Dwayne McDuffie

Dwayne McDuffie was a comic book writer, animator, and media visionary who co-founded Milestone Comics in 1993 to create a universe of superheroes that reflected the diversity of the real world. Frustrated by the comic book industry's near-total exclusion of characters of color, McDuffie didn't just complain — he built an entire company and a universe of heroes including Static, Icon, Hardware, and Blood Syndicate that proved diverse stories could be commercially successful and creatively groundbreaking.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1962, McDuffie studied at the University of Michigan and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts before breaking into comics writing for Marvel. His essay "Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers" — a satirical pitch that exposed the industry's tokenism — became legendary. Rather than accept the status quo, he partnered with Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle to launch Milestone Media through DC Comics, creating an interconnected universe of characters of color.

McDuffie's creation Static became the basis for the animated series Static Shock, which ran for four seasons and introduced millions of children to a Black teenage superhero. He went on to write for the Justice League animated series and became one of the most respected writers in superhero animation. McDuffie joined the ancestors in 2011 at just 49 years old, but his legacy lives on — Milestone Comics was revived in 2021, and Static remains one of the most important Black superheroes ever created.