Few initiatives left as much of a mark on the comics industry as Milestone Media, and with its return, Comic-Con was the perfect opportunity to catch up with Milestone co-founder Denys Cowan.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Milestone completely changed the game when it broke onto the comics. Founded by Denys Cowan, Dwayne McDuffie, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle, Milestone lived up to its name by promoting diversity in the industry. Characters like Static, Hardware, and the duo of Rocket and Icon broke new ground in comics history by combining real-world issues with superpowered drama. After a long absence, Milestone made its comeback in the last few years with the appropriately named Milestone Returns.
With Milestone’s triumphant return earning high acclaim from critics and fans alike, Screen Rant sat down with Denys Cowan to talk about Milestone’s legacy and what makes its return so special.
How has your Comic-Con been going?
Denys Cowan: It’s been great. Though, you know, everyone’s teasing me about going to San Diego Comic-Con. “Oh, man, they’re sending you to COVID-con.” You think, why do you even say that? But, you know, it’s been great. Meeting the fans meeting. The fans have been great and there are ones that I can kind of recognize because we’re all wearing masks and stuff. Getting a chance to talk about what we’re doing, and what Milestone did in the past and what we’re doing in the future has been a great opportunity. We just finished the Jim Lee and Friends panel, myself and Jim. And then we got to talk about what Milestone’s got going on with these this second seasons, what happened with the Milestone Initiative, which is, you know, a group of kids we got together. We can talk about that later. And what’s going on, you know, with the games and toys, and everything else. There’s a lot.
The comics industry is so different now than when Milestone was founded. What’s one thing that you think the industry has improved on and what’s one thing that you think the industry still needs to work on?
Denys Cowan: Well, I think the industry has improved on having more characters of color and multicultural characters, and I think where they need to improve is to have more multicultural characters. I think that representation is everything. Getting the addition of two or three others is okay. But to truly affect change, even more is needed, and these happen constantly. Now, what I can say is that DC is at the front of all that, you know, they do a lot of diversity in their books, certainly with Milestone as one of their strongest commitments to that type of energy, but also all the things you’re doing in their regular books from Batman, to the Monkey Prince, to everything else. They’re committed to doing that. So seeing that is good, and I feel like Milestone was part of making that happen.
One thing that really sticks out about Milestone’s comics is that they’ve aged very well and balance timeliness with timelessness very well. Can you speak to that approach?
Denys Cowan: Yeah, a lot of that was due to how we set up the books in the first place. It was due to Dwayne McDuffie, his vision, how he saw comics, and how he thought they should be presented, and how we wanted to get readers. Some of his students, Christopher Priest, who was also one of the first people to help us assemble this universe and really pull it together. We thought about all the stuff we wanted to see in comics, and then decided we’re not going to just do that, we have to do so to attract new people and to get them. We looked at some of the things that inspired us, you know, to do these timeless stories, but we were always about what was happening now. And the future and trying to make the books relevant, but relevant for a long time. The way you do that is you talk about timeless themes. You know, to talk about current events. That’s it. That’s how we did it.
Has that approach been any more difficult now with Milestone’s return?
Denys Cowan: The whole world has changed. Though, I mean, some things haven’t changed. There’s still racism, there are all these things going on, Black Lives Matter started for a reason. Because, since 1992, since Rodney King, the same s*** is happening. Excuse the expression. So our comics really reflect the times. You know, yes, things have changed. They’ve, changed in one way but not in another. That’s what I mean. There’s still a fight, right? Still things that have to be done. Milestone’s still relevant to this day. Talking about those themes, but also entertaining people at the same time. That was always our biggest thing was like we’re not message comics, but if you can get a message through reading our stuff, which a lot of people did then there’s nothing wrong with that.
What was the most challenging part of bringing Milestone back from a creative standpoint?
Denys Cowan: I mean, all the characters have really strong bonds. Meaning that, you know, the archetypes and the stuff that they’re built on were really solid. But the time is different. people’s attention spans are different. The readership is different. What they expect and what they like is different than it was in 1992 when their parents were being stung. So we’ve tried to adjust to the changing times. And I think we have. Part of it is making a mix of older talent and new talent. You know, the new hot kids. The kids are really lighting things up now. They’re working with the industry vets like Bill Sienkiewiczm Doug Braithwaite, and people like that.
