Every year I make a list of the ten best things I did that year. I think everyone should do it. It’s a great way to count your blessings. I do it with my whole family and we all share our favorite moments with each other. It’s fun and can surprise you…sometimes you realize a bad year wasn’t as bad as you thought. And recounting your favorite moments makes focus more on making sure you have more of those in the year to come.
Here’s my list:
1. THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION
Back in 2008 I attended Obama’s inauguration. It was awesome, and it was freezing! I was happy to see him re-elected but didn’t feel compelled to freeze again in 2012. But this year was a whole other thing! Neither cold weather or threats of domestic terrorists could keep me away from the Biden-Harris administration taking their rightful place and saving our nation. And we had good seats.
2. THE EMMY AWARDS
Producing the Oscars was awesome. But producing the Emmys is fun. It was so much fun last year working with Jimmy Kimmel, and it was so much fun this year working with Cedric The Entertainer. Here are some clips from the show:
3. THE RETURN OF MILESTONE
I’m so proud of all the amazing things we have in the works at Milestone Media! Three comic book series – Static, Icon and Rocket, and Hardware!
We will double that number to six series next year!
We have two movies in the works – an animated feature and a live action Static feature film!
A giant omnibus reprinting of the classic Milestone books.
A Black History month special issue like none other!
Murals featuring our characters on walls across the country!
And more to come!
4. HONORING OUR KINGS
I got a phone call from the perfect person to collaborate with on a dream project. Oprah Winfrey wanted to do a Father’s Day special celebrating every kind of Black Dad. As a Black Dad, who had an awesome Black Dad, with so many friends who are awesome Black Dads, it was a dream come true. And if that wasn’t enough, my man Sterling K. Brown is the co-host? Yes!
5. FRIDAY NIGHT VIBES WITH TIFFANY
I had so much fun working with Tiffany Haddish and Deon Cole on our weekly talk show FRIDAY NIGHT VIBES! The range of guests we had on the show was incredible!
6. NAACP IMAGE AWARDS
I’ve been producing this show for nine years now and it keeps getting better. It was also one of the most successful awards shows of the year.
7. COOL FUTURE PROJECTS I CAN’T TALK ABOUT YET
These photos are clues, but they haven’t been officially announced yet. But you’ll probably see one or two of them next year!
8. COOL PROJECTS IN THE WORKS
Sometimes you announce a project, but it’s actually been the works for several years. But even though you finally do an announcement, it still could be years before it is seen! Here’s MUSCLE with Vin Diesel starring and F. Gary Gray directing, and the documentary NUMBER ONE ON THE CALL SHEET with Jamie Foxx and Kevin Hart producing and me directing.
9. TALKING TO PEOPLE
People ask me to talk. A lot. I get invited to appear on podcasts, give commentary on television shows, talk to people in every kind of school. Here’s some of the places I talked this year:
Paul Scheer gives me a call and says he wants to interview me in a comic bookstore. That’s an easy yes for me. Then I do a second interview talking Black Panther. So, I’m on two Marvel series this year. Little did I know I would end up as the alias of the Black Panther on the main promotion of the show!
Cornell Brooks and I know each other from when he headed up the NAACP. He’s now teaching the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where I’ve lectured before. Happy to do it again and the students were great!
Will Haygood, a major writer, says his alma mater, Miami University, where he teaches, wants to give the Freedom Summer of ’64 Award. I gladly accept and we have a great time talking with each other and with the audience!
10. FAMILY TIME DURING PANDEMIC
This has been a very tough year for our family. Even with all the career success, that means nothing in the face of health challenges and death among our family and friends. In tough times like these, family is everything. Fortunately, I’ve got a great one. My children are back in classrooms and doing well. My wife continues to be a pillar of strength, always there for both our immediate family and so many people around us who need a helping hand. Even the isolation of covid had an unexpected benefit. My daughter told me that because we were all together at home every day, she finally figured out what I do for a living.
My takeaway from the year is GRATITUDE. I’m grateful for every bit of good fortune, every positive element in my life. I have seen people who have it all lose what is most important to them, nothing is promised. Thank you to everyone this year and throughout my life who has sent any good vibes my way. They are appreciated.
