Juneteenth is approaching fast. 
Black Lightning just saw it’s 4th Season
Impulse is hittin the Flash (Portrayed by a Black Actor)
But on Top of all of this:
Earth - M (THE MILESTONE UNIVERSE) is BACK 
And Season One of Static , Icon, & Hardaware are making its way 
. This is an appreciation post , not only to DC & the Dakotaverse, but To Denys Cowan, Reggie Hudlin, and, the Guy I refer to as “THE ONE 
“ Dwayne McDuffie (RIP) . I’m new to comics (started maybe this time last year) but I’ve always been aware of STATIC becuz of Kids WB. My homeboys tell me I’m reliving the childhood I missed out on. So Thank You DC and Thank to the Staff at Milestone for helping me relive my childhood 
#BIGBANG
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Have you read Milestone Returns or the new Static yet?
So glad these characters and creators get another go, albeit a long overdue one.
#milestone-comics #milestoneforever
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Yeah I did and 
Yeesh these guys came back w/ (no pun intended) a BIG BANG w/ a hell of a Cliffhanger. I like where they’re going with this
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I have finally finished Milestone Compendium One! A few quick thoughts, some of the Milestone series are better than others. Some series seemed to go in weird directions after a solid start (Xombi). I think I like Icon, Hardware, and Blood Syndicate the best. The compendium had Static, Hardware, Blood Syndicate, Shadow Cabinet (one issue), Icon, and Xombi.
After each series had an initial storyline everything built to Shadow War which sort of seemed to come out of nowhere and rushed. The overall arc was fun but felt out of place, as many crossovers do.
Enough can’t be said about how these comics approached real-life issues that are still an issue to this day ranging from drugs, abortion, LGBTQ, and racism. I was actually surprised at how open the dialog of racism was discussed in Static pitting black Americans against Jewish people. Meanwhile, Blood Syndicate while a rough-around-the-edges gang was dealing with racism in other ways and LGBTQ issues.
I will definitely be picking up volume 2 when it is released either later this year or early next year. I know I can read Milestone on DCUI but once I start reading in one format I try to stick with it, if possible.
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Hardware became my favorite of the Milestone books. There isn’t a hero I liked that is so morally complicated like Curtis Metcalf is.
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It took me a minute, but I have read through the first two compendiums of the original Milestone Comics. As I now impatiently await the third compendium, I should share what I think about what I’ve read so far.
STATIC: The animated show was one of my favorites as a kid. And now I finally get to read what the show was based on. Virgil is often referred to as the fun one in this universe, and that is pretty accurate. His personality reminds me a bit of Spider-Man regarding his quips and his more joke-friendly demeanor. But that doesn’t mean things don’t get serious from time to time. I really enjoy how he really is a grounded guy, with some nerdy interests that he enjoys, and does naturally grow as a person. Two things I for sure prefer from the new Static comics are that his family knows about his alter ego and support him and that his costume is more like the show. It’s not that Virgil’s original outfit is bad, just underwhelming.
HARDWARE: The “Season One” version from Milestone Returns is decent, but I could tell that this version is a bit sanitized in a more generic story premise. But Hardware from the original Milestone comics is a more complex and interesting character. He has a very intimate psychological journey. Despite his insistence that he isn’t a good guy, I still very much see him as one.
ICON & ROCKET: The difference between the original and current versions of these characters are…interesting. Icon in the original comics is sometimes criticized as being too conservative in regards to how he sometimes views and interacts with the world. I think that’s balanced out a bit by having Raquel as his partner who is more idealistic and in tune with what’s going on. That dynamic works very well for their 90s world. The current version is still reserved to an extent. But after being convinced by Raquel to become a hero, he does show as being more aware of how to approach things. Raquel in both versions is someone who very much cares about helping her community and the world at large, but still has a ways to go. I’m just glad we have a hero-and-sidekick duo again.
BLOOD SYNDICATE: The original version is enjoyably harsh. It really does capture gang culture and attitudes. Something in between a hero team and a group of villains. Has the potential for a lot of personal stories that can work to develop them as a whole. And probably one of the most diverse teams in comics I’ve ever seen. As for the current version, I feel like something is missing. The “Season One” story felt more like a prelude to Blood Syndicate. I’m sure it’ll pick up once the focus comes back.
XOMBI AKA DUO: The Xombi comics felt a bit too eager to get David Kim into a larger fantastical world in the first few issues. But then there was an issue that did allow him a breather to actually process what has happened to him and things felt more focused. But it still feels like he really isn’t that important in his own book. More like he just happens to be a part of it without a feeling of having him be more important or relevant. That’s partly why I prefer the modern version in “Duo”. Plus, the concept of having two people share the same body is very interesting, especially with how they portrayed that situation. And they even address some of the darker implications of said situation.
As for other additional thoughts? I like how you can tell these comics are from the 90s but they have a timeless quality to them. Both in regards to how they are written as well as the visuals. All the comics so far look cleaner than a lot of other comics from this era I’ve seen. The first major story involving all these books, “Shadow War”, is underwhelming. Most of it is just build-up that focuses on the main characters being recruited but the actual war only lasts a single issue. As for the Shadow Cabinet book, I’ve only read the first 4 issues but I dig it and see the potential. Of course, “Worlds Collide” should be addressed. Much better than the previous crossover, but still felt like it could be a little shorter. Long story short, there is a lot to love with Milestone!
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Absolutely!
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That’s pretty accurate. There’s obviously huge differences like having a family and being a young black teenager from a working class family, but it’s accurate. I think the most shocking thing about his comic origins in the original was that the reason this nice kid got caught in the Bang Baby explosion was because he was planning to kill a bully on Paris Island. That’s dark.
