#dc milestone

DC Comics announced the return of the Milestone line during Fandome 2020 and we now have the first wave of titles releasing digitally. Hardware: The Man in the Machine, Icon: A Hero’s Welcome, and Icon Vol. 2: The Mothership Connection will be the first Milestone releases of 2020.

Static #4 by Robert L. Washington III, Dwayne McDuffie, John Paul Leon,  Shawn Martinbrough and Nöel Giddings

An Occasional Attempt to Read, Discuss and Review the Wonders of Comics By: John Rafferty, cranky old man, and Fan of All Things Comics

Milestone Returns Infinite Edition Zero (DC Comics / Milestone Imprint) 

Writers: Reginald Hudlin, Greg Pak   Artists: Denys Cowan, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, Bill Sienkiewicz, CRISSCROSS, Juan Castro, Jim Lee, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ryan Benjamin, Don Ho, Khoi Pham, Scott Hanna

‘You didn’t even give me a WARNING before you emptied your pistols at me. An UNARMED Man.

‘What’s that… What’s ON you?

The BLACKNESS that protects me? Does it scare you? I haven’t even started shooting back yet.’

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Oh, Milestone! How I have missed ye!

What is Milestone, you ask? Wellllll, let’s set the WABAC to 1993, when a group of writers and artists decided it was time to address the underrepresentation of the minority community in Comics.

With that, Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle, Christopher Priest and some other creative giants brought forth Milestone Media Company, LLC., or, Milestone. 

Working in conjunction with DC, this talented group brought forth some amazing characters: Static, or Virgil Hawkins and the Bang Babies, victims of a chemical bath gone wrong; Hardware, Curtis Metcalf, child prodigy, and creator of the chemical which unleashed the Bang Babies on the ‘Dakotaverse’.

Then there’s Icon and Rocket, an alien trapped on Earth since 1839 and a young woman who tried to rob his home, who become heroes, in an attempt to bring hope to the downtrodden.

Hope. The message of the Milestone books. 

Something there has been too little of for a while, but things are getting brighter.

Milestone Returns!

And not a moment too soon!

For a larger book (39 pages of story) this read like a travel pamphlet. Nooo, not that it had no substance, it was just that fast!

The first half read like it was ripped from the newspapers of 2020, with unnecessary, and totally over the top violence against minorities, whether peaceful protesters, or people who didn’t open their doors quickly enough.

In one part of the story, we have the beginnings of the ‘Dakotaverse’, the world of Static, Hardware and the rest. We see the beginnings of the Bang Babies, the people effected by Curtis Metcalf’s crowd suppression mist. We also see Metcalf himself, realizing he will be hung out to dry by his boss, so he has the good sense to head for home before all Hell and Police ‘Justice’ descends upon him.

As is the case, his criminal boss rolls over on him like the boulder in ‘Raiders’, and the cops bust into his home, guns blazing.

Never let it be said that the four color sequential art medium cannot be used effectively to communicate what is happening in the world. Faster than you can say Breonna Taylor, HARDWARE is born.

Yes, yes, this is a rehash of the first issues of STATIC, HARDWARE and ICON from ’93, complete with enough Social Conscience rewrite from 2020-2021 to make these characters relevant, and more importantly, alive.

The artwork in the first half of the book is pretty. No, it is majestic. it is Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz.

It is a cure for ED. Yes, it’s that good. They ALWAYS are.

The writing is wonderful, as well. Reginald Hudlin doesn’t miss a beat, bringing all these characters back to the world as if they had never gone away. Static is still a little innocent, and a lot a kid, Icon is still stiffer than REBAR, and Curt Metcalf is every bit the super mind, almost Michael Holt-ish. The only thing missing are the T-Spheres, but the rest of his gadgets and gewgaws get him through, quite easily.

Let’s face it, DC has been remiss in keeping this imprint isolated to the Infinite Universe web comics. With all the complaints over the last two years, and everything happening in the US over the last 5, they might have been smarter to get this off the ground earlier.

Thankfully, the team of Cowan, Sienkiewicz, Hudlin, CRISSCROSS, et. al., have stepped up to make this work.

Good Luck, Gentlemen! Congrats on a great start!