Support NeoGAF

[ElBoxyBrown]

Before you click the link please keep in mind this is an opinion piece by Michael Davis.
Link.

Milestone 2.1 announced to the world. Milestone is back! One of if not the biggest comic book stories of 2015.

I find out on that day I was no longer a part of it.

Since then little has been heard. No press, interviews and no books.

I have no knowledge of the inner workings at DC or Milestone nor has anyone at DC or Milestone ever told me ‘why’ I was excluded.

That said here’s my two-cent conclusion.

Milestone 2.0, in my opinion, is dead for four reasons.

1. Except for Denys Cowan comics are not a priority for the partners.

One partner runs a filmed entertainment empire the other oversees a mainstream financial news publishing juggernaut. You think making comics is more important than interviewing the head of the Federal Reserve or producing the most famous award show in the world? Of the four of us, only Denys and I would answer yes.

Comics is where we live and dream and have all our lives. Denys and I were more than just fans of comics we chose that as our life’s work and pursued it. There’s a massive difference between the other M2.0 founders and us.

That’s not a dig that’s a fact.

2. The second reason Milestone is dead and why I wrote the events of 20 plus years ago is corporate bullsh-t like what happened to me. Someone at DC or Milestone is holding fast to a way of doing things and because of such everything stops until the problem is resolved or made to go away.

Who do I think is holding up the deal by insisting things get done a specific way? Looking at the playing field, it’s obvious DC does not need Milestone that’s a fact. So much of the fact that DC just announced another push into diversity with Dark Matter.

And the way they are doing it is gangsta.

I may be wrong, but DC seems to be going after that diversity dollar with a wee bit of help from those who have come before and know how to do it.

Lion’s Forge Comics has been vocal about their diversity for years. When Joe Illidge came on that kicked it up another level. Those in the know call Lion’s Forge ‘the Forge.’

In June 2017 DC releases, Dark Days: The Forge.

Most likely a coincidence as in the Dark Matter tagline: “Forged From, Metal the New Age of Heroes.”

The Black Age of Comics is the tagline for the East Coast Black Age of Comics and has been for almost two decades. It’s also the unofficial name for the movement within the Black comic space.

“Dark Matters” has a strikingly close ring to ‘Black Lives Matter. Now all of this is most likely coincidence.

You must admit it’s a little freaky.

What is certainly not a coincidence Dark Matters is a major line with diversity at its core and Milestone isn’t mentioned anywhere. That’s a ‘we don’t need you’ if ever there was one so it does look like the holdup is DC.

NOPE.

I don’t think so for my money it’s someone at Milestone and that brings me to number three.

3. Milestone has no infrastructure. There’s no central hub no office no staff. Two of the partners have nice big spaces they work from, with employees but the work done there isn’t Milestone unless something has changed since I was involved.

Also, one guy is doing movies another guy is running a magazine, and he’s doing that from New York. DC is in Los Angeles so any face to face must wait until they are all available.

Deny’s Cowan’s is the only person whose business is creating comics but with no central Milestone infrastructure behind him and his partner’s crazy schedules, there is no way in Hell he can do all that needs to get the deal done by himself.

January 2018 will mark three years since DC and Milestone made that historic announcement. That’s a long time, right? No. Not really. Not if you’re making movies and putting out magazines. But to the fans?

It’s a f-cking eternity.

It’s also not correct. Milestone 2.0 formed in Feb 2011. The first meeting with DC was a few weeks after that.

January 2018 will mark SEVEN years since DC and Milestone had their first meeting. My thoughts on why Milestone is dead is conjecture. Those dates are real, and yes that’s a long time.

But to the fans?

It’s a f-ck you.

I don’t think any Milestone partners feel like that. But with silence from Milestone, it may seem so. I haven’t talked to Denys, but I know this is killing him.

Hell, it’s killing me.

4. The fourth reason I think Milestone is dead can also be the reason they don’t have to be.

But that will have to wait until next time.

I highly recommend you read the whole thing as Davis goes through decades of Milestone and him being fucked over by the heads at DC and Warner.

And if all of what he says is true then Static is never coming back.

 

[Volimar]

I bet we'll see more of Static after BP rakes in the cash at the box office.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

I bet we'll see more of Static after BP rakes in the cash at the box office.

Why use Static when DC can keep pushing Cyborg.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Why use Static when DC can keep pushing Cyborg.

(Shudder)

 

[caliph95]

Why use Static when DC can keep pushing Cyborg.

But Cyborg is suchan interes- *gag*

 

[Lord Frieza]

Lol at that #4. Why even include that?

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

(Shudder)

But Cyborg is suchan interes- *gag*

I wonder if the Black Lightning show is suppose to be a fill-in for Static. Make it even more easy to keep him in limbo.

 

[Unspeakable Evil]

I wonder if the Black Lightning show is suppose to be a fill-in for Static. Make it even more easy to keep him in limbo.

