Yes, it’s Monday, and do you know where your children are? Well I do, they’re at bahlactus.com just like you. I am your host, Jeff Munson, and I welcome you back to this column for a triple threat of great Milestone madness. (Sorry, I read a few too many old time Marvel Bullpen Bulletins over the weekend, so If my column this week sounds a little too much like Stan “The Man” you know who to blame!) This week we are going to cover the following three Milestone comics: Hardware #2 and the debut issues of both Static and Icon.

We begin with Hardware #2- chapter 2 of “The Man in The Machine”:

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Well, the cover really says it all, as it covers the issues villain, and the content of the book. When we last left Hardware he was in for the fight of his life against a multiplicating meta-human named Reprise (see what I mean about the Stan Lee influence). This issue opens up in the midst of this fight, with Edwin Alva having himself a Dr. Doom like moment as he pontificates about how the city and the world is his but he keeps being stifled by Hardware. He thinks about how much money the high-tech hero has cost him, and how he does not know his true identity. However he promises that a trap is ready to be sprung that when Hardware takes the bait, his very special assassin will do his work and that “I shall MYSELF unmask your lifeless corpse”. We next shift ourselves to the big battle wherein Hardware is being put through his paces by Reprise, and as Hardware discovers every duplicate he quickly kills/ takes out is just replaced by another. Hardware is surrounded, and the reader finds out something interesting about his gadgets in this fight. He runs his suit on a power source that is “battery powered”. Taking on Reprise apparently is too much for the limited power he planned on for this mission and he needs to get out before he becomes pretty much powerless. He decides to retreat via his ship the Skylark, but in the process of getting out of the warehouse, he is shot in the back by Reprise. The battle suit’s shell integrity becomes compromised due to the low power levels of the suit, but Hardware dose manage to get away by using his last shell in his Omni cannon to fight back the duplicates and then manages to trigger the bomb he planted to blow up the warehouse.

Hardware wants to try to make it back to his lab, but realizes he won’t make it in the shape he is in. Curtis decides to have the Skylark take him to his apartment where he passes out from the pain of the shotgun blast still in his Hardware shell.

We then cut to the next day where a Professor Barraki Young is called by one of Curtis’s lab techs saying he had not been in yet. Prof. Young decides that she may drop in on Curtis after work to check on him, and when she does she discovers Curtis lying in his bed with the Hardware shell still engaged. He decides to tell her the truth about his double life, and the motivations behind it. Her reaction was not exactly what you would call subtle:

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Well after that little tête-à-tête, Curtis decides to get his act together for what he thinks will be one final mission. No more senseless death and endangering the innocent. Our final page of this issue is Hardware, loaded up like Rob Liefeld was drawing him ready to confront Edwin Alva as he vows “as sure as the sunrise, Edwin Alva will die at my hands”


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I have to say, this issue seems a little rushed to me. While it did include some interesting points, Hardware calls his On-Board Computer “Obie” for example, but everything involving Barraki bears a little more explanation. Is this an ex-girlfriend of Curtis’, one would think so because she has keys to his apartment, and is contacted when he is missing for a day. Curtis clearly values her opinion and trusts her because he instantly opens up to her about his issues. SO who the heck is she? This is Curtis’ “Peter Parker” moment (with great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz), it’s being delivered to him by someone the reader has just met, but there is no real intro into the importance this person has in his life. The whole conversation just seems to be a way for Curtis to come to the realization that he was acting selfishly and recklessly in his actions against Alva. However instead of Uncle Ben we have someone the reader can’t really identify with because of the lack of a personal back-story. A little nit-picky I can here some of you saying out there in internet land, but if a hero is going to change his plan of action and show some remorse for the damage and killing he has wrought you want to know who convinces him of his errors a little more than this. Despite this, it’s still an entertaining read, with a few one liners that will make you laugh and some added diagrams of Hardware’s weaponry in the back after the letters page. Also after the letter’s page is a short 4-page preview of our next Milestone book – ICON! SO, let’s move along to Icon #1 shall we!


