Milestone

[C-Dot]

Let's discuss.

Thoughts on the state of Milestone?
Thoughts on the characters?
Thoughts on what could be done with them?
Thoughts on Milestone in general?
Etc.

[GlennSimpson]

If you start a thread, you have to start the discussion.

[C-Dot]

If you start a thread, you have to start the discussion.

Well that is the idea considering the whole point of the thread. But anyone can speak on the topic.

[C-Dot]

The New 52....I felt it would have been a great launch point for the Milestone heroes. You have a universe of characters that could easily be integrated and all it took to add them was just adding "Dakota" on the map next to "Metropolis', "Gotham", "Central City", etc. Building up the locale as a premiere destination in the new DC (not just contained in one book but known in other books) and let the heroes start from there. But putting Static in NYC, Cyborg's hometown (now Detroit for some reason), was something I didn't necessarily agree with. I understand the whole idea, but a sense of familiarity for those who know Static and an intro into the whole Milestone world with Static as the bridge would have paid off far more than just putting Static in unfamiliar territory. When it comes to world building, it wouldn't have been much of a struggle to just take what made the original series and the TV series (Emmy winning TV series btw) work and make it fit in the formula of the New 52.

[C-Dot]

Also, there's Icon.....I feel that Icon and Rocket could definitely be utilized as active heroes instead of limbo. Looking at how the New 52 is, Icon could still be Augustus Freeman and have a role that wouldn't be too far off from his original incarnation. Plus a Super-level character who isn't alt universe would be a good thing.

[dancj]

Honestly the whole concept of Milestone always left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm all for getting more non-white characters into comics and more non-white creators working on them, but having them into a separate universe with a separate imprint just feels like segregation. Surely it's better to drive to have more non white creators and characters in the main DCU and imprint instead.

The set up these days is much better with the characters sharing the same universe. Do they still use the Milestone imprint for them? Not sure.

[Double 0]

Honestly the whole concept of Milestone always left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm all for getting more non-white characters into comics and more non-white creators working on them, but having them into a separate universe with a separate imprint just feels like segregation. Surely it's better to drive to have more non white creators and characters in the main DCU and imprint instead.

The set up these days is much better with the characters sharing the same universe. Do they still use the Milestone imprint for them? Not sure.

Shine in their own light > Constantly overshadowed by DC's cashcows.

Same applies for the Wildstorm characters, IMO. I mean, Stormwatch/Authority is a shell of what it once was.

[FanboyStranger]

Honestly the whole concept of Milestone always left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm all for getting more non-white characters into comics and more non-white creators working on them, but having them into a separate universe with a separate imprint just feels like segregation. Surely it's better to drive to have more non white creators and characters in the main DCU and imprint instead.

The set up these days is much better with the characters sharing the same universe. Do they still use the Milestone imprint for them? Not sure.

The thing is that the Milestone founders wanted their own universe and their own characters, not just to use other people's toys. It was their choice to create the Milestone Universe as its own distinct thing. It made sense at the time, much like a company like FUBU ("For Us, By Us"), started in 1992, made sense, too. The spirit of Black entrepreneurship and ownership was very much the zeitgeist of the time. Unfortunately, the speculator bubble did Milestone no favors, despite the overall quality of their line.

I think these days it's extremely difficult to get sales on any character outside of a certain few mostly attached to long running franchises. Valiant, for example, is the best supehero universe around in terms of overall quality, but other than a few explosive #1s, their sales aren't setting the world on fire. I think the only chance for Milestone books to actually survive in this conservative market is for them to leave DC, but the word from Michael Davis is that they're still happy being connected to DC.

[Desh]

Honestly the whole concept of Milestone always left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm all for getting more non-white characters into comics and more non-white creators working on them, but having them into a separate universe with a separate imprint just feels like segregation. Surely it's better to drive to have more non white creators and characters in the main DCU and imprint instead.

The set up these days is much better with the characters sharing the same universe. Do they still use the Milestone imprint for them? Not sure.

