The long-gestating relaunch of Milestone Media has resurfaced Saturday - with news of it in the 'DC Comics Surprise' panel at DC Fandome.
The Milestone line at DC will be revived this February 2021, beginning with a Static Shock comic book series that will be published digital-first. Later that year, the previously announced Static Shock series by writer Reggie Hudlin and artist Kyle Baker will be released as an original graphic novel.
Milestone Comics co-founder Denys Cowan is illustrating a team-up series titled Icon & Rocket, to be written by Hudlin.
DC is also promising more Milestone titles to be announced at a later date.
But before all that, DC will be releasing a 17-page sampler for what's to come on September 12 - the date of the second part of DC Fandome - called Milestone Returns #0. The issue, written by Hudlin and Greg Pak, will "re-introduce fans to Milestone characters such as Static Shock, Icon, Rocket, Duo, and others."
The artists involved include Cowan, Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, Khoi Pham, Scott Hanna, Bill Sienkiewicz, Don Ho, Alex Sinclair, and Deron Bennett.
Here is a preview:
DC then plans to release some of the original '90s and '00s era Milestone comics digitally. These long out-of-print comics have never been released digitally before.
Originally launched in 1993, Milestone was a standalone superhero universe created and owned by four Black writers and artists - Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle. They licensed their creations out to DC, who published it under an imprint called Milestone. The major characters/titles in it were Static, Hardware, Icon, Blood Syndicate, Shadow Cabinet, and Xombi. The line eventually shutdown in 1997, however a follow-up limited series titled Milestone Forever was published by DC in 2010.
DC later licensed Static, Icon, and Rocket for use in the main DC line, as well as in animated projects such as Young Justice and Static Shock, along with the video games DC Universe Online, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Young Justice: Legacy.
In 2015, DC announced a new partnership with Milestone Media to re-launch the joint line and its defacto flagship character Static. The relaunch was postponed due to disagreements between the owners of Milestone Media and the estate of the late Milestone co-founder Dwayne McDuffie. The McDuffie family filed a lawsuit against Milestone in 2017, but it was later settled out of court.
Circa 2017, Milestone and DC's plans were to relaunch the characters as its own line titled 'Earth-M,' which would coexist with the DC Multiverse. The line was to be launched with DC Universe: Rebirth-style one-shot titled Milestone (by writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee), followed by new series such as Static Shock (by Reginald Hudlin, and Kyle Baker), Love Army (by Hudlin and an unnamed artist), Duo (by writer Greg Pak and an unnamed artist), and an anthology titled Earth M.
It appears that Hudlin/Baker Static Shock series is being carried over to these revised 2021 relaunch plans, but DC has not mentioned if any of the other previously-announced projects will reach fruition.
Stay tuned for more on DC and Milestone here at Newsarama.
Milestone's heroes are part of a dynamic tapestry of black superheroes that changed the face of comic books.
