Static #1 (1993)

So 2021 is definitely the year of Milestone Media.  I gave them all of the flowers in my latest podcast episode (Top Ten Moments of 2021).  And just to extend hype a little more, I’ve made Static #1 (1993) my key of the week. Created by the legends Dwayne McDuffie (W) and John Paul Leon (A) (May they both Rest in Power).

The Milestone story plays in my head like the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Belair.  How four disgruntled and disenfranchised Black comic book creators (McDuffie, Dingle, Cowan and Davis) formed together like Voltron and became the Public Enemy of the comic book world.

Published by Milestone Media and distributed by DC comics they debuted Static, Icon, Hardware and Blood Syndicate; Four cool, hip analogs of everything that was poppin’ in the 90s; Spidey, Superman, Iron Man and X Men respectively.

It was the connection to Spidey that probably drew me to Static originally and what accounts for it’s undying popularity to this day.  McDuffie had always admitted that Static was the Spider-Man of the Dakota-verse (the world of Milestone) and he imbued the character with witty one-liners as he battles school bullies and burdened his alter ego, Virgil Hawkins, with nerdy awkwardness that would put Peter Parker to shame.

Just like my last Key of the Week (Brother Man) Static and Milestone Media were the cornerstone of my wonder years.  I recently completed my collection of Milestone issue #1s; the polybagged joints that included posters, cards, and a black and white backing board.  I’ve shamelessly removed all of them from their polybags and have bagged and boarded all of them with their posters and cards and put them in top-loaders.

Of the four debut issues of Milestone Media, Static is currently the most valuable.  It currently has a FMV (fair market value) of about $100.  The final issue of the 90’s run, issue 45, with a cover illustrated by Moebius, is going for $475 (CDC 9.6). (Data via gocollect.com)

And if it feels like these books are undervalued that’s because they are!  I don’t claim to understand the inner workings of comic book collecting but I can tell when something’s off. It is common knowledge among Black collectors that you can find these four books in discount dollar bins on the daily.  Most collectors even have dozens of copies of these books.  Ironically, I believe it was the success of Milestone in the 90s that has devalued their books today.  Milestone sold millions of copies of some of their most popular titles. This created a glut in the market that is rearing it’s head now I believe.  But still, these books should be performing just as well if not better than some of their contemporaries.

I submit to you dear readers, everything that has made Miles Morales popular today is what made Static popular in the 90s.  Milestone did it first.  I hope they are able to capture that same magic in the movies and animated series they keep announcing regularly.  I’m sure that with the right media push Static and his fellow Milestone titles will all raise in value.