DC Comics and Milestone Media revealed more details about the anthology they plan to release this coming February during Black History Month, which was initially announced during DC FanDome last month.
Milestones in History will feature Hardware, Icon, Static and more narrating stories “Black trailblazers from across human history,” including Hannibal, the Queen of Sheba, Alexandre Dumas and more.
The 96-page prestige one-shot will cost $9.99 and arrives Feb. 15.
Here’s the full solicitation:
Celebrate Black History Month the Milestone way, as the superpowered citizens of Dakota (including Static, Icon, Rocket, Hardware, and more) narrate the true stories of Black trailblazers from across human history! Witness the military campaigns of Hannibal and the Queen of Sheba, the literary accomplishments of Alexandre Dumas, the World War One dogfights of Eugene Bullard against the legendary Red Baron, and many, many more, all written and drawn by a who’s who of comics and literary talent! On sale February 15th, this 96 page anthology honors Black History from around the world in a beautiful, prestige format book.
Written by REGINALD HUDLIN, ALICE RANDALL, TOURÉ, MICHAEL HARRIOT, and more Art by VARIOUS Cover by CHRISCROSS Variant cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE $9.99 US | 96 pages | Prestige Format | One-shot
Created in the mid-’90s, Milestone Comics sought to add diversity to the comic book world. The DC Comics imprint returned to the spotlight in 2021 with all-new “Season One” reboots of their most popular characters in titles such as Hardware, Icon,Static. With the recent announcement of a Blood Syndicateseries, fans both old and new are excited to experience the innovation and originality that sets Milestone apart from other comic publishers.
Denys Cowan, one of the founders of Milestone, returned to draw one of the characters he co-created in Hardware: Season One. Alongside writer Brandon Thomas, Cowan participated in a roundtable discussion attended by CBR to discuss future plans for Curtis Metcalf and his armored alter ego, and expounded on some of the actions seen in Hardware #3.
Although the characters of the Milestone Universe have thus far remained in their own worlds, for the most part, there have been signs of potential interaction between the different heroes, most noticeably in relation to Hardware and Static. Cowan all but confirmed that there would be more of this in the future, sharing, “There are plans for the different characters to meet eventually. But we don’t want to do everything right away. We want to establish these characters in their own worlds first.”
“People love crossovers because they’re so much fun,” Thomas added cryptically. “I’m looking forward to doing some of that in the future. I don’t know if I can say just how near that future is, but it’s what I want to see, so I’ll just leave it at that.”
“People are still talking about ‘Worlds Collide,’ where we crossed over into the DC Universe,” Cowan added. “I’ve heard them mention that the Dakotaverse doesn’t usually merge. But fans also look at how we did ‘Worlds Collide’ and are hoping to see more stuff like that. So mergers and crossovers are always on our minds, but we have to be conscious of how we do it. We don’t want our characters coming off looking like they’re less than any other characters in the universe, so we have to make sure they’re positioned the right way. ‘Worlds Collide’ was [Milestone co-founder] Dwayne Mcduffie’s story. He just pointed me in the direction he wanted me to go.”
When asked about the positive critical response the relaunches garnered, Thomas displayed sobering humility. “I always want to do better,” the writer admitted. “I appreciate that people are enjoying the book as it is right now, but my goal is for the third issue to be better than the first issue, and that can be really hard to do. I usually take a little time on release day to check out some reviews here and there. The good thing is that right now I don’t really have the time to do that anymore, which is probably better for me because I’m hard enough on myself.”
Thomas gave an example of the drive he feels to continue growing in his craft. “There’s a specific page in Hardware that I was really upset with myself over,” he said. “Dennis knows all about it. And that’s just my personality. I can’t let that stuff go. I’m going to be talking about that page until the end of time.”
