8 Incredible Creators That Changed Comics Forever

7. Dwayne McDuffie

Dwayne McDuffie was one of the medium's biggest and brightest creators, known equally for his brilliant story-telling abilities as much as he was for his uncompromising commitment to diversify comics themselves.

Along with Denys Cowan and Derek T. Dingle and Michael Davis, McDuffie co-founded Milestone Media - an imprint of DC comics that placed representation as a core principle of its storytelling. One of the best known and beloved creations that emerged during this period was young teenager Virgil Hawkins, who went onto lead his own comic in Static and later a TV show too in Static Shock.

As one of the architects of the DC Animated Universe, McDuffie had a key role to play in Static, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, in which he created some of those series' most revered episodes and arcs. He followed that up with a criminally overlooked run on the Justice League comic, before scripting various other DC Animated Original Movies, starting with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and ending with a posthumous credit on Justice League: Doom and All-Star Superman.

Today, McDuffie's legacy is honoured each year at Long Beach Comic Con, where they present the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics to creators in the industry. Charlotte Fullerton is also raising money to create the Dwayne McDuffie foundation (which you can contribute to here).