from The Hollywood Reporter: January 21, 2015
by Graeme McMillan
The company behind DC’s ‘Static Shock’ will work with “different publishers as well as other media companies” in future
An important piece of the 1990s comic book landscape is set to return this year, with the news that Milestone Media — the studio founded by Reginald Hudlin, Derek Dingle, Denys Cowan and the late Dwayne McDuffie — is being relaunched with an eye to working with “a wide variety of companies,” including those outside the comic book industry.
While mainstream superhero comics publishers like Marvel and DC have increased the amount of diversity visible in their comics recently, with Marvel’s Ms. Marvel and All-New Captain America being the most high-profile examples, the new Milestone Media — referred to by Hudlin as “Milestone Media 2.0” in an interview with the Washington Post — will strive to increase the diversity of voices behind the characters.
“We’ve never just done black characters just to do black characters. It’s always come from a specific point of view, which is what made our books work,” Cowan told the Post. “What we also didn’t do, which is the trend now, is [to] have characters that are, not blackface, but they’re the black versions of the already established white characters — as if it gives legitimacy to these black characters in some kind of way — [that] these characters are legitimate because now there’s a black Captain America. Having been a creator of these characters and a consumer, I always looked at it like, ‘Well, geez, couldn’t you give me an original character?’”
In its original incarnation, Milestone offered only original characters, published in partnership with DC Entertainment. Of those characters — which included Icon, Hardware, Xombi and one of the first openly-LGBT partnerships in mainstream comic books with Shadow Cabinet’s Donner and Blitzen — the most famous is undoubtedly Static, a teenager with electricity powers who has featured in three solo comic book series from DC as well as Static Shock, a Warner Bros.-produced animated series that ran for four seasons on the WB network. (An digital series featuring the character was announced as being in development by Warners last year.)
The first run of Milestone titles, which ran from 1993 through 1997, was also notable for introducing a number of new creators to comics who would later become known for DC and Marvel work, including John Paul Leon, J.H. Williams and John Rozum. Derek Dingle said that he considers the new Milestone, like the original version, “an opportunity to mine some [new] talent,” with the company looking “to find a new group of creators who are knowledgeable and grew up with digital [formats].”
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From Comic Book Resources, July 10, 2015
Jonah Weiland, Executive Producer/Publisher
Though acclaimed writer Christopher Priest was heavily involved in the early development of the Milestone Universe, by the time the first issue bearing the iconic “M” logo — which Priest designed — was published in 1993, he was no longer a part of the company.
So when Milestone 2.0 was announced in early 2015, one of the questions on many peoples minds was whether Priest would be involved in the company’s resurrection.
While taping an interview with CBR TV at Comic-Con International, Milestone co-founders Denys Cowan and Reginald Hudlin gave us the definitive answer.
“We love Christopher Priest,” Cowan stated when asked if the outspoken writer was a part of the current Milestone Media rebirth.
“I’m just gonna say it,” added Reginald Hudlin. “So the drive from L.A. to San Diego is like three and a half hours long. I pretty much spent the entire trip talking to Christopher Priest as we were breaking a story. So then I got down here, I go to Denys, ‘Let me tell you what we’ve been working on.'”
“Except it was at 1 o’clock in the morning,” Cowan continued. “So we’re speaking for an hour at 1 o’clock in the morning. He’s telling me this story. It’s so good we stayed on the phone for an hour just talking about that like, ‘Dude. And then what happens? And then what happens? And then what happens?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, — I have to draw this right now.'”
“It’s so good, it’s so much fun,” said Hudlin. “So then last night I was up, everybody was asleep, I’m like ‘OK,’ because he sent me notes. So I got like four different e-mails this morning. I’m like, ‘Aaaaaaah!'”
“To answer the question, yes,” Cowan said.
“And Christopher Priest, who we love, who we’ve always loved and we’re so happy to be working with him again, he was part of the original team,” Hudlin added.
“He was part of the original Milestone. That fifth Beatle that never really gets recognition,” said Cowan.
“But there’s been so many incredible high-level writers and artists who’ve been like, ‘What?! Milestone’s back? I’m in! When? Where?’,” said Hudlin. “It’s been incredible. The biggest names in the business are like, ‘We are down. We wanna be in.’ We’re super excited about the amount of firepower we’re gonna bring.”
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From THE POP CULTURE COMPANY
Being a huge Milestone fan as a kid, I never miss this panel, and this year it was a very special event. Milestone announced earlier in the day that when they return to publishing, they will once again be partnering with DC Comics, as they did in the 90’s.
Milestone founders Derek Dingle and Denys Cowan were on the panel, along with the influential former President of BET, Reggie Hudlin. Cowan and Hudlin have been creators and animators for years, and Dingle is the business savvy one behind the scenes.