I honestly don't think DC cares enough about Static like that he needs a fill in.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

But Cyborg is suchan interes- *gag*

 

[Kart94]

But Cyborg is suchan interes- *gag*

Teen Titans cartoon though

 

[Rumblebones]

But Cyborg is suchan interes- *gag*

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

 

[Makonero]

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

Same here, I don't get it. Oh well.

 

[Slayven]

I wonder if the Black Lightning show is suppose to be a fill-in for Static. Make it even more easy to keep him in limbo.

It's not that deep, why pay for something you already got in house?

 

[Penguin]

Yeah, it's a damn shame too.

 

[Magwik]

Surely Ed Boon and his inclusion of Static Shock for Injustice 2 DLC will help

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

It's not that deep, why pay for something you already got in house?

What Milestone character does DC not have a counterpart to?

Surely Ed Boon and his inclusion of Static Shock for Injustice 2 DLC will help

I think you should keep dreaming.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

Got pushed too hard too fast. Dude went from a second stringer on a minor league team to replacing Martian Manhunter as part of the "Big 7" pretty much overnight.

 

[Slayven]

What Milestone character does DC not have a counterpart to?

I think you should keep dreaming.

Deathwish, vigilante that specializes in sexual assault cases after he was sexual assaulted himself

And Manual Dexterity

 

[Blader]

The punctuation in this article is driving me crazy.

 

[caliph95]

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

Teen Titans cartoon though

Got pushed too hard too fast. Dude went from a second stringer on a minor league team to replacing Martian Manhunter as part of the "Big 7" pretty much overnight.

Pretty much this i don''t hate him in fact i really like him in teen titans or at least the cartoon and was one of my favourites in the show. I imo just find him boring on the JL and didn't care for him replacing MM especially since it was obivous he is there becuase the team was too white and Geoff Johns liked Hal and made him big so we can't use stewart. He basically gets stuck being tech support to justify his spot

 

[Fancyarcher]

Milestone has been dead for years as far as I can tell. All of their properties are almost 100% owned by DC at this point anyway.

Got pushed too hard too fast. Dude went from a second stringer on a minor league team to replacing Martian Manhunter as part of the "Big 7" pretty much overnight.

Teen Titans was hardly "minor league" though, and Cyborg has been one of the main members since the 80's. For over a decade at one point it was the comic series that was keeping DC in the green in a lot of respects. Cyborg's push however does feel very forced, and I can't say I'm a big fan of it. Also I think he works with the titans.

I agree he has a lot of potential too (there are no bad characters IMO, just bad writers). He's got a good backstory at least.

 

[Emperor_EL]

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

Same here, I don't get it. Oh well.

Because DC doesn't care about the character as much as they pretend to. He didn't get a Nu52 solo book until 2015 despite being a founding member of the Justice League. He didn't do much of anything during Johns' run on Justice League even though he says Cyborg is one of his favorite characters. He's devoid of a personality, they put minimal effort into building up a supporting cast for him, and they keep rehashing the "Am I a man or, am I a machine?" story beat. He's DC's Carol Danvers.

 

[Merc_]

Why do fans hate on Cyborg so much? There's so much potential with that character. I've liked his solo book as far I read it.

Because he's fucking boring.

 

[caliph95]

Milestone has been dead for years as far as I can tell. All of their properties are 100% owned by DC at this point anyway.



Teen Titans was hardly "minor league" though, and Cyborg has been one of the main members since the 80's. For over a decade at one point it was the comic series that was keeping DC green in a lot of respects. Cyborg's push however does feel very forced, and I can't say I'm a big fan of it. Also I think he works with the titans.

He really doesn't work in JL where the characters there (prepare or inarticulate commentary) are larger than life (i guess thats the right phrase) and feel like big deals while cyborg feels like a hanger on and tech support

 

[Fancyarcher]

He really doesn't work in JL where the characters there (prepare or inarticulate commentary) are larger than life (i guess thats the right phrase) and feel like big deals while cyborg feels like a hanger on and tech support

Well there's also Batman, who did serve as the "weapons / brain". I think Cyborg works fine as support, they just didn't do anything with him beyond the first few-arcs.

 

[caliph95]

Well there's also Batman, who did serve as the "weapons / brain". I think Cyborg works fine as support, they just didn't do anything with him beyond the first few-arcs.

Batman was a more interesting tech support
so were the crew they had in the cartoon (ok hyperbole here)

 

[Slayven]

Cyborg was perfect at the elder statesman of the Titans.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I just really dont like that cyborg, who i grew up with as a teen working with other teens, is all of a sudden a founding member of the justice league, thats such a big leap that i cant just let it go, its so unrealistic, especially when there are other, older black characters that they could push, like icon.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

Wonder how DC will respond to this. If they respond to it.

If they don't want to use the licence, why bother keeping it if they aren't doing anything other than sitting on it.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Batman was a more interesting tech support
so were the crew they had in the cartoon (ok hyperbole here)

Well yeah he was. I'm not trying to say Cyborg was better then Batman, I was just pointing that.

 

[Rumblebones]

Got pushed too hard too fast. Dude went from a second stringer on a minor league team to replacing Martian Manhunter as part of the "Big 7" pretty much overnight.

