Michael Davis: Milestone Rising
I don’t get it.
I just don’t get it.
Last week I wrote to both my audiences at ComicMix & Bleeding Cool that I’d answer any and all Milestone questions. (Well, that’s any and all questions except the ones I won’t answer.)
Over at Bleeding Cool I got a TON of questions. So many in fact I’m missing my weekly deadline so I can better organize my responses.
And what about ComicMix?
ONE guy supplied ALL the Milestone questions.
WTF?
Translation…WHAT THE FUCK?
I just erased a few hundred words of righteous WTF wisdom. Why? What’s the point? I’ll just answer Doctor R-Man questions and spend the rest of the week pouting.
Does DC have to pay Milestone any amount of money to either publish Milestone titles or have Milestone characters appear in their books? i.e. in teams or in guest appearances? Hence, no Icon in the Justice League or no Static in Teen Titans?
Sorry doctor-that’s a business question best left alone.
Going from the previous question, is the reason DC isn’t publishing Milestone titles or having Milestone characters make appearances in DC books because there’s not enough people purchasing them or enough demand to justify publishing them, as a result of those fees DC has to pay? Hence, little return on their investment?
Believe it or not, the powers that be at DC and Milestone editorial don’t think ‘bank’ first. Both think about what can or can’t work as a story or story arc. At the heart of the Milestone agenda is reaching people of color. That said we always, and I mean always, include everyone in the mix.
Milestone is a Black owned company—NOT a Black only company.
Do you think there be enough fan demand to keep a Static, an Icon, or any other Milestone book going or is it just a vocal minority that wouldn’t be able to support the book in substantial enough numbers to keep the book alive?
Milestone is twenty-one years old and our following keeps growing. It’s my belief that fans would embrace the universe financially if they knew it was going to be around for a moment. One shots and mini series are cool but seem (to me) false someway.
Is one reason DC may be apprehensive about Milestone appearances due to problems potentially arising when they want to reprint stories, similar to how there’s a bunch of stories Marvel can’t reprint, especially team-ups, because they feature Rom in them? So in this case, potential reprints problems might be a huge issue with Milestone characters making appearances?
DC is a business—but issues about why something should or should not happen are rare, at least as of this writing.
Is the reason we aren’t seeing any Milestone appearances because there’s currently no writers interested in writing them, especially big name writers like Geoff Johns or Gail Simone? It’s weird. You would think Gail would like to at least write ONE Milestone character, given that she was one of Dwayne’s best friends. It’d be the least she could do for him.
Dude—you on crack? Given the chance to write a Milestone book most writers in the industry (those who don’t belong to the Tea Party) would JUMP at the chance to write a Milestone book.
Is another reason DC might not be using the Milestone characters because they have little freedom in what they can do with the characters?
OK, listen up. DC Comics has NO I repeat NO editorial juice over what Milestone does or does not do. They can choose not to publish but that has not happened, nor do we anticipate it happening.
How is your relationship with DC? Is it positive?
I hope everything gets worked out. I’d love to see more Milestone in the DCU, especially Static.
Milestone’s relationship with DC has never been better. But, my good doctor, all things in time my friend. Trust me-it’s all good.
That’s it people-anyone else have a question?
Bueller? Bueller?
Anyone?
Related articles
- Milestone Unplugged, Part One – Michael Davis, From The Edge (bleedingcool.com)
- DC Comics, The Ugly Black Stepchild, And Vinnie, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #332 | @MDWorld (mdwp.malibulist.com)
- Michael Davis: Milestones at ComicMix (comicmix.com)
Photo by Candid Giggles
Last time we saw animated versions of Milestone characters was in the great Young Justice series. What are the chances of seeing them pop up in any of the upcoming DC animated features or the DC Nation shorts?
Hey, people have been reading here for a while, and you’ve already answered a bunch of questions for CMix’s loyal readers. BC readers are new to the game.
Do you think Milestone would be better off away from DC ? As the move and feel of the new 52 might not me the best place for it ! Somewhere they would put up the all the old runs online to read and omnibus printed for those who missed it the first time around, helping building up an new readership who are more open minded and would not judge them as not real DC comics
1.) Gotcha. Fair enough.
2.) Would it work for the direct market, though? Would the direct market bite?
3.) So there’s a possibility of a Static book with a consistent upper-tier number of sales and lasting at least 100 issues in the current market? What do you think a potential Static book needs to do in order for that to happen? What are things it should include to ensure that it does?
4.) So there’s no need to worry about reprints of DCU stories featuring Milestone characters being blocked in the future? No potential problems that would put a stop to those stories, whatever they may be, being reprinted? The Marvel Team-Up + Rom and Micronauts situation at Marvel is pretty painful :(
5.) Would they be big names or writers that can sell? And how come they haven’t made any attempts or we haven’t seen them make any attempt to do so?
Also, what particular writers would you have in mind for stories featuring particular Milestone characters, or even stories for teams featuring both Milestone and DC characters?
6.) I meant freedom for DC. One reason we aren’t seeing Milestone characters appearing in DCU books or appearing in any DCU teams is that DC might feel they might have very little freedom with what to do with the characters in those stories. I’m not sure if that is actually the case, but it seemingly might be a reason we’re not seeing any appearances in those books.
7.) That’s awesome to know. I certainly hope nothing’s rocky.
8. Any chance of us definitely seeing more Static, Xombi, Icon and Rocket in the DCU? (I’d love to see Xombi join Justice League Dark) Any ways to ensure this happens? And what needs to be done to ensure it happens at a more consistent rate?
9.) Speaking of reprints, any chance of us getting full reprints of all the original Milestone stories in the future?
10.) Piggybacking off of Ryan Dean’s question, is there any chance that Milestone characters could make guest-appearances in both the Arrow and Flash shows, or even the upcoming Constantine show?
Any way the producers might be down with it?
11.) Why no lil’ Static in Tiny Titans? :( Could you at least speak with Franco and Art? Show them why Static would be an awesome character for the book? Pretty please?
12. ) BTW, have you read the past Tiny Titans issues and trades? You should. Awesome all-ages stuff.
And hey, now there’s THREE people on here, at least (so far). :)
Thanks for answering our questions.
Doctor….DAMN.
That’s an whole other article worth of questions. OK-I’ll get on that but my next article WAS going to be a listing of personal cell phone numbers of porn stars who love comic book fans.
But…nope.
You had to go ruin it for EVERYBODY.