(SHOUT OUT! Munson’s Milestone Mondays is some new hotness on bahlactus.com. Jeff is one of my heralds, so show him some love. Hit the Milestone Mondays link for what you can expect here!. Bahlactus has spoken).

So here’s the thing, Bahlactus (a.k.a Clarence) and I met through our mutual shopping experiences at Comicazi (The Best Damn Comic Book Store Ever….. you know I think the Bad Kids should trademark that one).  One Wednesday, we got to talking about things he was going to start doing with his website besides the excellent Comicazi podcasts.  Some of the things you have already seen, like the Dark Stars and ABSOLUTE GALACTUS.  I, in my infinite wisdom, asked him if he had ever read any of Milestone Comics books from the 1990’s.  Bahlactus had not heard of such a company, or any of their comics. So we had a little conversation about who and what Milestone was, and I told him that Milestone was an imprint of DC comics (much like Wildstorm is today) and they published books that featured minority super-heroes.  They managed to publish 264 comics of 7 ongoing titles and a few mini-series and even spawned a Saturday morning cartoon series.  I told him that I had a full run of everything they had published, and that I would lend some to him so he could write up a few articles for his Dark Stars columns.  Little did I know that saying those little words would open up a can o’ worms as Bahlactus, using his most powerful world devouring voice, said “why don’t you just do a series of columns about the various titles and I’ll post them on the site!” So to keep myself from being devoured by his Power Cosmic, I said yes.

Now, before we go any further, allow me this little intro for those of you who don’t know me personally, my name is Munson…. Jeff Munson (yeah that whole James Bond thing really works better verbally I know but what are you gonna do).  I have been collecting comics for going on 25 years, and have amassed a pretty huge collection in that time.   I rarely, if ever, sell any of my comics so my 160 plus long boxes are sitting in a bedroom in my house. (Yes, I am married, and the wife has no problem with this).  I am also a white male originally from Portland, Maine; which is one of (If not the most) the whitest states in the USA.  So the column you will be reading here will not really be from any sort of ethnic perspective because if you look up the word “Caucasian” in the dictionary there would be a picture of me, on a dance floor, with the white-man’s over bite in full effect!  Besides, Bahlactus would give me a smack with his good pimp hand right across my face if I tried to be “Street” (and since I just cracked that joke I am getting ready to duck and cover).

To start our look at this company I want to give you all a general overview of the Milestone family of titles we will be looking at, here they are (including how many issues of each were published):

• Hardware - 50 issues
• Blood Syndicate - 35 issues
• Icon - 42 issues
• Static - 45 issues
• Shadow Cabinet - 17 issues
• Xombi - 21 issues
• Kobalt - 16 issues
• Heroes - 6 issues

Limited Spin-Off Series

• Deathwish - 4 issues (Hardware Spin-off)
• My Name is Holocaust - 5 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)
• Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool - 4 issues
• Wise Son: The White Wolf - 4 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)

Crossovers:

• Shadow War - Company-wide crossover. Involved all comics, including the newly premiered Xombi and Shadow Cabinet.
• Long Hot Summer - Company-wide crossover. Three issues of the comic by the same title along with tie-ins in every Milestone title. - July-September 95
• Worlds Collide - 1 issue (crossover with Blood Syndicate, Hardware, Icon, Static, and DC’s Steel, Superman, and Superboy

For the 1990’s it was a pretty prolific company, and some believe that the company’s relationship with DC tested the waters for the eventual purchase/ publishing of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm comics.  The comics themselves all take place in another universe apart from the DC Universe and the heroes reside in or around the fictional city of Dakota. The central event for most of the main characters in the books getting powers was a “big bang” event centering around a gang fight in the city (details of which I will reveal as the reviews go on as it is a central part of some storylines).  Of note is the company’s hype page (called The Company Line) in it’s first issues proclaiming that Milestone comics were meant to be read, despite their debut issues being available in a poly-bag with a trading card and a poster as well as a regular edition.  I have to say I was just as psyched to read a Milestone book after seeing this hype page as I was when I first read it, as they say to let their comics out of their bag and “let some air in there”.  This company wanted readers and not collectors (you got to love a company that is about getting you to READ and appreciate the stories, in an era when the collectors/ speculators were running rampant).

(Click each scan for a larger version!)

Milestone also says that it believes the city of Dakota more resembles the real world because of its’ diversity.  Diversity in cultures will be what the “Dakotaverse” will be all about. Milestone comes right out and tells you that they will not be “Superman in blackface”, and that they are looking to tell exciting superhero stories, and invite all cultures to check out their first four titles.  The reader is led to the conclusion that their will be no Black Vulcan’s, or Apache Chief’s or Samurai’s in this company’s books as second fiddle minority heroes are a thing of the past!