It's been years since that change happened, people ought to get over it by now. JL could use some colour considering Hal is the GL.

Pretty much this i don''t hate him in fact i really like him in teen titans or at least the cartoon and was one of my favourites in the show. I imo just find him boring on the JL and didn't care for him replacing MM especially since it was obivous he is there becuase the team was too white and Geoff Johns liked Hal and made him big so we can't use stewart. He basically gets stuck being tech support to justify his spot

His solo book is good though, from what I remember. It posits some interesting questions and honestly opened my eyes to how much can be done with Cyborg.

Because DC doesn't care about the character as much as they pretend to. He didn't get a Nu52 solo book until 2015 despite being a founding member of the Justice League. He didn't do much of anything during Johns' run on Justice League even though he says Cyborg is one of his favorite characters. He's devoid of a personality, they put minimal effort into building up a supporting cast for him, and they keep rehashing the "Am I a man or, am I a machine?" story beat. He's DC's Carol Danvers.

Because he's fucking boring.

He does have personality, and lots of it. I don't disagree he's pretty much just there in the JL books, but his solo opened a lot of doors.

Just think about it. He's the youngest member of the Justice League, basically a kid, but he's a big dude, and he's black, so normally people would probably find him intimidating, but he's a bit of a goofball instead of a generic jock, and he's clearly got some mental health issues going on, ranging from depression to PTSD and probably no small amount of anxiety and grief - that shit is so relevant. Cyborg deconstructs a lot of black male stereotypes, and I wish more was done with that.

 

[Akainu]

Hasn't milestone been dead?

 

[Fury451]

Because DC doesn't care about the character as much as they pretend to. He didn't get a Nu52 solo book until 2015 despite being a founding member of the Justice League. He didn't do much of anything during Johns' run on Justice League even though he says Cyborg is one of his favorite characters. He's devoid of a personality, they put minimal effort into building up a supporting cast for him, and they keep rehashing the "Am I a man or, am I a machine?" story beat. He's DC's Carol Danvers.

Damn, this is the hard truth

 

[AlteredForms]

Thought Michael Davis had passed and was ready to send condolences.

Glad that isn't the case.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Make this hurt the most is that something like Milestone won't ever happen again. Or at the very least, for a real long time.


feelsbadman.jpg

 

[ArgyleReptile]

Make this hurt the most is that something like Milestone won't ever happen again. Or at the very least, for a real long time.


feelsbadman.jpg

Lionforge's Catalyst Prime seems to be aiming for a similar universe. It needs time to build though before we can really say.

Noble #1 was pretty good though.

 

[akira28]

Because DC doesn't care about the character as much as they pretend to. He didn't get a Nu52 solo book until 2015 despite being a founding member of the Justice League. He didn't do much of anything during Johns' run on Justice League even though he says Cyborg is one of his favorite characters. He's devoid of a personality, they put minimal effort into building up a supporting cast for him, and they keep rehashing the "Am I a man or, am I a machine?" story beat. He's DC's Carol Danvers.

this truth it burns and it hurts.

you know what is the real currency of the comic world? character depth. they spend it all quick and then write the rest of the year like they never had any.

Most of the books out there suffer from this, and if you can write a book and cover the depth disparity even a fraction of the time, indicating that you notice it exists... then maybe they'll let you write a Bat book.

if not then they'll let you write one of the B-list characters facing the same character flaws they were facing 3-5-8-13 years ago without having changed or learning anything. (you know how much comic readers love reading these books.) SpiderFlashGreenIronman i'm looking dead ass directly at you.

 

[Slayven]

Cyborg actually had depth unlike Carol

 

[akira28]

had being past tense as a motherfucker. dude hasn't had real heat since he was covered in white metal bands and sporting a nu-fro.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

this truth it burns and it hurts.

you know what is the real currency of the comic world? character depth. they spend it all quick and then write the rest of the year like they never had any.

Most of the books out there suffer from this, and if you can write a book and cover the depth disparity even a fraction of the time, indicating that you notice it exists... then maybe they'll let you write a Bat book.

if not then they'll let you write one of the B-list characters facing the same character flaws they were facing 3-5-8-13 years ago without having changed or learning anything. (you know how much comic readers love reading these books.) SpiderFlashGreenIronman i'm looking dead ass directly at you.

Flash and Green Lantern (or Arrow) don't suffer that badly. Exciting shit happens more often with those characters. Iron Man is the one that hasn't had a hit in decades.

 

[akira28]

Flash, Green Lantern, and ugh I quit Green Arrow so I can't even talk about those books he was written so badly. But Flash and Lantern are regressing as characters. I get that they are rebooted so they're supposed to be making the same stupid reckless mistakes or pushing too hard and damaging the supporting character relationships for reasons like they did years ago, but that's not why I read comic books. that's why I quit reading them.

 

[Kid Kamikaze10]

The point is simple


Milestone is dead. Invest in lion forge.

Most of the black pros I know are doing just that. Or going indy

 

[RedHill]

I wonder how this will effect Static and Rocket in season 3 of young justice