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Grumpy Old Fan | Dwayne McDuffie, gone too soon

Tom Bondurant — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:00:29 +0000

Static #1

Dwayne McDuffie was a great writer of superhero stories, consistently producing solid, entertaining tales about characters familiar and unfamiliar, across a variety of media. He was also a vocal advocate for diversity in the superhero genre, both in terms of characters and creative personnel.

My first real exposure to Mr. McDuffie’s work was through Static, the 1993 series he co-created with fellow Milestone founders Derek T. Dingel, Denys Cowan, and Michael Davis. The Milestone panel at the ‘93 Chicago Comic-Con was handing out copies of Static’s first issue — a shiny-silver-logo variant, naturally — and I was hooked instantly. In any age Static would have stood out as an energetic and thoughtful teen-superhero serial. In the summer of 1993, though, with the speculators’ market at full swing and superhero comics chasing one fad after another, Static’s reliance on fundamentals was especially refreshing.

To some extent I think that’s what helped make Mr. McDuffie’s work so effective. He understood that the best superhero stories bring the epic and fantastic down to personal levels, but he was careful to slight neither the epic nor the personal. His work spotlighted relationships as much as spectacle. When Earth was invaded by Hawkgirl’s home planet of Thanagar (in “Starcrossed,” a 3-episode arc of “Justice League”), it tested both Hawkgirl’s loyalties and her relationship with Green Lantern. McDuffie’s tenure on Fantastic Four started by repairing the damage to the Richards’ marriage wrought by the events of Civil War. The Beyond! miniseries (a sort-of sequel to Secret Wars) was all about relationships, since it stranded a handful of superheroes on a distant planet.

Indeed, that emphasis on relationships made his time on the Justice League of America comic both tantalizing and frustrating. McDuffie’s work writing and producing the “Justice League” cartoon demonstrated clearly that he would be a great fit for the show’s four-color inspiration. When he succeeded Brad Meltzer as the regular JLA writer, I for one was eager for him to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, he spent most of his time navigating the choppy waters of intertitle continuity, having to work around things like Green Arrow and Black Canary’s wedding, the Salvation Run miniseries, and the unavailability of many characters who would have been natural fits for the JLA. When McDuffie expressed his own frustrations publicly, he was fired from the book, and current writer James Robinson took over (with, it must be noted, a fluid, esoteric roster of his own) not long afterwards.

Reading McDuffie’s plans for JLA after the fact revealed both his own frustrations with, and hopes for, what he described as “DC Comics’ flagship book.”

I do get frustrated, but it comes with the job. The nature of monthly comics has changed drastically over the past 20 years. JLA used to be THE place to go to see the big guns together, dealing with the gravest threats in the DCU. Now there are several big event crossovers a year, and those titles are where the huge stories happen. So I have to tell stories that feed into and come out of those events. I’d prefer if, as on Justice League Unlimited, I could tell stories that were at the center of the characters lives, but that was a very different circumstance. JLA the comic is part of a larger patchwork, and my mandate is to support the bigger story of the DCU.

McDuffie had apparently planned at least two years’ worth of JLA, but kept having to delay and/or change those plans with each new crossover which affected the team.

Still, what he did write for JLA was pretty fascinating, even moreso in hindsight. Once the A-listers like Superman and Wonder Woman were gone, McDuffie’s version of “Cap’s Kooky Quartet” included Dr. Light (Kimiyo Hoshi), Firestorm (Jason Rusch) and Green Lantern (John Stewart), Vixen, and Zatanna. This decidedly untraditional lineup turned out to be both entertaining and effective, with the veteran Dr. Light playing well off the relatively-inexperienced Firestorm.

It sounds somewhat selfish for me, a mere fan, to boil Dwayne McDuffie’s death down to “I’m sorry about his JLA situation,” and I certainly don’t mean to do that. Still, his struggles against the demands of corporately-owned superhero comics run through much of his career, especially informing his Milestone work. From time to time he would return to the metaphor of a caged bird who “mistook being out of his cage … for being free.”

