Oftentimes writers and creators remain out of the spotlight for their popular fictional works. We gravitate to the characters on screen or the page and understandably so, but often we don’t truly take time to appreciate the hard work of the creator. 

A writer that should be praised is Dwayne McDuffie for his work in animated television and comic books. McDuffie was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan. According to IMDB, he originally studied physics and had aspirations of becoming an astronaut, but shifted focus from that occupation to focus on writing. 

After working for a business magazine, he landed an interview with Marvel Comics, where he would start as an assistant editor. During his time at Marvel, he created the fictional insurance and construction company called Damage Control, which has appeared in films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He did freelance writing for Marvel and DC Comics. 

McDuffie was outspoken about the mistreatment of minority characters in comics. In the ‘90s he and three of his partners founded what would become Milestone Media. From the frustration of multicultural sensibilities that he felt was missing, he wanted Milestone Media to showcase the range of people within ethnic groups and steer away from common misconceptions and stereotypes. Milestone Media had a distribution deal with DC Comics, and McDuffie would go on to create and co-create many characters like Static.

Milestone Media stopped publishing new comics and the focus for McDuffie and the company would shift to animated television. The character named Static would be adapted to a television series titled “Static Shock.” McDuffie would go on to write for other animated shows. 

He became producer, editor and writer for shows like “Justice League: Unlimited” and the “Ben 10” franchise. With much success with comic book related characters, he would go on to write the script for the film, “All-Star Superman,” which was released after his death in 2011. He wrote many great works and various episodes for Cartoon Network. He would receive awards and nominations for his work such as a daytime Emmy nomination in 2003 and 2004, according to IMDB. 

The legacy of Dwayne McDuffie lives on through his work. There has been a reboot of the Milestone Media comic characters. Those stories are currently ongoing and there was a compendium released that collects the original Milestone comics. According to the Milestone Initiative program, in January there was an unveiling of creators who were selected to participate in the program in which they will travel to the DC Comics headquarters in Burbank, California, receive mentorship from top creators in the industry and will help them grow and expand in the industry.