I have to come clean about something. I wasn’t aware of the existence of Milestone until the announcement of the Milestone Initiative. As a kid, I was a fan of the show Static Shock but I forgot Static was a DC character for years. Due to me not being alive back when Milestone originally published comics, I never read those original stories. But after checking out the new Static book that recently came out, I figured I should read all the other books. So, let’s just dive right in with…
MILESTONE RETURNS #1
The one-shot sets the stage for the first wave of books to come out. I don’t have a lot of thoughts about this single issue since it’s mainly set up for the main books, but there is some cool and interesting stuff that grabs your attention. But now, we witness the return of the cool with…
STATIC: SEASON ONE
I think this is a great mini-series! There is a sense of life and energy in this book that really engaged me and sucked me in. Virgil is relatable, as well as the struggles and motivations of many of these characters. The only major exception is Hotstreak, who isn’t a super deep or complex villain. But I wasn’t expecting him to be that, and he still provided importance in the form of pushing Virgil’s arc. I also appreciate the unique openness Virgil has with his family and close friends about him being a new hero. But let’s now take a look at someone who has more experience with…
ICON & ROCKET
Let me just say that I love the concept of this book. An alien who has been on Earth for close to two hundred years meets a young girl that pushes him to reconnect with the planet and help it. Their journey is made more intriguing and smart when they address more societal and abstract problems that plague the world as well as specific communities. And I just appreciate this is a hero & sidekick book. I understand that in modern superhero stories, young heroes just start off on their own as opposed to being taken under a hero’s wing and there are good reasons for this shift. But I do feel like something is lost when we move away from sidekicks because the younger heroes are also important to the more established heroes. And this book shows that importance in a couple of key moments. The only minor criticism I have is the timeline. The “Milestone Returns” one-shot has the Big Bang in Dakota as the kicking-off event for this universe, which does make sense. But this mini-series actually starts off before that happens, which does feel kinda weird. Plus, one other kit pick I have is that we don’t really see the public’s reaction to Icon & Rocket’s official debut to the world. Instead, we get a news reporter interviewing people about who Icon & Rocket are and not getting any cooperation. But we do see how the first encounter and important conversation between Icon and Rocket play out, which is just as essential. Finally, let’s wrap up the first year with…
HARDWARE
Curtis Metcalf is on the run as Alva Industries frames him as the one responsible for the Big Bang in Dakota. Now, Curtis has the making of an interesting character which we do see a bit off in this mini-series. But I just feel like something is missing to make me as interested in this book as the others. The story feels and proceeds like other similar stories/movies with the same general premise without a whole lot to make it unique. This could very much just be a me thing and have nothing to do with the book itself. And I still want to see more of this character, so hopefully I feel differently about his other outings.
And that’s a wrap for the first year of stories! Overall, I really dig these characters, stories and world. Tell me what you think of these books. And also tell me if you’ve read the original MIlestone comics and your thoughts on those stories.