Accordingly, Mr. McDuffie’s untimely death saddens me partly because it seems like he left a lot of unfinished business with DC and Justice League — but on a more meaningful level, his death deprives the superhero genre of a gifted storyteller who, additionally, always had something substantive to say. While his last JLA lineup might have been a group of B- and C-listers with whom he probably wasn’t entirely satisfied, in the end they were capable, confident and (by the way) diverse; and I’d have enjoyed seeing them continue as the Justice League.

See, I trusted Dwayne McDuffie to do right by both the characters he wrote and the readers he entertained. I respected him as a professional and was always glad to see his name in the credits. One of his “Justice League” two-parters, “The Terror Beyond,” is on its face a pretty straightforward fight with a Cthulhu stand-in — but look closer, and it’s a terrific pastiche of Marvel’s Defenders, with Aquaman, Doctor Fate, and Solomon Grundy subbing for Namor, Doctor Strange, and the Hulk. Grundy’s imitation is the most shameless — by which I mean the most fun — since he fights the Army (and a mustachioed general), says “smash” a lot, and even calls Hawkgirl “bird-nose.” Nevertheless, as always, relationships are key: the Leaguers struggle to trust Aquaman (not on the team at this point), and Grundy and Hawkgirl end up bonding.

In hindsight, it’s eminently appropriate to note that his script for “Destroyer,” the “JLU” series finale, includes Superman observing “[w]hat we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose.” For many fans of DC’s characters, the “Justice League” cartoon was an example of what Mr. McDuffie could accomplish, free from arbitrary or capricious restrictions — and I don’t mean Easter eggs like putting Steve Ditko-created characters in the same scene, or having the patriotically-costumed Steel sling a round shield as a weapon. “Destroyer” is a twenty-minute tour de force depicting an Apokoliptian invasion and the resulting Darkseid/Superman battle, but it turns on Lex Luthor understanding Darkseid’s most fervent wish. (It also includes another immortal Superman line, “Oh, come on! This is Lex-flippin’-Luthor!”) Luthor’s actions in the episode’s climax are a natural product of what drives him as a character — intellectual curiosity, a thirst for power (which translates here into stopping someone else from ruling the world), and an almost pathological need to one-up Superman. Given the chance, of course Luthor would side with Superman in getting rid of Darkseid — but, as in “Destroyer,” he’d do it on his terms.

That’s how I’ll remember Dwayne McDuffie — as someone fluent in the language of superheroes, who used those skills to tell exciting, meaningful stories. Mr. McDuffie’s love for the genre showed in every script, regardless of what was going on behind the scenes. As DC goes forward with a new Static Shock series, and as it finds ways to use the other Milestone characters, I hope that all involved will be guided not only by what Mr. McDuffie left on the page, but also what went unwritten. Dwayne McDuffie is free now, and his life should inspire those who will come after.

I’ll close with a line from the first issue of Static which keeps coming to mind. It’s the end of Static’s introductory scene, a little tussle with some high-school punks hassling our hero’s friend Frieda. Having saved the day, Static’s flying away on his charged-up trash-can lid, when over the shoulder he calls out to her: “[W]hen you talk about this to all your friends, be sure to mention my winning smile. I never hear enough about that….”

Rest in peace, Mr. McDuffie.

Fellow creators and fans remember Dwayne McDuffie

JK Parkin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:00:37 +0000

I’m still in shock over the sudden, tragic death of comics writer, Milestone Media co-founder and animation producer Dwayne McDuffie, as I’m sure many of his fans, friends and fellow creators are. I’ve rounded up some thoughts and memories from some of those folks, as well as a few items of note about memorials and some of his work.

If you’re attending the Emerald City Comicon March 4-6, they’ve announced a memorial panel remembering McDuffie that will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. in Room 4C1-2. Per writer Mark Waid, C2E2 is also planning to hold one.
Both Heidi MacDonald and Rich Johnston posted pages featuring the parakeet metaphor that McDuffie first introduced in Hardware #1 — a scene that, for me personally, sparked one of those lengthy late-night discussions about society, racism, politics and a whole lot of other things with my older brother. As Heidi points out, McDuffie revisited it in both X-O Manowar and at the end of the Milestone Forever two-parter, basically bookending the life of the Milestone Universe.
The Weekly Crisis, meanwhile, looks at a poignant page from McDuffie’s more recent Fantastic Four run.
The good folks at the Project: Rooftop site have declared “McDuffie Week” at their site, and have put out the call for redesigns of Static. Dean Trippe writes: “Dwayne’s work in the field of comics and animation was near-universally respected. His knowledge and understanding of the DCU heroes in particular, always meant a lot to me. He worked for Marvel, DC, founded Milestone along with Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle, achieved more respect and admiration as a screenwriter for Justice League Unlimited and other DC animated projects, faithfully bringing the light of our heroes to the non-comics-reading public. Dwayne has left us far too soon, with too many wonderful stories left untold.”

