Milestone Media - ep. by Stephyn Phillips

A short take on comic book company Milestone Media
Written by Stephyn Phillips
Read by Avery Brooks

Transcript

While comic book series are widely popular today, the 1990s marked the peak of comics’ collectability. This era allowed many companies to publish a variety of content, leading to more diversity in both characters and creators.

One notable example was Milestone Media, a group of African American creators determined to bring a diverse world of superheroes to life.

You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions—a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American artistic productions and more.

In 1993, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Dwayne McDuffie, and others launched Milestone to address the underrepresentation of Black characters in comics. With four flagship titles—Icon, Hardware, Blood Syndicate, and Static—Milestone delivered remarkable Black heroes and compelling stories. The company also featured Black creators and editors, breaking through barriers that had limited the representation of Black heroes in comics.

Milestone expanded its titles and even had its own crossover events—a staple of comic universes. Although the comic market crashed a few years after Milestone’s founding, the company made the most of its time, producing iconic characters and refreshing tired old comic tropes. After Milestone shut down in 1997, Cowan and McDuffie brought Static to television with the Emmy Award-winning Static Shock animated series.

 Milestone Media was revived in 2015 by a new generation of diverse creators, bringing back its beloved characters and allowing them to receive a remarkable reception.

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This episode was written by Stephyn Phillips. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali and Howard Rambsy. 

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Remarkable Receptions is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.  For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.