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The first issue of Icon is entitled “By Their Own Bootstraps”, and begins in the year 1839 aboard a space ship. Yes, you read that right; the first scene involves a blue skinned alien aboard a space ship that appears to be exploding. The alien jumps in an escape pod, which crash lands on earth somewhere in the south where a black woman happens upon it after hearing the crash. She touches the outside of the craft, which sends some sort of signal to the alien, and the craft changes the alien’s shape to that of a young African American baby. The woman takes the child and looks back at the ominous craft, not entirely certain of what just happened. Writer Dwayne McDuffie and artist M.D. (A.K.A. Marc & “Doc”) Bright use 4 pages with only the art, no dialogue, to convey this part of the story and it is very well do

We next jump ahead to 1993, we see Augustus Freeman sitting in his law offices. He is speaking to his partner about a woman he met a few nights ago, and how differently they view the world. He describes her as “Impoverished, impassioned, Angry.” And that she told him that he had a responsibility to help people, and that perhaps he should be doing more than just being a lawyer. We cut to the housing projects where a young girl, Raquel, is writing at a kitchen table. McDuffie begins to tell her story using her writing here as she has a flashback and describes her journey with 3 friends to the suburbs around the city of Dakota. Noble, one of her friends suggests that since the Cops will be trying to stop the “Big Bang” that they go out to the suburbs and help themselves to some serious cash and merchandise. (As a side note here, the “Big Bang” is the gang fight that I referred to in the first Milestone Mondays column, which is the pivotal event that provides the initial powers to some of the Milestone heroes.) Raquel is not eager to do this, but goes along as Noble reminds her if they get enough money she can get herself a typewriter. As a poor writer from the projects this entices Raquel to stay. They find a large house and break in. Raquel is amazed by the study that is in the house and her reactions are as such:

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It’s at this point that they are caught as a black male catches them stealing a big screen TV, Noble pulls a gun and tells the man that it ain’t worth getting killed for a white man’s stuff. The scene shifts and we see it is Augustus Freeman, and he politely and eloquently informs Noble he is wrong on several accounts, and that it is his house and that he does not allow him to steal anything. Noble, gun in hand, fires and as Raquel recalls:


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That’s a priceless line. Augustus takes a few more slugs to the chest while the other run away. He grabs the gun and tells noble to stay put. Raquel then sees something she thought she would never see as Augustus takes flight after them and scoops them up depositing them back onto his property. He chastises them for wasting their lives because he has little patience for criminals. He tells them he is going to let them go, because he does not want certain details of this encounter made public, but in the future he expects them “to comport yourselves like citizens. Not common thugs. If you want something, pay for it. If you can’t afford it, work for it. Your behavior reflects poorly on our people and on yourselves.” He receives and F-bomb from Noble as a reply. To which Augustus says that they are to return any other stolen items to their rightful owners and that they are to NEVER commit another crime because if they do they will see him again. Needless to say, a bulletproof, floating, eloquent black male scared the bejeezus out of these kids and they believed him.

Raquel gets home and realizes that her world seemed pretty small after that encounter. She spends the night thinking and writing and visits Augustus at his home with an idea.

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It is clear Augustus thinks this encounter over as we are shown Raquel getting her costume that she designed from Augustus along with a belt that would protect her from harm when she wears it. He tells her to meet him at the bridge in 3 weeks, and they will talk. On that night Augustus is walking, thinking about his life and the lives of the people around him. The recent riots and the Big Bang have provided the city with nothing but examples of hopelessness; he decides he must provide an example to the contrary. He will become Icon with his sidekick Rocket (Raquel). The issue ends with them taking their first flight to help in a situation downtown. Rocket asks Icon how he is going to help out in a situation involving the cops when she asks, “what are you going to do? Land in the middle of eighty bazillion cops and ask them if they need a hand?” Icon tells her that this is essentially correct and not to assume everything is racial. They land and Icon introduces himself to the officer in charge. He is greeted by the police in a manner that causes Rocket to say: “Don’t assume everything’s racial huh? I’ll try—“


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This is another great opening issue, the reader has a voice to follow and it is Raquel/Rocket. She is the lynchpin of this book as she will be the one to open Icon’s eyes to the way the world really works when you are not a rich black lawyer. The art by Marc Bright is excellent, and the writing really gives you a glimpse into the mind of Raquel and Augustus. Raquel even uses a quote from W.E.B. Dubois for inspiration for Icon’s creation; it’s truly a well-written book. And the issue also has a 3-page primer for our next subject, and my personal favorite of the entire Milestone books – STATIC! (Did Milestone anticipate my writing this column all those years ago or what)


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Static #1 written by Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III and drawn by John Paul Leon is chapter one of “Trial By Fire”. It opens with a scene in a downtown Dakota arcade, where Frieda Goren is meeting her friends. What she finds there is a gang called the 5 Alarm Crew, whose leader Hotstreak wants a chat with her. She tries to fight off the gang members who are eager to “take her to their leader” when Static comes to the rescue. Static is floating on what appears to be a trash can lid displaying such electrically based powers as a Taser Punch, and an electrostatic force field around his body as he takes on the gang members. He appears to be in full control of his powers, and the gang knows who he is so this is obviously not his first appearance. He is also a teenage hero who enjoys engaging his foes with sine witty banter such as bowling his opponents down and proclaiming that he has picked up a spare.