Comic Book Resources has a collection of reactions from various creators. Here are a few more that creators and bloggers have posted on their own sites; also, Tom Spurgeon has a Collective Memory post with more that he’ll keep updating. You can also follow the hashtag #DwayneMcDuffie on Twitter, where McDuffie was a trending topic earlier this week.

Writer Peter David: “I will never forget sitting in his office as we worked out storylines. There was more than just his physical presence (he was well over six feet tall). He seemed to radiate confidence in his abilities, which was entirely warranted, and he was determined to roll with whatever curves Cartoon Network might throw his way and turn them into the best stories possible. He had boundless enthusiasm not only for his work, but for the sheer creative process. To say he will be missed is to understate it. I offer condolences not only to his family, but to the entirety of fandom for losing one of the great ones.”
Wruter Warren Ellis: “We talked – and occasionally argued – for years, at my message board. I had huge respect for both him and his work. Later, he was good enough to hire me to write a JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED cartoon for him. I had a terrific time doing that: turned out he was great to work with, too. if you had to pick out ten people in this poxy business whom you’d stand in front of when the shit started flying, Dwayne would be on most people’s lists.”
Artist J.H. Williams III: “He was always one of the best creators this industry had the luxury of claiming. His work is memorable not just for his forward thinking in terms of ethnic characters, but also for the coolness that always seem to come along for the ride with his stories. I had the fortunate but very brief time to have worked with him while Milestone was on the rise for DC Comics. It was Milestone that really seemed to be willing to give me some of my first shots at being a professional artist. My gratitude for that can never be forgotten, and neither will Dwayne’s offerings.”
Artist Colleen Doran: “Dwayne was incredibly cool to me at Milestone. Nothing about the demise of the series was Milestone’s fault in any way. I was not only treated with respect and kindness at every turn, but the publisher paid me a very fair kill fee. I really liked the people at Milestone, and Dwayne sent me a wonderful letter about my work on the project, which I treasure.”
Writer J.M. DeMatteis: “I didn’t know Dwayne well, but I had tremendous respect for him—both as a writer and a man. Dwayne was close friends with my old buddy Stan Berkowitz—they worked together on Justice League Unlimited, among other projects—and the three of us would sometimes go out for lunch or dinner when I visited Los Angeles. The last time I actually saw Dwayne was in April of 2010 (we shared an extraordinary Persian meal and Dwayne graciously, generously, picked up the check), but we worked together last summer, when I wrote a Ben 10 script for him. Dwayne was, as always, fiercely intelligent, profoundly creative, and a genuine pleasure to collaborate with.”
Writer/artist Gene Yang: “Dwayne McDuffie’s writing first caught my eye when I was in high school. He was the writer behind Damage Control, a Marvel Comics mini-series about a business firm that cleaned up cities after big superhero fights. I’ve followed his career off and on ever since. When he started Milestone Media with a group of his friends, I bought all the books he wrote. I admired his guts, I admired his business sense, and most of all I admired his stories. My son and I are currently watching Justice League episodes that he wrote and edited. At Comic-Con a couple of years ago, I was asked to participate on a panel discussion with him. I pestered the moderator to seat me next to him, just so I could shake his hand.”
Marvel.com’s Ben Morse: “But then, if you look at the professional career of Dwayne McDuffie, you’ll see a guy who has always done things that appeal and matter to him and achieved success along the way not necessarily because he always made the decisions would necessarily make the most money, but because he was so talented you couldn’t stop him. Read any interview with Dwayne about the creation of Milestone and you’ll have little doubt it was an endeavor he embarked upon because in his mind it needed to be done and there was creative potential there, not because it was going to make him rich.”
