‘Milestone Returns’ Review: And It’s Back Like It Never Left

Writer: Reginald Hudlin / Artists: Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, ChrissChross, Jim Lee, Juan Castro, Chris Sotomayor, and Nikolas Draper-Ivey / DC Comics Milestone is back. I can’t believe I actually get to type that. We back!! I have been waiting for this since the first time I watched Static Shock on a Saturday morning and learned about Dakota, its comic history, and its city full of Black and brown heroes. Milestone Returns is an extension of the issue that dropped back in September for DC’s Fandome event. It’s back with 24 new pages detailing a new origin for super-powered people in Dakota.  The Dakotaverse takes place on Earth-M, which means that it’s not tethered to the main continuity of the DC Universe. It’s great that they get to have their own playground, but it would still be cool to see these characters interact with other DC heroes. Maybe in the future.  Still dubbed ‘The Big Bang’, the inciting incident for this superhero universe has been updated to reflect the times we live in. During a Black Lives Matter protest, cops shoot a new experimental tear gas at the crowd, and whatever is in this stuff has a reaction that kills some, and drastically changes the molecular makeup of others. This is how we get heroes like Static, and big bads like Holocaust.

In the original, the Big Bang was all tied to a gang war in Dakota and while that might have been relevant as well, I think a Black Lives Matter protest captures the same sentiment while widening the s…