Virgil Hawkins going into action as Static in an episode of Static Shock This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Comics (or, less common, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ... DC Comics (originally called National Periodical Publications or National Periodicals) is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Static Shock is an animated series starring Virgil Hawkins as Static, a teenage African American superhero with electromagnetic powers. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Dwayne McDuffie is a comic book and animation writer. ... This article is about the concept of a minority. ...

Christopher Priest participated in the early planning stages of Milestone Media, and was originally slated to become the editor-in-chief of the new company, but bowed out for personal reasons before any of Milestone titles were published. Christopher James Priest, born James Christopher Owsley in 1961, is a writer of comic books. ...

Early Staffers

Milestone's founders were joined by young professionals who formed the early production team for the startup company. The first non-founder members of Milestone were Matt Wayne, who had experience as script and comic writer became Editor; Noelle Giddings, who had previously worked in comics as a colorist, became Milestone's Color Editor supervising the line's painted art; and Joe James an experienced Graphic Designer, served as Designer and Creative Associate. Later the production staff would expand to include: Erica Helene, Jason Medley, Jacqueline Ching, Joe Daniello, Andrew Burrell, Marcus Bennett, and Michelline Hess. Noelle C. Giddings is an artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry. ...

Publishing Deal

Although Milestone comics were published through DC Comics, they did not take place in the DC Universe. Under an arrangement similar to the one DC and Wildstorm established later, all Milestone characters existed in a separate continuity that did not fall under DC Comics' direct editorial control (but DC still retained right of refusal to publish). Unlike Wildstorm (which is owned by DC), DC did not take ownership of the Milestone characters. DC Comics (originally called National Periodical Publications or National Periodicals) is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared setting where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. ... WildStorm WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, is an American publisher of comic books. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

All Milestone Media titles were set in a continuity dubbed the "Dakotaverse", referring to the fictional midwestern city of Dakota in which most of the early Milestone stories were set. Before any titles were published, an extensive "bible" was created by McDuffie and other early creators, which provided back-story and information on all of the original Dakotaverse characters, as well as detailed information about the history and geography of Dakota. Cowan produced the original character sketches that served as a guide for the other artists. The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. ... In narratology, a back-story (also back story or backstory) is the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. ...

Debut

In 1993, Milestone Media launched its first batch of titles: Hardware, Icon, Blood Syndicate, and Static. A year later, Milestone Media published its first company-wide crossover, Shadow War, which spawned two more titles: Shadow Cabinet and Xombi. Another ongoing series, Kobalt, was introduced later. Hardware (Curt Metcalf) is a Milestone Comics superhero. ... Icon (also known as Augustus Freeman, Augustus Freeman Jr, Augustus Freeman III, and Augustus Freeman IV) is a Milestone Comics superhero. ... In Milestone Comics fictional city of Dakota, the Blood Syndicate is a loose affiliation of super-powered individuals brought together by circumstance; 35 issues of their eponymous comic book, written largely by Ivan Velez, Jr. ... Static is a teenage African-American superhero with electromagnetic powers. ... In the fictional universe of Milestone Comics, the Shadow Cabinet is a secret organization of superhuman beings acting to protect the world by neutralizing potential threats while they are still relatively harmless - to save humanity from itself, no matter what that requires. The covert nature and dubious morality of many... Xombi was a Milestone Comics superhero. ... Kobalt was a comic book series by Milestone Comics (an independently-owned imprint published by DC Comics); Kobalt ran for 16 issues. ...

Starting Careers

Milestone provided the opportunity for many emerging talents who had been passed over by larger established companies, beginning the careers of many comic industry professionals; Among them John Paul Leon, Christopher Williams (aka Chrisscross), Shawn Martinborough, Jason Scott Jones (aka J.Scott.J), Prentis Rollings, J.H. Williams III, Humberto Ramos, John Rozum, Eric Battle, Joseph Illidge, Adam Blaustein, Jamal Igle, and Harvey Richards. John Paul Leon is an American comic book artist most well known for illustrating the Alex Ross and Jim Krueger Earth X, and The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix with writer Peter Milligan. ... Promethea Volume 1 TPB Cover, art by Williams J.H. Williams III is an comic book artist and penciller. ... Cover to Impulse #2. ... Madeleine Blaustein (also credited as Adam Blaustein and Addie Blaustein) is a voice actress born in Long Island, New York, USA in October 9, 1960. ... Jamal Yaseem Igle was born in Harlem, New York on July 19,1972. ...

Worlds Collide

In the summer of 1994, DC Comics and Milestone Media published an intercompany crossover called Worlds Collide. It featured a meeting between Metropolis-based superheroes from the DC Universe and Dakota-based superheroes from the Dakotaverse. Unlike many intercompany crossovers, it was intended to be part of the regular continuity and took place in the monthly issues of the involved series. The situation was somewhat complicated by the fact that in the Dakotaverse, DC superheroes were known as fictional characters. Although the crossover had no lasting consequences in DC continuity (DC's Zero Hour event cancelled everything before out), it was remembered by Milestone's superheroes. An intercompany crossover (also called cross-company, or simply company crossover) is a comic or series of comics where a character (or group of characters) from one company meets a character from another (For example, DC Comics Superman meeting Marvels Spider-Man). ... For other usages of Metropolis, see Metropolis. ... The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared setting where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. ... Zero Hour was a weekly comic event miniseries/crossover published by DC Comics in the summer of 1994. ...