After he gets rid of the gang members, he floats down to make sure Frieda is okay. He obviously knows her in his secret identity because the first thing he thinks is:

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He is obviously a fun loving guy who enjoys the limelight of his heroic actions. After flying away he runs back to his house anticipating a phone call that he has a feeling will be coming. Here we see that Frieda and Virgil Hawkins (Static’s secret ID) are very close friends. They discuss Static’s saving her from the gang and Virgil acts excited about the hero making an appearance and despite his knowing the whole thing listens to her experience in the arcade. The next day they both go to school, and like all high schools, hang out in the hallways with their friends. It is here that we see the writers have an excellent grasp of teenage life. The conversation between Virgil and friends is priceless as they cover such subjects as a ballet performance, eating potato chips, diets, and dates. It also shows that Virgil and Static’s actions/ personality are one and the same. He is just as goofy and grandstanding as Virgil as he is as Static. Virgil doesn’t use his secret ID to be somebody else. In any case the few pages in the school hallway need to be read to be appreciated, as it’s really on the mark.

Homeroom comes, and as things begin to take their normal shape on a school day the 5 Alarm Crew break in and take Frieda out of class by brandishing a gun and hauling her out. Virgil sneaks out of class and changes into Static to follow them, as Frieda meets Hotstreak, the leader of the gang who has some “fire-power” of his own. He is able to set objects aflame, and as Frieda basically tells him to take a flying leap, using some colorful finger gestures I might add, Static arrives to save the day! Or so one would think as he fights Hotstreak he realizes he is not up against a gangbanger with power, he appears to be faster than a normal human being. He wraps up Hotstreak with a garbage can and as he does Hotstreak’s hat and hood fall back. Static appears shocked as he recognizes Hotstreak:

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This is how the issue closes as Frieda pulls back a beaten static’s mask to reveal her best friend’s face! What a cliffhanger, why did Static fold up like a cheap accordion? What will Frieda think? Well as the title of the next issue suggests we may just find out the answer!

This book rocks just as hard as it did back in 1993. What got me excited about the title, and gets me psyched to re-read the run now is the letters page. You know the tradition of the first letters page where the writers tell you how their book is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that their book is better than all other books out there and how different it is? Well, Robert Washington takes this tradition and runs with it. He sells hard about the book being not just about Static, but about Virgil and his friends. He goes on to joke that he wanted the title to really be called VIRGIL AND STATIC or VIRGIL HAWKINS’ PALS AND GALS, because the pitfalls of being a teenager are what the book will be about as much as super-heroics. He also wants the reader to know that this hero is going to use his brain, and that even though he seems to know his powers he will discover new ones. Static will “use his brains instead of raw firepower. His REAL super-ability is his ingenuity and creativity.”

He also confirms that he is working very hard to make sure that VIRGIL AND STATIC ARE THE SAME PERSON. The secret identity won’t be where his true personality resides and he won’t get tougher by putting on the mask and tights. Combine this letter column and the story itself, and you have a fine first issue. If there is any book I could convince you fine readers to pick it up through the course of these columns I hope it’s this one.

In summary, Static’s first issue is excellent. The artwork by J.P. Leon is nowhere near the excellence he would show in collaboration with Alex Ross on the Universe X titles, but it shows where that excellence started. I can’t say enough about the script, the dialogue is great and one has to wonder if Brian Bendis was a regular reader of this book back in the day because I have to tell you it feels a lot like an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to me. Perhaps Static was a book before it’s time!

Well that was a long column, thanks for seeing it through with me my Milestone Minions (see I just can’t shake that Stan the Man at ALL!) Tune back in next week where we will take a look at the further adventures of the Milestone Heroes as we look at Static #2, Icon #2 and the first two issues of BLOOD SYNDICATE!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under milestone mondays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.