We will begin our reviews of Milestone comics with the very first issue of the very first title ever published:  Hardware # 1! 

(Click the cover for a larger version!)

Hardware was the first title published by Milestone, and was created by Dwayne McDuffie and drawn/designed by Denys Cowan.  In Issue #1, titled “Angry Black Man”, we meet Curtis Metcalf; a young African American male possessed of immense intelligence.  The book jumps right into the action as after a two-page intro to a young Curtis, we see Hardware in flight under attack by 3 helicopters.  It is apparent to the reader that this is not your ordinary noble/moral superhero who always lets his enemies live, while under attack, he allows one helicopter to destroy another, and using his array of weapons such as an omni cannon and a plasma whip, pulls a pilot out of another and drops him to his death.  He is truly, as the Milestone hype machine calls him the High-Tech Dreadnought of Justice! 

After dispatching the copters, Hardware returns to what we learn is his private laboratory, in the building that he works at Alva Technologies.  Here is where we learn the “secret origin” of our hero as Curtis tells the reader of Edwin Alva, a man who took Curtis under his wing at the age of 12 after meeting him at a science fair.  Alva sponsored Curtis’ enrollment in a program for minority students to attend an elite prep school, where he quickly discovered that he was much smarter than the other students.  He graduated from High School at 14, and got his first college degree at 15.  Alva continued to pay for Curtis’ education, paying for his next six degrees and all Curtis had to do was work for him after graduation.  The reader is shown that Curtis believed Alva to be a close friend, almost a father figure, who encouraged Curtis to invent just about anything that came to mind.  Curtis did this for years, making Alva and his company tons of money.  Several years go by, and here is where it gets a little interesting as Curtis decides he would like a little share in the profits of his
creations.

(Click the scan for a larger version!)

This guy is obviously a huge jackass so to get out of this situation; Curtis decides to dig up some “information” on Alva that may give him some “leverage” to get out of his contract with him.  What he discovers shocks him.  Alva was the center of a huge “web of corruption” and as Curtis says “My benefactor and role model.  The economic savior and humanitarian pillar of the city of Dakota has connections to organized crime.”  He has governments in his pockets, he is a money launderer and arms dealer and Curtis turns from blackmail for purely personal gain to just trying to stop Alva.  After using conventional means such as supplying the police and FBI with the evidence he gathered and getting nowhere, Curtis realizes he has to take the matter into his own hands and creates Hardware, “The high-tech creature of the night who has been checkmating Alva’s illegal operations”.

Hardware is active only at night, keeping his day job with Alva to divert suspicion, and has converted an old elevator shaft in his lab to a mass arsenal that after he activates his Hardware shell forge, selects different weapons for him to utilize in his various missions.   The issue ends with Hardware heading out to a warehouse that Alva uses to store stolen weapons to be fenced that he plans to destroy.  After facing off with guards, and cutting one of their arms off with a retractable sword, he runs into a superhuman named Reprise who has the power to duplicate himself and his weapons.  The issues ends with Hardware facing off against Reprise lamenting “I’m sorry I didn’t bring more stuff with me”.  To be continued indeed.

In looking at the issue, it is apparent that Hardware is a mixture of Batman and Iron Man/ War Machine from his grim & gritty attitude to his armored weapons.  In terms of being a “hero” he is no Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark.  He has a mission and one believes, at least in terms of initial characterization, that if he succeeds in taking down Alva he would stop being Hardware.  It’s a comic that feels different for this reason as the hero is doing the right thing, but purely for a personal gain.  Time and future issues will tell if this continues to be true, as some people who start out doing this find they like “playing the hero”.  The different weapons available to hardware shows unlimited potential as well, the reader is shown such a huge lab that you believe that Hardware would have whatever he needs for any situation.  The writing for this issue is quite good, as an initial intro to a character and his motivations that today may make up a 6-part storyline is done from pages 16 to 21.   McDuffie provides everything you need to know about the main character and his enemy on those 5 pages (modern storytellers take note, less is sometimes good).  The artwork is impressive as well, and the coloring  (which the Milestone calls Milestone 100™) helps provide a unique look.  It is a book that makes you want to read the next issue, and not just because it ends on a cliffhanger.  You genuinely want to see if Curtis makes headway into his one-man war on Alva so that he can free himself from the shackles of his company.  It is just as readable today as it was over 10 years ago, as corporate greed is always in the news as Alva is much like the leaders of such companies as Tycho.

Next week we will look at issue 2 of Hardware and start our look at the other Milestone books by looking at Icon #1 & the hero that spawned an animated series Static #1.  See you then!