Milestone had several advantages in its publishing efforts: Their books were distributed and marketed by one of the "big two" comic book publishers, the comics industry had experienced remarkable increases in sales in preceding years, they featured the work of several well-known and critically acclaimed creators, they used a coloring process that give their books a distinctive look, and they had the potential to appeal to an audience that was not being targeted by other publishers. They also suffered from several disadvantages: The comics market was experiencing a glut of "new universes" as several other publishers launched superhero lines around the same time, a significant number of retailers and readers perceived the Milestone books to be "comics for Blacks" and assumed they would not interest non-African-American readers, the books received limited exposure beyond existing comics-shop customers, the coloring process added slightly to the cover price of their books, and overall comics sales had peaked around the time of Milestone's launch and declined dramatically in the years that followed. It also should be noted that even though they received press coverage from non-comics related magazines and television, they were virtually ignored by the comic book press such as Wizard Magazine.

Milestone cancelled several of its lower-selling series in 1995 and 1996, and aborted plans for several mini-series. Heroes, a new team book featuring Static and several of its more popular second-tier characters, was launched, but failed to sell well enough to justify an ongoing series. Milestone shut down its comic book division in 1997, with some of the remaining ongoing series discontinued in mid-story. Today, it is primarily a licensing company, focusing on its television property, the Emmy award and Humanitas prize winning animated series Static Shock. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Static Shock is an animated series starring Virgil Hawkins as Static, a teenage African American superhero with electromagnetic powers. ...

Publications

Comic titles published by Milestone include:

Regular Series

• Hardware - 50 issues
• Blood Syndicate - 35 issues
• Icon - 42 issues. The first eight issues were collected in a graphic novel (or trade paperback): Icon: A Hero's Welcome
• Static - 45 issues. Also made into an animated series Static Shock. The first four issues were collected in a graphic novel: Static Shock: Trial by Fire in 2000; and a new mini series was published in 2001 called "Static Shock: The Rebirth of the Cool", it ran for 4 issues.
• Shadow Cabinet - 17 issues
• Xombi - 21 issues
• Kobalt - 16 issues
• Heroes - 6 issues

Limited Spin-Off Series Hardware (Curt Metcalf) is a Milestone Comics superhero. ... In Milestone Comics fictional city of Dakota, the Blood Syndicate is a loose affiliation of super-powered individuals brought together by circumstance; 35 issues of their eponymous comic book, written largely by Ivan Velez, Jr. ... Icon (also known as Augustus Freeman, Augustus Freeman Jr, Augustus Freeman III, and Augustus Freeman IV) is a Milestone Comics superhero. ... In comics, a trade paperback (TPB) specifically refers to the periodic collections, published in book format, of stories published in comic books, usually capturing one story arc in the series. ... Static is a teenage African-American superhero with electromagnetic powers. ... Static Shock is an animated series starring Virgil Hawkins as Static, a teenage African American superhero with electromagnetic powers. ... In the fictional universe of Milestone Comics, the Shadow Cabinet is a secret organization of superhuman beings acting to protect the world by neutralizing potential threats while they are still relatively harmless - to save humanity from itself, no matter what that requires. The covert nature and dubious morality of many... Xombi was a Milestone Comics superhero. ... Kobalt was a comic book series by Milestone Comics (an independently-owned imprint published by DC Comics); Kobalt ran for 16 issues. ... Heroes was a six issue comic book miniseries produced in 1996 by Milestone Comics, an independently-owned imprint of DC Comics. ...

• Deathwish - 4 issues (Hardware Spin-off)
• My Name is Holocaust - 5 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)
• Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool - 4 issues
• Wise Son: The White Wolf - 4 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)

Crossovers

• Shadow War- Company-wide crossover. Involved all comics, including the newly premiered Xombi and Shadow Cabinet.
• Long Hot Summer - Company-wide crossover. Three issues of the comic by the same title along with tie-ins in every Milestone title. - July-September 95
• Worlds Collide - 1 issue (crossover with Blood Syndicate, Hardware, Icon, Static, and DC's Steel, Superman, and Superboy)

-1... Superman is a fictional character and superhero of DC Comics who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and is considered the first character to embody the particular combination of traits that characterize the modern superhero. ... Superboy is the name of several different fictional characters published by DC Comics. ...

External links

• The Milestone Rave - lists details of 264 Milestone comics issues
• The Official website of Dwayne McDuffie, co-owner of Milestone Media.
• Milestone: Finally, I was there - an article detailing Christopher Priest's role in the creation of Dakotaverse and his involvement with Milestone in general.
• Milestone retrospective at Museum of Black Superheroes
• Milestone Character profiles at Museum of Black Superheroes