Static Shocks, Diversity Sells, and the Return of Milestone Media

The greatest returns of all time – among them are Michael Jordan to the Bulls in 1995, The Rock on WWE Raw in 2011, and Barack Obama’s approval rating in 2015. With the reunion of two of the original four founders and the addition of writer-producer Reginald Hudlin, the re-launch of Milestone Media hopes to be added to the list. Milestone was founded in 1993 by four Black trailblazers – Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle – who wanted to help fix the severe underrepresentation of characters of color in mainstream comics. While they were published through DC Comics, Milestone kept full creative control over their characters, which was important in an industry that was largely uncomfortable with the perspectives of Black characters such as Icon, Hardware, and the team Blood Syndicate. Milestone comics pioneered the portrayal of Black super heroes for audiences, but even more significantly, they did so in a way that changed the comic book industry as a whole: they were popular. Their most popular character, Static, helped shatter the myth that characters of color would have narrow appeal, and after only one year of publication DC Comics created a crossover event with their Milestone imprint. “Worlds Collide” brought Static into DC continuity, where his character would later join the Teen Titans and star in his own award-winning animated series, Static Shock.

With a bright future ahead of them, how did Milestone stop producing comics in 1997, just four …