Milestone Media was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers (namely Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle) who believed that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comics. Milestone Media was their attempt to correct this imbalance.
Milestone Media struck a deal with DC Comics, under which DC would publish Milestone’s comics, but Milestone would retain all legal and creative control, including copyright. The comics were published under the Milestone imprint.