Milestone Comics
| Status | Defunct (as publisher, 1997) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Founder | Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Headquarters location | New York City |
| Publication types | Comic books |
| Fiction genres | Superhero |
Milestone Media is a company best known for creating Milestone Comics, which were published and distributed by DC Comics, and the Static Shock cartoon series. It was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers, consisting of Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle. The founders believed that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comics, and wished Milestone Media to address this.
Christopher Priest participated in the early planning stages of Milestone Media, and was originally slated to become the editor-in-chief of the new company, but bowed out for personal reasons before any of Milestone's titles were published. Davis left Milestone in 1995, after the imprint had launched, to become president of the new Motown Machine Works imprint, which was published by Image Comics. Cowan soon joined him to serve as editor in chief.
All Milestone Media titles were set in a continuity dubbed the "Dakotaverse", referring to the fictional midwestern city of Dakota in which most of the early Milestone stories were set. Before any titles were published, an extensive "bible" was created by McDuffie and other early creators which provided back-story and information on all of the original Dakotaverse characters, as well as detailed information about the history and geography of Dakota. Cowan produced the original character sketches that served as a guide for the other artists.
Although Milestone comics were published through DC Comics, they did not fall under DC Comics' editorial control; DC retained only the right not to publish any material they objected to. Milestone Media retained the copyright of their properties and had the final say on all merchandising and licensing deals pertaining to them. In essence, DC licensed the characters, editorial services, and creative content of the Milestone books for an annual fee and a share of the profits. Dwayne McDuffie said that DC held up this agreement even though some of Milestone's storylines made them "very uncomfortable" as they were from perspectives that DC weren't used to. The biggest conflict they had was when an issue of Static showed the hero kissing his girlfriend on a bed, with unopened condoms visible. DC didn't want to publish this cover on grounds that it was using sex to sell comics; Milestone covered most of the image as a compromise. McDuffie believed it made DC uncomfortable because it was specifically "black sexuality".
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