Blogger Chris Sims: “He was a hero of mine. He was a guy who worked hard, who set out to change the world of comics for the better while still telling great stories, and he succeeded. He wrote with skill, social conscience and a sense of humor, three things that you rarely find in one person, especially one as prolific as he was. He wasn’t afraid to call things out for being ridiculous, and more than that, he did it with honesty, even when he caught hell for it. And because of that, he was one of the creators that I always felt comfortable writing about, whether praise or criticism, because I felt like if I followed his example of professionalism, honesty and humor, he’d get it. He inspired me, as much through how he acted on a personal level as through his work.”
Writer/blogger Kevin Church: “A lot of comics creators (and readers) use the most benign platitudes when it comes to race and gender in superhero books. They say that it doesn’t matter if the latest incarnation of a legacy character is black or white or asian, that it’s not important to the story if Black Manta is a woman this go-round or whatever. Because, you know, people are people, you know? Dwayne McDuffie was hard-headed and impassioned enough to say “Yes, it does.” He brought the experience he had as a black kid growing up in Detroit in the 70s and 80s to every project he got his hands on by choosing directly not to emulate what he’d seen in the comic books he read, but by creating what he wished he had read.”
Blogger J. Caleb Mozzocco: I didn’t know Dwayne McDuffie the person at all, but I’ve long known Dwayne McDuffie the comics writer (and, to a lesser extent, the animation writer), and I spent a lot of time with that Dwayne McDuffie. Relating the death of a real person with a real family and real friends always seems a bit selfish to me, but then, I think the fact that the passing of someone you don’t really know can still affect you in some small way can be a compelling indicator of just how important that particular person is to the world. Certainly in the case of McDuffie, he was very important in our part of the world. It saddens me to think I’m never going to read another new McDuffie-written comic book, although I’m somewhat heartened by the fact that there are still chunks of his decades-long bibliography I’ve yet to experience personally.
Blogger Tom Foss: “McDuffie was one of the best. He was the mastermind behind Milestone Comics, an incredibly underrated imprint that has given us quite a lot of interesting characters and poignant stories. He was a key component of the awesomeness of the DCAU shows, and I think he understands the core DC characters better than most.”
Blogger Johnny Bacardi: “Back in 1993, when my then-11-year-old son wanted me to start getting him comics to read on my weekly Wednesday run, some of the titles he liked were DC’s teen heroes- Robin, Impulse, Superboy. One other that caught his eye was the series above, Static. Now, since I was as much a comics geek back then as I ever was, I read not only the titles I bought, but the titles I bought for him (he liked X-Men, Spawn, Gen13, and other hot books back then too- I didn’t read them often) as well, and I enjoyed Static. McDuffie only scripted the first four issues, along with the mysterious Robert L. Washington III, but was instrumental in creating the character with artist J.P. Leon, the first place I saw his soon-to-be excellent work as well.”
Blogger John Hogan: McDuffie’s work on Icon and the rest of the Milestone Media characters in the early ’90s was incredibly pivotal to me. The debate that went on in the pages of Icon (the philosophies of Martin Luther King vs. those of Malcolm X, for example) was so incredibly well done that I would eagerly await each new issue. McDuffie was one of the comics creators who pushed the envelope and brought comics into a new age, pushing superheroes further than before.

John Rozum writing new Xombi series

JK Parkin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:30:56 +0000

Xombi

This past weekend at the New York Comic Con, DC co-publisher Dan Didio said that the Milestone character Xombi will return in February. John Rozum, who wrote the original Xombi series back in the 1990s, posted on his blog that he will write the series.

“Xombi came straight from my DNA and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to return to the story of David Kim,” he wrote on his blog. “This is an absolute dream come true for me.”

He also notes that he’s written one issue so far, and an art team has not been chosen yet.