When asked about why he chose to take his character to Singapore in Hardware: Season One#3, Thomas revealed, “I’m obsessed with the architecture of Singapore. Take for example their airport. They have an indoor waterfall inside the airport! The audacity of that kind of architecture feels very superhero-like because this stuff feels like it shouldn’t even exist. The same goes for Tokyo, which looks and feels like a cartoon city. I’ve always liked the look and feel of those places, and when we decided that Curtis was going overseas for this part of his adventure, I instantly thought he should go to Singapore… I wanted to see Dennis draw it, and it came out great! There’s more cool stuff coming out of that part of the story!”
Thomas described how he wanted this version of Curtis Metcalf’s Hardware to be portrayed. “I want him to come across as someone who is very comfortable in his own skin,” he shared. “He is very self-assured, but not in an obnoxious way like Tony Stark. There is something about him that is very no-nonsense. In this version of Hardware, where his identity is not concealed, he feels more selfless. He also has a take it or leave it type of attitude, like he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt who he is and what’s important to him. He’s drawn boundaries around himself, and is very clear about what happens when those boundaries are crossed.”
Hardware’s self-imposed boundaries are definitely crossed in the new series, particularly in the actions of primary antagonist Edwin Alva, and Asher Sim, a former partner of Alva’s whose loyalties are brought into question in the third issue. All of this will expose these characters to a side of Metcalf that they certainly don’t want to see and presents the question of whether Hardware can really be considered a hero in light of his extremely aggressive methods.
“Hardware is a good guy… But he’s a little dangerous,” Thomas clarified. “There’s an edge to him, and you don’t want to get on his bad side. That’s the Curtis I’m trying to portray: a person who is as comfortable in his lab in Dakota as he is in Singapore interacting with Asher and going head to head with Alva. This is leading up to some really cool stuff, like the reintroduction of a big-time Hardware villain who will be returning shortly and causing big problems going into the end of this arc.”
Hardware: Season One #3 by Brandon Thomas, Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Rob Leigh is on sale on Nov. 30 from DC Comics.
Wil Haygood and Reginald Hudlin had a Q&A after Hudlin received the Freedom Summer of ’64 Award. Photo by Lexi Whitehead | The Miami Student
Film producer and director Reginald Hudlin became the sixth recipient of Miami University’s Freedom Summer of ’64 Award during a presentation in Hall Auditorium on Nov. 7.
Each year, Miami presents the award to a leader in civil rights and social justice. The name references the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964, when the Western College for Women, now a part of Miami, trained 800 college students to register Black voters in the South.
Hudlin’s career in film began in 1990 with “House Party,” a film he wrote and directed about Black teens throwing a party.
Since then, he has worked as a producer on Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 movie “Django Unchained” and directed and produced “Marshall,” a 2017 film featuring Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice.
President Greg Crawford presented the award to Hudlin alongside Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Cristina Alcalde.
“This is only the sixth time that Miami has had the honor of presenting this award to an extraordinary individual who has dedicated their life to advance diversity and inclusion, changing the fabric of our society,” Crawford said. “Each time I’ve presented this award, I have been humbled by the courage, the innovation and tenacity of the recipient.”
Hudlin thanked the university for the award and spoke about the history of Freedom Summer.
“That Freedom Summer is an incredible legacy … and I am humbled to be given this award,” Hudlin said. “The work I do is my lifetime’s commitment. It’s a joy to do every day, and it’s great to be acknowledged for doing that work.”
Author and Miami alumnus Wil Haygood led a discussion with Hudlin after he was presented with the award. Attendees also received copies of Haygood’s newest book, “Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World.”
“The man who I am about to share the stage with this evening has been a profound influence on changing how we view cinema in this nation,” Haygood said. “Reginald Hudlin’s entire career has been about correcting what was done 100 years ago.”
Hudlin and Haygood discussed a range of topics from Hudlin’s specific projects to the state of Black cinema and education today.
“We’re currently in an incredible upswing where there are more Black movies being made with bigger budgets, wider distribution, bigger audiences,” Hudlin said. “But it takes 20 year cycles. Things get better over time.”
Bottom of Form
This year, the Freedom Summer award kicks off Miami’s inaugural Freedom Film Festival, a weeklong event screening a different movie in Black film history each night in Leonard Theatre, Peabody Hall.
