Dwayne “Milestone” McDuffie

     Video games introduced me to comics, via Captain America and the Avengers for the original NES.  I gravitated toward Captain America himself, and have gravitated toward like characters every sense.  But, while Cap brought me into comics, his partner, Sam Wilson, The Falcon, was who I latched onto.  Reading his origin got me hooked immediately.  A black guy who was studious and academically proficient & athletic, while also being a trained martial artist, going to college, and returning home to help the defenseless.  In other words, The Falcon was everything I was as a kid (nerdy black kid doing combat sports), and represented what I wanted to be as an adult.  He was “my” Spider-Man so to speak.  Unfortunately, I soon found out about the retcon of “Snap” Wilson fairly soon afterwards.  This was not the hero I wanted to identify with.  I didn’t want to be an ex pimp and convicted felon.  And so, The Falcon, and Captain America for that matter brushed aside.  All the comics my mom got me of them, I threw away, I sort of took the retcon personal and wanted nothing to do with the characters, or the company, Marvel, for years.
     Time went by, and my interests expanded beyond comics and, at one point, heavily into animation.  One of the shows I took a liking to was Static Shock.  I was way passed the age demographic of the show, but it appealed to me for the same reason that The Falcon appealed to me years ago.  The character of Virgil, was basically me in elementary school & middle school.  Sometime around season two, I learned that the show was based on the comic Static, published by Milestone Comics, which I completely missed out on after having left the scene years ago.  But, in looking for back issues of Static, I was introduced to the writings of Dwayne McDuffie.
     While I still enjoyed Static, I was now looking for more stories written by this McDuffie guy.  His stories were more & more of what I had wanted years ago as a kid.  Stories about people that I could see myself reflected onto.  Stories that showed the vast experiences of my culture that rang true, as apposed to what I was avoiding; an interpretation of  said from an outside spectator who couldn’t, for the life of them, write anything but the most familiar stereotypes.  Because of Dwayne McDuffie, I had been brought back into comics.
      I followed McDuffie’s animated work until the end of the Justice League tv series, and into the DC animated films.  I hadn’t followed his comic work as much, but I stayed up to date with what he was doing overall.  For years after the Static Shock animated series, I wanted to catch up to Mr. McDuffie, and thank him for the stories he’d written over the years, even though I was put on to them much later than they were released.  I also wanted to thank him for inspiring me to pursuit my own creator owned projects, as I never would’ve if it weren’t for his work on “Icon”, “Hardware”, and the “Blood Syndicate”.  I actually had the chance on a few occasions, but chose not to follow through, rationalizing that I’d talk to him “next time”.
     Well, that that got more serious than I had intended.  I’ll get back to the schedule fan art in due time, but, until then, rest in piece Mr. McDuffie.  Your work influenced more people, of more ages, than you could ever know.

~~~MUSIC DISCLAIMER~~~
I have nothing to do with any of the music played in this video. I’m not the owner or creator of any of the songs. You can listen to the songs on almost any music player.

1)Static Shock (2000-2004)
2)Teen Titans (2004)
3)Justice League (2002-2006)
4)Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (2010–2011)
5)Ben 10: Alien Force (2008-2010)
6)Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
7)All Star Superman (2011)

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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh729y_dwayne-milestone-mcduffie_creation
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=195826373775840&saved
http://lafango.com/euvari/media/1294182-dwayne-ldquomilestonerdquo-mcduffie
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/3e9mnWr-Dwayne-Milestone-McDuffie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ_DwLFfzKc