Xombi, the story of a medical researcher whose supernatural wounds were cured by nanomachines that render him immortal, ran for 22 issues. Like the other Milestone characters, Xombi is now part of the DC universe, having been introduced into it last year in Brave & the Bold #26. Rozum’s post includes a great introduction to the character if you’ve never read the book.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Kevin Melrose — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:26:43 +0000

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Legal | On Thursday 20th Century Fox filed six lawsuits against several dozen people the studio claims sold DVDs containing unfinished versions of X-Men Origins: Wolverine before the movie’s May 1, 2009, theatrical release.

In December, the FBI arrested Gilberto Sanchez, a New York man suspected of uploading an unfinished edit of the film to a file-sharing website. Sanchez claims he purchased the bootleg for $5 from a street vendor. [Media Decoder]

Legal | The Department of Justice has delivered another blow to Google’s controversial plan to make millions of out-of-print books available online. In a statement issued Thursday night, the DOJ said that despite “good faith” efforts, the revised agreement still suffers from class certification, copyright and antitrust issues. A hearing on the proposed agreement is scheduled for Feb. 18. [Publishers Weekly, Epicenter]

Publishing | As the standoff continues between Amazon and Macmillan over the price of e-books, Hachette Book Group has announced it will shift to an agency model for its digital editions. That presumably means that, like Macmillan, Hachette plans to determine the price for each book individually — Amazon insists on a standard price tag of $9.99 — with the retailer receiving a set commission. “This makes Hachette a valuable ally for Macmillan in their price feud with Amazon,” writes Jason Boog. Related: Andrew Wheeler debunks some assertions about the Amazon/Macmillan dispute. [GalleyCat, GalleyCat]

Publishing | Yaoi Press Publisher Yamila Abraham elaborates on her earlier concerns about the newly announced Apple iPad. [Yaoi Press]

Publishing | Amazon has a listing for a 320-page Absolute All-Star Superman, set for release on Oct. 12. [iFanboy]

Static #1

Publishing | David Brothers reflects on Milestone Comics: “What’s fascinating, and what Milestone isn’t given enough credit for, is just how forward-thinking and revolutionary it really was. Milestone employed a lot of artists who are either superstars or extremely well-regarded these days. Their approach to interlocking continuity is something that both Marvel and DC could learn from. Milestone’s most important, and least imitated, innovation is in its approach to a multicultural cast in a superhero universe.” [Comics Alliance]

Creators | Evan Dorkin discusses Beasts of Burden, his collaboration with Jill Thompson that will be collected as a hardcover in June. [Comic Monsters]

Creators | Writer/editor Dale Lazarov discusses collaboration and his new book Nightlife. [Bay Area Reporter]

Art by Ron “D-pi” Wimberly

Creators | David Brothers interviews Ron “D-pi” Wimberly, artist of Sentences and creator of Gratuitous Ninja. [4thletter!]

Creators | Ben Morse recalls interviewing Captain America co-creator Joe Simon in 2007 on the occasion of Steve Rogers’ “death”: “I initially expected that Joe would be a bit taken aback that his signature creation had met his demise after over six decades even if I wasn’t the first reporter to call him up, but he could not have been more laid back. As he informed me, this was hardly the first time he’d received a call from the Marvel powers-that-be to let him know Cap was being offed; the time before, he had celebrated by doing a painting recreating Jesus’ last supper with Steve in the lead role and cheeseburgers, fries and sodas replacing bread and wine.” [The Cool Kids Table]

Blogosphere | Popular blogger Chris Sims is taking a full-time freelance position as the senior writer for Comics Alliance. [Chris's Invincible Super-Blog]

Milestone Forever brings much-needed closure, finally … maybe?

JK Parkin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:33:32 +0000

Milestone Forever

According to this post over at DC’s The Source blog, original Milestone Comics editor-in-chief Dwayne McDuffie is teaming with several artists who worked on the original Milestone Comics line back in the 1990s to wrap up the stories that were being told in those books before the line was canceled. It also sounds like it’ll somehow transition the characters from their separate Milestone-verse to the DCU proper, where we’ve already seen them show up in the pages Justice League and Teen Titans.

McDuffie will team with John Paul Leon, Mark Bright, Chris Cross and Denys Cowan to wrap up the stories from Hardware, Icon, Shadow Cabinet, Blood Syndicate and Static. I figured we were well past ever seeing these characters again in their original environment, so this is welcome news, even if it is “a bittersweet tale that chronicles the literal end of a universe.”

