DC Announces Milestone’s Return to Publishing in February ‘21 & ‘Static Shock’ Movie In The Works
Fans of DC FanDome received an unexpected and welcome news today, courtesy of a surprise panel announcing the return of Milestone to DC publishing. Moderator Marc Bernardin and DC Publisher/CCO Jim Lee were joined by Milestone principals Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan, along with Phil Lamarr, the iconic voice of the Static Shock animated series.
Milestone’s return to publishing will be led by an all-new Static Shock digital comic series scheduled for February 2021, followed by an original Static Shock original graphic novel and the return of Milestone heroes Icon & Rocket, with art by Cowan. And beginning this September through February of 2021, select content from the Milestone backlist will be remastered and available for purchase digitally at all participating digital retailers, including Comixology, Amazon Kindle, and others.
A new “Static Shock” movie may be on the way as Reginald Hudlin said there’s been “serious conversations” about bringing the electric-powered teen hero to the big screen.
Virgil Hawkins, a.k.a. Static Shock, was created by Milestone Media and DC Comics in the 1990s and starred in a Kids’ WB animated series in the early 2000s. The series received multiple Daytime Emmy award nominations and is still highly regarded by fans for being one of the few superhero series starring a Black character.
“One of the things we’re really excited about, we really want to live up to the name of the company, Milestone Media,” said Hudlin. “When we spoke to Jim [Lee] about reviving the Milestone line, we said ‘Look, we all know this has been a hit comic book and hit animated series. It’s time to expand back into all those areas and then some.’ So we’re in serious conversations about, as we’re launching the comic book series, developing the ‘Static Shock’ movie. That will be a theatrical feature film.”
Fellow panelist Phil LaMarr, who voiced Static Shock on the animated series, joked about who could direct the film and that he could even return to the live-action role with some “Irishman”-style de-aging technology.
“For that movie, talk to Scorsese for me, would you?” he said. “They got the technology, I could play 14.”
In 2015, Hudlin helped revive Milestone Media. He served as president of entertainment at BET from 2005-2008 and earned an Oscar nomination for best picture as a producer on Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”
There were no other details given on “Static Shock’s” move to the big screen, but he will star in a digital comic book series in February 2021.