Milestone, the comic book company, might not have lasted THAT long (a little under five years, right?), but there were a lot of great characters created in those years, and the following are who I think are the five coolest.
5. Edwin Alva
One of the problems I had with Hardware was the fact that the most fascinating character in the comic was not, in fact, Hardware, but Hardware's NEMESIS!
Curtis Metcalf was "discovered" at the age of 12 by Edwin Alva, head of Alva Technologies, who was known to be the greatest inventor in America. He paid for Curtis' education in return for Curtis coming to work for Alva after school. Curtis did so, and created many items that made Alva millions. However, when Curtis went to ask for a cut of the profits, Alva cut him down and pointed out that Curtis could not even leave, as he had a non-compete clause!
Looking for dirt on Alva, Curtis discovered he was also a major crimelord!! Seeing that Alva was above the law, Curtis took some of his inventions and began to fight Alva as Hardware!
However, during the whole time, Curtis was still working for Alva, and we would see Alva often. Dwayne McDuffie has said that the series was ABOUT their relationship, which was cool - except that Alva was just so much more interesting than Curtis.
Famous inventor/business man who was also crimelord? That's awesome.
And his reaction when he finds out that Curtis is Hardware?
Brilliant stuff.
4. Tech-9
He would easily be higher on the list except for one thing.
He only appeared in two issues.
You might say, "That's nuts, Brian! How cool could he be if he only appeared in four issues?"
Well, my answer would be, "Very cool!"
Tech-9 was the fun, charismatic leader of the Blood Syndicate. After successfully defending his leadership from Holocaust in #4, Tech-9 suddenly died.
It was one of those examples of how being "different" is not always a good idea. Blood Syndicate was still a good comic, but it was never as good as those first few issues, particularly the first two. Tech-9 vs. Holocaust is one of my favorite single issues of comics - period.
Thanks to Dan Coyle for refreshing my memory of the issue Tech-9 died in. I thought it was after the big fight in #2 (as a sort of "wow, we're so happy and - BAM - dead" things), but it was in #4.
3. Frieda Goren
Frieda Goren is the best friend of Virgil "Static" Hawkins.
Their friendship was one of the strongest aspects of the Static comic book.
A boy/girl relationship that's PLATONIC? Awesome. The cover of the comic above is where Frieda sneaks Virgil his costume by wearing it herself under a trenchcoat. Kinda silly, but still funny.
Dwayne McDuffie rules.
2. Rocket
Raquel Ervin was living a typical teenaged life in the crime-ridden ghettos of Paris Island. But she had the potential to do so much more, and upon meeting Augustus Freeman IV (who was actually an alien), she finally met that potential.
She convinced Freeman to use his alien powers to become a superhero called Icon, with Raquel becoming his sidekick (using a kinetic-energy asorbing belt).
Soon into the series, as seen on the cover above, Raquel discovered she was impregnated by her ex-boyfriend. She kept the baby, although she quit being Rocket for awhile.
Truly a breath of fresh air, as far as comic characters go.
Dwayne McDuffie rules.
1. Static
Virgil Ovid Hawkins.
Such a cool character that he got his own popular TV show AFTER his comic had been cancelled for a couple of years!!
Basically, Static is a 90s verison of Spider-Man. Reading Static will be very familiar to readers of Ultimate Spider-Man. They're very similar books.
His origin issue (#2) is, along with Blood Syndicate #2 (how weird is it that they're both second issues?), one of my favorite single issues in comics.
Smart, funny but also painfully dorky in his "secret identity," Virgil is a great character. I'd love to see him have a comic book again.
Dwayne McDuffie rules.