DC Comics ‘wasted my time’ with Milestone deal, McDuffie says

Kevin Melrose — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:30:17 +0000

The Brave and the Bold #24

After announcing last summer that the Milestone heroes would be merged fully into the DC Universe, the publisher seems to have pulled back on its big plans for the properties.

The Shadow Cabinet appeared near the end of writer Dwayne McDuffie’s abbreviated run on Justice League of America, and Hardware and Static have been featured in The Brave and the Bold and Teen Titans. But beyond that?

“At this particular time, we have Static in the Teen Titans, and we’re looking at a storyline that might be built around Static later in the run,” DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio said in an interview posted yesterday. “But right now, no other plans.”

The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise to Milestone fans, or McDuffie himself.

“Plans for a Static monthly were scrapped by DC last spring,” McDuffie, co-founder of Milestone Media, wrote yesterday on his forum. “Based on their actions, they never really wanted to publish the Milestone stuff, they wasted my time. We could have done a little deal for them to use Static without me having to spend so much money on lawyers.”

Milestone was founded in 1993 by McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle in an attempt to increase minority representation in comics. Through DC Comics, the company published such titles as Hardware, Blood Syndicate, Icon and, perhaps the most successful, Static (which in 2000 spawned the animated series Static Shock). Milestone closed its comic division in 1997.

Blogger Rich Watson, who summarized the recent roller-coaster relationship between McDuffie and DC, questions what this latest turn says about the publisher’s “level of commitment to its black audience.”

“DC is content to have its black superheroes appear in team books and the occasional mini-series, but an ongoing series is — what? Beneath them?” Watson wrote. “And Static, a character that has proved itself not just in comics, but on television as well, can’t get a series either?”

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Kevin Melrose — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:38:27 +0000

Final Crisis

Publishing | Yen Press has confirmed the release dates for volumes 6-8 of Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&!, the popular comedy series previously published by ADV Manga: Vol. 6, September; Vol. 7, December; Vol. 8, April 2010. Yen Press announced at New York Comic Con that it had acquired the license to the offbeat manga. [Yen Press, Anime News Network]

Creators | Laura Hudson talks to Grant Morrison about Final Crisis, “Batman R.I.P,” event comics, and the high expectations of fandom: “A lot of artists are naturally wary of fan pressure and the excessive criticism that come with a higher profile, so they put their all into a project, knowing that if they do less than the best they’re capable of, 50 jeering bastards on the Internet will turn up to personally insult them.” [Comic Foundry, reposted from the Spring 2009 issue]

Creators | Wind up Alan Moore and watch him go (Part 27): “Much as I love the medium, I despise the industry. I’ve always despised it to a certain degree but after this last few years and all this nonsense with the films, I believe it to be a completely poisonous place that isn’t really going anywhere. I did once feel I was part of a movement that wanted to change comics into something was valuable to culture, but I don’t really feel that kinship in the way I used to.” [The Guardian]

Publishing | Chris Ryall, editor-in-chief and publisher of IDW Publishing, discusses moving the company away from the horror niche, signing author Joe Hill, and his new series with Ben Templesmith Groom Lake. [The Cult]

Creators | Our own Chris Mautner posts the full interview he conducted with writer Ed Brubaker before the release of Incognito #1. [Panels and Pixels]

Creators | Time.com’s Lev Grossman chats with annotator extraordinaire Jess Nevins. [Nerd World]

Publishing | Why isn’t DC Comics promoting the return of Milestone Comics? [4thletter!]

Publishing | James Hunt traces the short history of the President Obama comic-book covers. [Den of Geek]

Best of 2008 | Tom Spurgeon breaks out his list, conveniently divided into categories. [The Comics Reporter]

Fandom | John Thomas goes shopping for manga in Osaka, Japan. [Mecha Mecha Media]

Fandom | The most interesting part of this awkward — okay, awful — article is the bit about the guy who returned to comics because of “Batman R.I.P.” Take that, naysayers! [2theadvocate]

Comics | “The 10 Worst Comic Book Vacation Destinations.” [Topless Robot]