In memory of Dwayne McDuffie - A few pages from "Milestone Forever"

[icon_uk]

I found this in a comic shop not long ago, and didn't think it would be quite so apposite, quite so soon.

It was "Milestone Forever", a 2010 series which just preceded the merger of the Milestone and mainstream DCU. This is not meant to be a definitive posting, but as a quick sample of the sheer scale of the characters Milestone introduced.

The temporally sensitive character "Dharma" (Leader of the Shadow Cabinet) is observing the timelines around him, and focusses on one in particular.

The appropriateness of the opening image is really very sad indeed.



Rocket, the partner of Icon, is mourning her recently deceased grandmother. The voice in the background is another Bang Baby, Flashback (a member of the Blood Syndicate, an (at best) ethically challenged streetgang) who has the power to reverse time by three seconds, which she has used to save her friends lives many times, but she always remembers the tragic futures she's just changed too, and the stress of seeing friends die so often has taken it's toll. She turned to crack for relief, and now, finally, is seeking to give it up... Rocket offers to help her through it, starting with the obvious



I'm sure that sounded like a good idea, but Rocket has a more practical approach.



Tough love, but love nevertheless. I LIKE Rocket...

A regular villain of the title; Holocaust (Yes, he knows that word has connotations, no, he doesn't care, though he now uses the name "Pyre") shows up and takes Flashback with him for a mission he has. He had been ejected from the Blood Syndicate for his homicidal habits by the old leader Tech-9, but Tech-9 is now dead and Holocaust wants to take control again and make the Syndicate a more forceful criminal enterprise. To that end he's sought out some new members.

I enclose the next couple of pages to show the range of characters the Blood Syndicate had under their aegis.



However, not only are the establishment heroes not going down without a fight, neither are several more members of the Syndicate, led by Wise Son, who don't want Holocaust as leader...



I won't spoilt how it ends (Though some of it does seem to be reversed after the DC merger (notably Holocaust showing up), but it does highlight in intriguing "shades of grey" amongst the team-members, their motivations and outlooks, which were a feature of much of the Milestone series.

And from the same issue a rather nice JH Williams III portrait of Hardware... (Click on the image for the pencils only version, just for interest)



I leave it others to post more about these characters if they wish to, but I'm tempted to go and dig out some Xombi, which wasn't a Dwayne Mcduffie creation, but was rather wonderful and WAS Milestone

Comments

[pyrotwilight]

"Though some of it does seem to be reversed after the DC merger (notably Holocaust showing up"

Yeah, because the DC and Milestone merger more or less retroactively changed all of Milestone, including all of the possible futures and the characters, at least that's how I read it.

[big_daddy_d]

I'm just glad that we at least got an ending, especially to Static.

[halloweenjack]

That JHW3 pic is excellent--very Mobius.

Also. I remember McDuffie from the old Warren Ellis Forum on Delphi; great guy.

[julian]

Aw man, Rocket's grandmother.

I'm like, "Why is FADE with Holocaust!" which just means I should go re-read my Blood Syndicate stuff. What's Ivan Velez doing lately?

[icon_uk]

Icon notes that too, and wonders whether he's doing it to protect his sister Flashback. Fade observes that things aren't always what they seem, and sometimes they aren't even what they are. Given his own time travel powers, it's possible he's seen what's coming between Wise Son and Holocaust and wants Icon there for a reason.

[blackruzsa]

Hwow
The only one I recognize from this is Aquamaria. Seems pretty badass though. I feel the 90s vibes coming strong.