The Milestone Universe has been put through the wringer. From the adventures of the numerous series populating the universe, to the time shattering events of Icon vs. Hardware, the next phase of the Milestone Universe is here and it brings the introduction to a famous Milestone team…The Shadow Cabinet!
I spoke to Joseph Illidge, the writer of the limited series about the events of the first issue and hints at what’s to come.
Terrence Sage: What’s your favorite sandwich?
Joseph Illidge: A chopped cheese with chipotle mayo on a hero.
TS: What drew you to writing the next chapter of The Milestone Universe?
JI: Milestone is in my career and spiritual DNA, as it’s the company where I found my purpose and started my career in comics. On a deeper level, I think the spirit of Dwayne McDuffie called out to me. Dwayne was one of Milestone’s founders, the Editor-in-chief, and my first story mentor. There are some conversations I want to have with the world in my role as a writer, and Milestone is on the Mount Rushmore of places where I want to tell stories. Their universe is uniquely beautiful and complex, and Rocket (the lead in Shadow Cabinet) is one of my 10 favorite superheroes.
And of course, Virgil Muthaeffin’ Hawkins, our lovable Static!
TS: Did your time as an editor ever inform you as a writer as you plotted out Shadow Cabinet?
JI: One hundred percent. I had the great fortune of having Dwayne McDuffie as a mentor at Milestone, then the great Denny O’Neil when I worked in the Batman Editorial Department. The core education I received from those two launched me into the world with a drive to understand story even more, and friends like writer Christopher Priest helped along the way. Plotting The Shadow Cabinet required being able to see the story from a 10,000 foot view, to see the drama and tension between characters, thematic throughlines, emotional beats, and superstructure. Similar to an editorial point of view working everywhere from DC Comics to Milestone to Heavy Metal.
TS: For the uninitiated, how did it feel reviving the Shadow Cabinet for this new Milestone Universe having previously worked in the Milestone Universe of old?
JI: The Milestone Universe that started in 2020 with “Milestone Returns” is the playground I’m working in, but the core qualities from the 90’s version are still present in this version. It’s the same way Spider-Man or Wonder Woman have core qualities that allow them to endure and remain young for decades and new readers, even though they were created more than sixty years ago. So with that, I was presented with a Shadow Cabinet that was a tight group and each character represented different qualities/ideas, so they complement each other well. Dharma, the leader who can see the past and multiple futures of everyone. Iron Butterfly, the enforcer who can manipulate metal, and Anansi, the African mystic. I’m a huge fan of all of the heroes from the 90’s iteration of The Shadow Cabinet and those Mission: Impossible-styled stories, but we already have quite a large cast with everyone from Rocket to Static to The Blood Syndicate, so keeping the Shadow Cabinet to a team of three allowed each of them to have some breathing room to be more memorable.
TS: How’s the collaboration process with your artists, Darryl Banks, Atagun Ilhaun, and Christopher Sotomayor on colors?
JI: My collaboration with the art team doing the heavy lifting on The Shadow Cabinet has been a lot of fun and we’re all united in wanting to put out The Best Series Possible. The guys are firing on all cylinders artistically! Darryl, Atagun, Chris and I make a great team, and you’re going to see the series get better issue by issue because of it!
TS: What made Rocket the ideal protagonist for the miniseries? I loved how the first issue hits the ground running.
JI: Thanks! Rocket, whose real name is Raquel Ervin, is the most grounded superhero in the Milestone Universe. She’s also very driven, so of all the characters she’s the one who would never give up fighting to save lives and achieve what she hopes is justice on a day-to-day basis. She’s on a very particular journey of responsibility and maturation, so making her the spine of the story was the natural choice, and the readers and fans really appreciate seeing her at the center. With braids, too!
TS: What made you decide to bring Anansi into the fold as a member of the Shadow Cabinet?
JI: The credit for that goes to our editor Marquis Draper, and I was thrilled about it. I’ve been a fan of Anansi since he was introduced years ago in the “Static Shock” cartoon (I like spider characters), and from a writing perspective it was fun to figure out his “voice” as a character, what makes him immediately different from any other superpowered people in the story. Anansi is a superhero from Ghana, and it made sense to me that he would be highly regarded and idolized by the children of his homeland, so I was able to run with that!
TS: Where can we expect the remainder of the series to go as we follow the adventures of the Milestone Heroes and Villains?
JI: Things are going to get more intense, we’ll be picking up speed, and as Rocket and The Shadow Cabinet’s paths dovetail and collide, heroes will get caught in the crossfire. It may not end well for everyone.
People who you think are villains may surprise you. Good and evil are real in our lives, but characters who represent the ideas tend to be easy to classify as one or the other. It’s much more interesting to view someone you’ve just met as a “villain” and get a curveball or three thrown at you that makes you reevaluate your first impression.
All to say…keep your eyes on Angela Alva.