Totally. I didn’t know how to fit this in, but I love Freida, his best friend and love interest in this series. I think all of their scenes together were so perfect. The issues where they just talk on the phone together. God, those were so funny and sweet. I remember thinking how jealous I was at Vigil when I was a teenager. 
I read both Blood Syndicate iterations and I really enjoy them. I had way more fun reading the original Blood Syndicate series, but I really like the ideas in the latest series. Characters like Rob Chaplick I did miss from the original, but I love how this new series focused on setting up this team. I’m probably going to come back in Season 2.
Also, @moderators. I think the original Blood Syndicate series has a problem on the DCI app where in the place of their omnibus, for some odd reason, the Pennyworth series is there. I don’t think that’s correct. 
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Thank you very much for the report! 
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My favorite is the Iconic one.
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Which version of the Iconic one do you prefer?
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Original. August Freeman VII
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I always caught an episode of Static Shock before hebrew school and I remember being really jealous because Virgil never had to go to hebrew school.
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Haha! True — but maybe it was nice to feel like he was keeping you some sort of company throughout, right?
I remember my experience with Static Shock as a kid was what I woke up to on Saturday mornings on KidsWB. IIRC it played too early in the daytime on weekdays for me to watch it — my first full viewing experience of the entire show wasn’t until about 3 years ago!
I binged it over a few weeks. It made me really miss the old style and the gags of that time.
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Static: Shadows of Dakota #6 is a really damn good issue. I loved the back and forth between Virgio and Ebon regarding their methids and perspectives on how to help Dakota and the people in it. I’m kind of a sucker for one of these interactions if it has good writing and this example definitely does.
Also, have to give credit to the art of this book when it comes to showing off Ebon and his powers. I remember him a fair bit from the show since he was created there and didn’t show up in comics until this series. I love the way it uses different shades of Black and very dark shades of other colors to show off his powers and scenes, giving it a bit of a Horror feel at times
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YES! Nikolas Draper-Ivey’s rendition of the Static cast is my absolute favorite, hands down. I follow him across social media because he usually posts works-in-progress of his art for these comics, and I love seeing how he takes his ideas and shapes them into these characters. He spoke a lot about trying to bring some of that eerieness back into Ebon whenever you would see him pop up in the show, and I think he just nailed it in this series.
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Actually talked about the first few issues of Icon vs Hardware when they came out on let’s talk about anything DC. The posts are buried in there, so I wouldn’t recommend finding them.
That being said, I think I like this interpretation of Hardware better than Brandon Thomas wrote him in the Hardware series. Curtis Metcalf is the smartest person in the Milestone universe, but one thing that I always liked about this character was his flaws, where his heroism often lacks the wisdom of Icon. He has good intentions, and I wouldn’t call him a villain here. But hardware decision to rewrite the timeline to make life convenient for people like him shows his ambitious nature to make the world he wants to, regardless of the consequences.
I obviously enjoy a lot with Hardware here, but Icon is interesting here as well. We even see a world where, without rocket, he becomes more callous toward human beings. Still is the good old fashion Icon, but he is a lot more cynical in that one timeline, and it’s something I found interesting. Your overall enjoyment of Rocket storyline, which is largely independent to the Icon vs Hardware storyline, is entirely up to you. If you like Mean girls, you’ll like that stuff as well.
It’s definitely not perfect, but I enjoy a lot in it. I haven’t been talking about in a while because the series hasn’t properly finished yet, but will soon once the finale issue gets on DC infinite.
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I’ll admit thag while this version of Curtis still isn’t quite like the OG in terms of moral complexity, this time around he is closer to that original interpretation than in Hardware Season One. And I really like Icon here. In fact, the Icon of this current Milestone Universe is probably my preferred version compared to the OG version. Granted I’m still waiting on more Compendiums to come out so I can read more of the original comics. And there is nothing wrong with how Icon in the OG was written, just different.
A couple of personal nit picks I have right now. I’m for some reason thrown off by having a Vandal Savage variant on this Earth. I get this makes sense from a multiverse perspective but it still feels weird to me. Nothing bad or significant, but ya know. Also, I’m a bit surprised that Brainiac can just jump universes that easily. I assumed his deal is he wants all the information of his own native universe.
I’m also curious to see how this builds into this Milestone Universe’s version of Worlds Collide. I would LOVE to see the current Super Fam of the DCU meet these Milestone characters! Let Curtis and Steel tinker and invent together, I loved those two working together in the OG Worlds Collide
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Edwin Alva: corrupt CEO of Alva Industries, member of the criminal enterprise SYSTEM, arch enemy of Hardware. Antagonist of the Hardware series, Edwin Alva villainy and rivalry with Hardware is more complicated than your average villain.
Former mentor and father figure to the hero. Curtis Metcalf became a vigilante after discovering Alva was operating a criminal enterprise. His motivation for destroying Alva criminal operations is not exclusively on the noble good, he’s doing it because Alva denoted their close mentor relationship to that one of a useful employee. Their friction is prevalent theme in the Hardware series and even later in the series when they became allies, their rivalry and antagonism still lingered whenever their were in the same room together.
Edwin Alva is not just a generic Lex Luthor pastiche of a evil corporate businessman either. His more self-aware of his egomania and while definitely smug and cunning, his also complex due to his actions in the series inspired by Hardware to want to dismantle his own criminal empire with Hardware help and to be a better person. It’s why even he’s bad, he’s also great, and why I like him so much.
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