Static is probably far and away Milestone’s, most recognizable character. What do you owe to his enduring popularity?
Denys Cowan: Well, what we wanted to do when Static first came out was to try to capture that same feeling that you had when you read Spider-Man by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. This pure sense of adventure, fun, innocence, mixed with whatever cynicism you can have at 21, you know? But that was our goal. So I think, with that spirit in mind, and with the way his character is, that we’ve always characterized Virgil as being the light in the room. You know, in a room darkened, that he’s that thing that you’re going to look at for inspiration and also humor. So I think those are the things that have contributed to his popularity. But to tell you the truth, it’s a mystery to me. You know, there were other characters I felt would really blow up, you know, like he’s gonna be the guy. Yes, he is. But Static is the one that really captured people. Of course, he also had a TV show. That helped him. If Icon and Rocket had a TV show, we’re having a different conversation.
Who do you think is Milestone’s most underappreciated hero? Like if you could greenlight another Milestone hero to get a movie, who would it be?
Denys Cowan: If I knew that I had that kind of power, it’d probably be Rocket. I’ve said it before that, you know, that if you’re looking for a Black Superman archetype, then let’s do an original character like Icon and give the people what they really want as opposed to a Black Superman which is awesome, but it’s like a black Batman. It’s like, okay we can also have original characters, we can also have new things. Let’s put the work in and do that instead of kind of retrofitting other things. It’s just not the way I’d want to go.
One thing that makes Icon stand out is that this is Milestone’s Superman, but he’s distinct enough that those two characters could exist in the same universe.
Denys Cowan: They met in Worlds Collide. But you know, the thing with Icon and Rocket, especially the first go around, is that people didn’t realize what they were reading. They’re reading a girl’s book because it was always told from Rocket’s point of view. You never knew what Icon was thinking. You knew what he said. You know where the adventure was, but Rocket was the narrative voice throughout all of it. A lot of people who think they got to know Icon, but they really know Rocket, right? What she thought about Icon and what they were doing. There’s still a lot of that spirit. You don’t know what he’s about. It’s pretty mysterious.
Who’s one person that you think deserves a little more credit? Or maybe a bigger shout-out for helping bring a milestone back?
Denys Cowan: To help bring it back? Yeah. Oh, my God. People know this, but Jim Lee probably deserves a big shout-out. He was always a champion for Milestone. He was a champion when we first started Milestone in 1992. Image was a real inspiration for us. Then he told me, “No, you guys were the inspiration for us.” But at Image I knew Jim and I knew Rob, I knew all those guys. They’re the ones that introduced Milestone to the world at San Diego Comic-Con in 1992. So Jim Lee is one of them. There are many unsung people, our editor Chris Conroy and our other editor Marquis Draper, they’re just great. They put in a lot of work and people really get to see if you’re talking about talent. Doug Braithwaite, the artist on Icon right here, he’s gotten some accolades, but he should get a lot more. I often say he’s got Garcia Lopez. He’s that good. You know, we might be doing a collaboration together and I’m terrified. I’m terrified. I don’t want to do a comic book with Doug Braithwaite, because he’s just gonna blow me away. So now that I’m thinking about it, if I get my friend Bill, then maybe I could hang, That’s how I’m thinking about a guy who’s doing my books, right. So I’m also very competitive.
So, what has been the most heartwarming fan interaction that you’ve had in all your years of doing comic books?
Denys Cowan: The most heartwarming? I’ve had several things. I’ve had people come to me and start crying because of what these characters mean to them. With our fans, we have some different fans to, then the typical comic book fans, where people who never read comics, but saw us on the news and wanted to check out Black stuff and buy Black product coming into it that way. A different experience for them. But there hasn’t been one big thing that I remember. It’s more like an accumulation of things like the visit to Brazil. You know, it’s a super shock. I was invited to Brazil, in 2017. And I was telling somebody, that I had no, no idea why they invited me. Inviting me is great. I get to go to Brazil? I’ll take a 17 hour flight, but why? So it wasn’t until I got there that I found out why. It’s because Static Shock is huge. In Brazil, you know a little deadlock character. It’s like they love them and they call him Super Shock. And he’s like his own thing. They’re creative with Super Shock. Then I got emotional responses being there. People really like that emotional feeling, you know? It’s always good to be able to reach people on that kind of level.
