#augustus freeman

An older man named Augustus has a secret: he has super powers! But encouraged by a young woman (who broke into his house) he will work to aid people who need help, and pass some powers to the newly-dubbed Rocket as well.

You don't go far in the comic book industry without becoming aware of Dwayne McDuffie. He was one of the biggest voices calling for diversity in comics, and put his money where his mouth was to create Milestone Comics, wherein many kinds of heroes could appear. Most famous of these is Static Shock, but on occasion you would see mention of an iconic duo, Icon and Rocket.

I read the revamped Milestone comics that came out in the 20s, and while I liked them I got the sense there was a certain something with the originals that wasn't being carried through. So I thought to go back, sit down and read the original Icon run to see what makes the character... well, such a milestone in comics.

I'm not going to review every issue (such a thing would rapidly get out of control!) but am going to put down some ink about the first issue, at least, because it's interesting. For one, I didn't know how mature the Milestone comics were, so the unfiltered use of the N-word surprised both me and Augustus. It's a rather blunt and opinionated story, with the cliffhanger for the first issue being the militarized police instantly trying to arrest our main characters. (Although Raquel is mistaken, the cops often tried to shoot Superman, but I can agree they're not quite so trigger-happy around him).

And atop that, Raquel and Augustus make for interesting protagonists; Raquel is naive but knowledgeable, and Augustus is privileged but experienced. He gets compared to Rush Limbaugh specifically for the views he holds. It's a ballsy choice for one of the protagonists to be so unlikable, and yet with the power to do good. I hope they play more into this dynamic moving forwards.

As the series went on, I found myself tuning out quite often with the superhero stuff. So much of it began to feel perfunctory, something to distract from the excellent interpersonal drama with the expanding cast of characters. The speculative stuff worked so much better when it was intertwined with the personal, and lacked a lot of the exciting problem solving that make superhero fights so much fun to experience. There are exceptions, of course, (the fight against Oblivion, for one) but the in-between or filler elements tend to not stand out.

The recaps also got old. I don't know if there was trouble with publishing and deadlines, but I kept seeing the origin story and previous events and got annoyed. The narration was usually not good enough to justify a recap, either.

The last thing that got old was the crossovers. Maybe I'm spoiled in this regard; if you're reading comics month-to-month, a crossover or two isn't going to spoil your reading schedule overmuch, just some extra titles to read. On the flip side, I've also read Invincible and its spin-offs several times, and for the most part, true crossovers are short and rare. Some characters from Guarding the Globe will show up in Invincible Universe or Astounding Wolf-Man, but true crossovers are rare; I think only Invincible crossover over with Astounding Wolf-Man once, and most other crossovers are one-offs and self-contained.

Not so in Icon; we get connections not only to other Milestone titles like Static, The Blood Syndicate, Hardware and the unknown (to me) Shadow Cabinet, but also a full-on crossover with DC Comics early-ish in the run, bringing over Superman, Superboy, Supergirl and Steel. I skipped over the big crossovers and skimmed through the issues of Icon where they were happening; they don't factor too heavily into the quality of the series as a whole, but the frequency with which they happened was... not too much (I suspect most folks who read Icon would also read the other titles) but often enough to be annoying.

And yet... I saw something here, in the stories between, and even the crossovers themselves. Icon was part of a larger universe of stories with diverse sets of characters, and when these stories got going, they could be damned good. I started seeing some of the great elements of superhero drama that would grow into Capes, Inc., Dynamo 5 and my beloved Invincible. Some issues were just funerals, and it felt right. Some issues were just characters thinking, and it felt right. Not every big problem ended with a fight; some of them ended with a clever solution, or talking to the opponent, which were usually the better endings than the straight-up punch-outs. The art, which starts rough and sketchy, smooths out and becomes characterful, wonderful to look at and see in action (though not without flaws; characters tended to get lighter over time). It was ambitious, it tackled real issues, it was groundbreaking, it was progressive, it was-

Cancelled?! Fucking hell!

I have never been so annoyed to be surprised with a cancellation. The first third-to-half of this book wasn't really grabbing me, and then it started ramping up, and I could feel a rhythm at the back of my head, when I start getting into stories and the pages started flying by, and then it just... stopped. Not permanently: there's a one-shot called Milestone Forever published fourteen years after Milestone as an imprint ended that wraps things up, which will be my next review.

Ultimately, I can see why Icon and Rocket have stuck around so hard, and become the duo Icon and Rocket. They're both dynamic, complicated characters, willing to stand on principles but also willing to figure things out. The book has aged less than you'd think, which is unfortunate in some ways, but in others, quality is utterly timeless. Not perfect, mind, and there's one big retcon in issue #34 that I think is a bit of an ass-pull, but very, very good. No, it was great.

I don't know if I'd recommend going back and reading this; I did enjoy Icon and Rocket: Season 1 but I haven't revisited it in a while, so I can't speak to quality. All I can say is, this story has some growing pains and matures wonderfully, but you should stop at issue #36, maybe #37 if you wanted to see some of Icon's backstory. The modern story isn't as long, but it is a complete miniseries, so if that appeals to you, go ahead and give it a shot.

They dedicate an issue each to Raquel processing the fact that she's pregnant and then deciding what to do about it. There's a real tenderness to it, how we as the audience sit with her as she goes through the motions, it's always clear that they don't write stuff like this for the hell of it, and they don't pull their punches when it comes to topics they put in their comics (thinking about Hardware #7, oh boy).

Something I think that's interesting about this depiction is they never ascribe a morality to abortion itself, it isn't good or bad, it just is. Raquel's decision about whether to keep her pregnancy or have an abortion can only be the "right" one if it's the one she wants to do.

They put real humanity into the topic of abortion, the ways it impacts people, the reasons people get them. The doctor Raquel sees at the clinic tells her about her own decision to have an abortion to pursue her dream of being a doctor, then Icon reveals that his wife, Estelle, had been pregnant, and they had chosen to terminate the pregnancy, despite them wanting to be parents, because of the danger it posed to Estelle.

A lot of the dynamic between Icon and Rocket is built on their difference in background and political standing, Icon generally being conservative, but even then he says he will support her no matter what choice she makes, that he will gift her the money she needs for the abortion. Raquel's ultimate choice to keep the pregnancy is a morally neutral one, she makes it not because it is right or wrong, but because she wants to.