You can read the live tweets on our Twitter account, but I do want to mention that there was a very touching moment where the room erupted in applause for the late Dwayne McDuffie and his contributions to not just the comic book industry, but to pop culture as a whole. The entire room was on its collective feet, along with the panelists and host, Orlando Jones.
Milestone announced that Jim Lee will be drawing a book for Milestone, and Geoff Johns will be writing one. Cowan spoke of a project he is working on with living legend Bill Senkiewicz (which I confirmed with Sienkiewicz personally later in the evening, and spent about 15 minutes talking to him about the work he did on Dazzler in the 80’s), as well as other creative announcements. They spoke about merchandise in the form of action figures, statues and more.
Late in the panel, Geoff Johns snuck into the room and joined them on stage! Johns praised Milestone for their importance in shaping the industry and pretty much fanboyed out over being able to be a part of this new iteration of Milestone. Cowan confirmed that this will be a reboot of the Dakota Universe, and will now be known as Earth-M, and Johns confirmed that there will be a Milestone line of action figures coming out very soon.
The project that everyone is most interested in is Static (Static Shock), but it was the one thing that none of them would speak about. It is obviously being guarded very closely, and will no doubt have a lot of marketing put behind it once we see it again.
I asked the panel if the Dakota Universe would be independent of DC mandates, and if their editorial would operate autonomously from the parent company, to which they said that will absolutely be the case. The panel (including Johns) also confirmed that the Dakota Universe will not intersect or crossover with the DCU proper, at least not at first, as they want Earth-M to carve out its own place in the Multiverse. Oddly enough, in the Multiversity panel earlier today, Morrison mentioned that he purposely left seven worlds untouched (though they were mentioned in his series) so that other creators could hopefully come along and build on what he started with Multiversity. Hudlin mentioned that Earth-M is one of the seven worlds that Morrison left open for new creators to play with.
Sometimes things come full circle, you just have to be in the right place and time to put the pieces together, and I happened to be lucky enough to do that today.
Here are some pics from the amazing Milestone panel, I can’t wait to see what is next for this legendary publisher. The Milestone guys are the nicest, most accommodating gentlemen you will ever meet in comics. They struggled to build this thing, and they are honoring Dwayne McDuffie’s memory by bringing the Dakota Universe back the right way. They care about their creations, the business and most of all, their fans. Being in the Milestone panel makes you feel like part of their family, and these guys are going to bring the house down once again!
Milestone Founders Club
DC Comic co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee with Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan
Dan, Denys, Reggie and Jim after the co-publisher’s panel.
Milestone Media was ahead of its time when it first launched in 1993. But if anything, its creators believe the brand and its storytelling are even more relevant today, so DC is helping to bring it back.
Original Milestone founders Denys Cowan and Derek T. Dingle joined producer/director Reginald Hudlin at Comic-Con on Saturday morning to announce the return of Milestone characters like Static Shock, Icon and Hardware, who will exist on “Earth M” within the DC multiverse. The current plan calls for up to two titles set on that world annually published as hardcover graphic novels, along with possible mini-series and one-shots.
“Milestone Media was the first company to create a super hero universe full of Black, Latino, Asian and white super heroes — both gay and straight,” Hudlin said. “It’s fan base was equally diverse. This new relationship will enable us to not only revive classic Milestone characters, but introduce new ones as well.”
While Cowan spoke of his pride in bringing new voices to the industry and vowed that process would continue, the new Milestone will also have “some ringers.” Namely, DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee, who will draw a book written by Hudlin, and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who will write a book drawn by Cowan.
“We couldn’t be more proud and excited about the opportunity to bring the ‘Dakota’ universe back to DC,” said Lee. “This is a huge step forward for us in bringing readers a more diversified lineup as part of the New DC Universe, and we’re anxiously looking forward to telling new stories that are socially and culturally impactful and representative of the world in which we live.”
Hudlin mentioned plans for action figures and a Static Shock live-action digital series, and it was clear during the morning press conference that announced the return of Milestone that there is plenty of excitement throughout the DC talent roster. Dan Jurgens mentioned that he thought Icon was the coolest name ever for a super hero and wondered why he never thought of that, and Grant Morrison laughed when asked if there were any questions about his own upcoming work, saying he’d rather hear more about Milestone.
“Milestone Media has a long tradition of brining multicultural heroes to life, and DC Entertainment has always been an industry leader with their innovative approaches,” Cowan said. “Working with Geoff and Jim has been great, and Reggie, Derek and I are thrilled to team up with them to bring the Dakota universe of characters back to the fans.”
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