Milestone Media Returns

The Washington Post broke the news this morning, but it looks like Milestone Media will be making its long awaited return in 2015. This time, filmmaker Reginald Hudlin will be joining original co-founders Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle in rebooting Milestone 2.0.

Coincidentally, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum recently announced it would be extending its “Milestones: African Americans in Comics, Pop Culture, and Beyond” exhibit — curated by original co-founder Michael Davis and Tatiana EL-Khouri — through February. (Here’s my recap of the exhibit’s opening in December 2013).

Needless to say, NOC HQ is very excited about these events.

The reverence we have for the folks behind Milestone — including the late, great Dwayne McDuffie — is pretty evident at The Nerds of Color. When this site launched, one of the first guests we had on Hard NOC Life was former Milestone and DC editor Joseph Illidge. (In turn, Illidge gave the NOC a shout-out in his year-end column for Comic Book Resources!)

That relationship led to one of the highlights of my time on this blog: interviewing the creative forces behind the original Milestone Comics. In November 2013, I had the pleasure of interviewing co-founders Michael Davis and Denys Cowan, along with Illidge, Shawn Martinbrough, and Erica Well on a special Hard NOC Life celebrating the 20th anniversary of Milestone.

Details on what Milestone 2.0 has planned are still scarce. In Hudlin’s interview with the Post, he revealed that though they plan to bring back many of their classic characters — like Hardware, Icon, and Static — they also intend to branch out beyond just comics.

The triumvirate behind the new Milestone Media says that there are many things to sort out on the company’s business side, including potential partnerships. The L.A.-based Milestone Media “will be working with a wide array of companies — both different publishers as well as other media companies,” Hudlin tells The Post.

Whatever happens, I know I’ll be first in line to see what’s in store!