Well, I think the ultimate fault would fall more on DC Comics than Milestone. From what I've heard, the Milestone creators wanted to create comics that were overall more friendly and welcoming to minorities, likely because they felt comics in general weren't friendly or welcoming enough to them, or at least did not represent them as well and as much as the Milestone creators would have liked. So there was a niche they could fill. The creators of the imprint went about filling that niche themselves because the larger comic companies were not.

So, if DC Comics wants more non-white characters and creators, and to utilize them well, then awesome! The sad truth is that doesn't seem to happen a lot in this industry (at least for the characters), or at least not as much as some would like, so I don't think it's right to blame the non-white creators for going about and doing it themselves. I think they only did that because they weren't entirely satisfied with what companies like DC were doing in some areas.

[dancj]

Shine in their own light >Same applies for the Wildstorm characters, IMO. I mean, Stormwatch/Authority is a shell of what it once was.

True, but Wildstorm wasn't racially segregated.

[dancj]

The thing is that the Milestone founders wanted their own universe and their own characters, not just to use other people's toys. It was their choice to create the Milestone Universe as its own distinct thing.

Yeah. If anyone wants to create their own comic universe, best of luck to them. I'm just uncomfortable with the racial segregation going on. Maybe if it wasn't done as a DC imprint/alternate reality where it felt like DC had their ethnic minorities as some kind of 'ghetto'.

Well, I think the ultimate fault would fall more on DC Comics than Milestone. From what I've heard, the Milestone creators wanted to create comics that were overall more friendly and welcoming to minorities, likely because they felt comics in general weren't friendly or welcoming enough to them, or at least did not represent them as well and as much as the Milestone creators would have liked. So there was a niche they could fill. The creators of the imprint went about filling that niche themselves because the larger comic companies were not.

So, if DC Comics wants more non-white characters and creators, and to utilize them well, then awesome! The sad truth is that doesn't seem to happen a lot in this industry (at least for the characters), or at least not as much as some would like, so I don't think it's right to blame the non-white creators for going about and doing it themselves. I think they only did that because they weren't entirely satisfied with what companies like DC were doing in some areas.

It's a bit nasty. These days DC and Marvel seem to be making a lot of effort to get non-white characters into books (not sure about the creators) - but when they do it with existing characters or franchises then they get criticised for changing existing properties and when they add new characters they fail - not because they're ethnic minorities, but just because they're new characters who haven't been around for decades. As far as I can tell the most recent one to really stick was Wolverine and that's thirty or forty years ago.


Personally I'm happy with both approaches - though they should try a bit harder to avoid bad stereotypes. It'll take a lot of plugging away to get a decent saturation of successful characters though.

[ExcelsiorPrime]

There wasn't segregation. Milestone wasn't an exclusively Black universe. So where are You basing your argument?

Lets look at the super hero teams & characters. Is Vertigo comics Segregational?

[Robotman]

Well Comic Con is coming up. Yet another chance to bug DC about the status of the Milestone characters.

[dancj]

There wasn't segregation. Milestone wasn't an exclusively Black universe. So where are You basing your argument?

It wasn't full on segregation, but the vast majority of the characters were ethnic minorities and as far as I'm aware all of the creators.

My issue isn't just what happened in the Milestone universe though, it's the fact that by doing Milestone comics these creators were removing themselves from the big two publishers thereby making leaving Mavel and DC as predominantly white universes and Milestone as a predominantly non-white universe rather than having universes which aren't predominantly anything/

Is Vertigo comics Segregational?

What?

[SilverZeal]

It wud b really REALLY kool 4 DC 2 release some well written & superbly illustr8 minis & maxi series 4 Static, Xombi, Icon, Kobalt & Dharma all inter-connectd with central plotline but allowing each title 2 hv their 2 or 3 co-existing sub-plots centred on d lead xcter of theri respectv titles. Also allowing d lead xcters 2 of d othr minis &/or maxi-series 2 feature or guest star in each othrs bks.

SHADOW CABINET wud fit PERFECTLY in d current state of d nu52.

Hving said dat...Icon's costume nds a do-ovr.