Dwayne McDuffie (1962-2011)
“You don’t feel as real if you don’t see yourself reflected in the media […] There’s something very powerful about seeing yourself represented.”
Founder, EDITOR, Writer & ProDUCER
Dwayne McDuffie was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Dwayne went to the Roeper School for gifted children, then earned degrees in English and Physics, including a graduate degree in Physics, from the University of Michigan. He also studied filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Dwayne started in comics as an Editor at Marvel, helped by his NYU friend Greg Wright. Together, they updated the Deathlok character now seen on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Along with artist Ernie Colón, Dwayne co-created the funny Marvel team book, Damage Control, which is becoming popular again in movies, TV, and comics.
Frustrated by the lack of diversity in comics, Dwayne, with Derek Dingle, Denys Cowan, and Michael Davis, co-founded Milestone Comics (later Milestone Media). It became the most successful African-American owned comic book company, aiming to show a true mix of characters and creators reflecting real-life diversity in race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and ability. Now called Milestone 2.0, led by Reggie Hudlin and original founders Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle, the company still thrives.
Dwayne created or co-created many comic series like Static, Icon, Rocket, and Hardware. He also wrote stories for many popular titles, including Justice League of America, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Captain Marvel, Avengers Spotlight, Hellraiser, Ultraman, The Tick, Back to The Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He co-created The Road To Hell with Matt Wayne, a fellow writer and editor at Milestone. After his passing, the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics was set up by his widow, Charlotte McDuffie, with help from writer Neo Edmund.
Dwayne moved into animation as a Story Editor and Writer on the Emmy-winning Kids WB series Static Shock, which he co-created and won a 2003 Humanitas prize for. He was also a Producer, Story Editor, and Writer on Cartoon Network’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, earning a 2004 Writers Guild of America nomination.
Working with artist/producer Glen Murakami, Dwayne transformed Man of Action’s Ben 10 into Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, creating 98 episodes of a huge hit for Cartoon Network (now over 350 episodes). He also wrote animated films like Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, All Star Superman, and Justice League: Doom, plus episodes of What’s New, Scooby Doo? and Teen Titans for Warner Bros. For his lasting impact in animation, Dwayne was posthumously honored with the Writers Guild of America’s 2011 Animation Writing Award, the first and only African-American to receive it.
Dwayne McDuffie won 3 Eisner Awards for comics, 11 Parents’ Choice Awards, 6 “Best Editor” awards, the 2009 Inkpot Award from Comic-Con, a posthumous 2020 Harvey Award, and a Golden Apple Award from his school, Roeper. The Golden Apple was given by astronaut Jim Lovell for Dwayne’s use of popular art to promote human dignity. His life showed both diversity and excellence. In February 2024, The Roeper School gave the first Dwayne McDuffie Genius Grant Award to a new African-American lower school student, just like Dwayne was.
WORKS
Ben 10
Static Shock
Justice League
Justice League Unlimited
Young Justice
