Icon, Static, Xombie: the Milestone milestones

[matt levin]

Have just finished rereading Milestone Comics "Xombie" and that prompted me to re-read "Icon", and that to re-read "Static", which I'm currently doing.

Oh, these are GOOD comics! "Xombie's" unending weirdness charges unrelentingly to a sudden (an unexpected pulled-plug) end. "Icon" barely grazed the 'Superman as a rich black guy' possibility as a story, and went through issue after issue dealing with far more realistic people with realistic problems than most comics today manage, and still packed in plenty of comic book fantasy.

How can we get "Icon" published as a trade today? How could it NOT become a best seller in a market begging for true black heroes in comics?

"Static", too, deals with pretty normal teenage situations as well as superhero hijinks, and is chock full of fun and clever dialogue.

Matt
hoping y'all go look for these comics and enjoy'm!

[Kid Monster]

XOMBIE was a thing of beauty. Very fun, very weird little comic with genuinely original characters and a cool "Doom Patrol"-ish vibe to it. Like the very best of Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis at his peak, it had a new "Big Crazy Idea" on every page.

Besides, any comic book that has a Supergirl-like teen hero named "Catholic Girl", who works for the Vatican, and wears as her costume a frisky Catholic schoolgirl uniform, and then plays that character completely dead straight is automatic quarter-bin gold.

I remember KOBOLT (sp?) as being good too, but no longer have my issues. It was a pretty merciless parody of 1990's comic cliches, with a Punisher-meets-Cable-spikes-and-chains-and shoulder-pads anti-hero who is forced to accept a teen sidekick when one of his black-ops Washington contacts finally calls in his favor. Pretty funny stuff.

[hondobrode]

The whole line was excellent. I thought at the time it was just a cheap marketing stunt on DC's part, but later picked up some issues on sale and was tremendously impressed by the talent and high level of stories both in art and writing. I have most of the Milestone line-up and still look to fill in the holes in my collection. I think this is one of those products that was before it's time.

Maybe Checker could reprint them. I highly doubt DC will. Sorta complicated the relationship between DC the publisher and Milestone the copyright holder. I think Dwayne McDuffie could get it done, but for years he's been trying to get DC to buy the characters and integrate them into the DCU. I would love to see it done, but I think DC doesn't think there's enough of a following for it to justify paying any kind of serious money for the properties. They have tried to license them but Dwayne is adamant about certain issues he wants represented a certain way that doesn't match what DC would like to present, so everything's at a standstill, at least for now.

I'd love to see the characters return, but not bastardized or watered down. With the market getting stronger and stronger, maybe Milestone could come back on its own. I hope !

[Dwayne McDuffie]

I think Dwayne McDuffie could get it done, but for years he's been trying to get DC to buy the characters and integrate them into the DCU.

No, I haven't. I have no interest in selling the Milestone characters to DC. Under certain conditions, I wouldn't mind them appearing in the DCU but DC has made it clear that they want total control over the characters and I'm not willing to give that to them.

Glad you enjoyed the comics.

[Blake Petit]

Sadly, I didn't read nearly enough of these back in the day. I was in high school, money was tight and I didn't really branch out of my "comfort zone" of the books I'd grown up with.

I'd LOVE to see these get reprinted today.

[Sir Tim Drake]

Sadly, I didn't read nearly enough of these back in the day. I was in high school, money was tight and I didn't really branch out of my "comfort zone" of the books I'd grown up with.

I'd LOVE to see these get reprinted today.

Welcome to the board, Blake-- I recognize your name from numerous lettercols.

[matt levin]

Hi Dwayne, Mr. McDuffie, sir!

I would really like to persuade you to reprint (and if not 'you', than have you persuade whomever...) "Icon" particularly, and "Static" secondly, in the New Popular Trade Reprint Format (the, ahem, NPTRF) -- and would appreciate any suggestions how I, Ordinary Reader, might go about helping this happen. (Ie., anyone in particular I might write to requesting reprints; are fan petitions of any real use...and so on).

Thanks for your participation in this forum, and, very much, for the comics you and Milestone published so many years now gone by! They still entertain and enlighten.

best wishes,
Matt

[FanboyStranger]

I would really like to persuade you to reprint (and if not 'you', than have you persuade whomever...) "Icon" particularly, and "Static" secondly, in the New Popular Trade Reprint Format (the, ahem, NPTRF) -- and would appreciate any suggestions how I, Ordinary Reader, might go about helping this happen. (Ie., anyone in particular I might write to requesting reprints; are fan petitions of any real use...and so on).



There is an Icon trade that collects the first eight issues. It dates from 1996, but I picked it up about two years ago. Great stuff. If they were to reprint more of the series, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.

EDIT: There is also a Static trade that came out in 2000 that collects the first four issues of the Milestone title. I believe that was about the time that the Static Shock cartoon first appeared. I remember a new mini from DC around that time as well.

[Blake Petit]

Welcome to the board, Blake-- I recognize your name from numerous lettercols.

Heh -- I did used to be quite the letterhack. :D

Now I usually save my commentary for my column and reviews over at Comixtreme (http://www.comixtreme.com). It was my involvement in the whole Rick Olney debacle that drew me here.

[hondobrode]

Dwayne, I am SO looking forward to your FF, not because I haven't liked JMS' run, which I have, but I have yet to read anything written by you that I didn't like. I seriously do believe that the Milestone line was some of the best stuff I've ever read and that it's really a shame that A. it's not collected somewhere and B. it's not being self-published, or at least over at Dark Horse, or Image, or Dynamite, or somewhere now. Surely, someone else could maybe do something with the publishing side.

[Allan Harvey]

Over on her blog, Colleen Doran (http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=995) has run a few pages from the unpublished Milestone series Technique that she did the art for. Lovely work from this much underrated artist.

[Perry Holley]

Over on her blog, Colleen Doran (http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=995) has run a few pages from the unpublished Milestone series Technique that she did the art for. Lovely work from this much underrated artist.Those pages are really nice.

I miss Milestone. Probably the company with the most solid quality of published titles since First comics.