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Dwayne McDuffie was an ingenious black creator who we don't talk about enough he gave us Teen Titans, Ben 10: UAF, Static Shock, JLU, and What's New Scooby-Doo. That's serious talent in a dope Era for superhero cartoons.
He started and maintained his own minority based cartoon comic book company. It was so successful DC distributed and then acquired his characters, including his most famous hero Static. The closest thing to Black Panther (RIP Chadwick) my generation had.
All this and he's from the Midwest! He was born and raised in Detroit Michigan, and went to the Roeper School for gifted students. He graduated from University of Michigan and went to school at NYU to study film at the Tisch School of the Arts.
His company Milestone Comics was founded to address the lack of representation of non-white characters in animation and comics.
He passed on February 21, 2011 in Burbank, California (
). A random fact that I was surprised to find out was that him and Keegan Michael-Key are half brothers. They discovered this after McDuffie's passing. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/key-peele-stars-surprising-comic-book-connection-is-a-familial-one/amp/
). A random fact that I was surprised to find out was that him and Keegan Michael-Key are half brothers. They discovered this after McDuffie's passing. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/key-peele-stars-surprising-comic-book-connection-is-a-familial-one/amp/
I feel like it's important in times like these to share more about our African-American, Carribean, and African heroes, contributors, innovators, and industrialists! From time to time I'll do more of these to highlight lesser known black figures. Lmk if you have suggestions!
Just to clarify, he was the head writer and producer for JLU, Static Shock (which he created), Ben 10: UAF (not the original series), and wrote for Teen Titans and Scooby Doo. Even still! Dope talent who contributed to so much and most importantly started Milestone Comics!
