Dwayne McDuffie | Comic-book trailblazer, 49

Dwayne McDuffie, a comic-book writer known for diversifying the pantheon of superheroes, creating popular black characters in print and on TV, died in Burbank, Calif., on Monday, the day after his 49th birthday.

He died of complications from heart surgery, said Matt Wayne, a longtime friend.

He was best known as a founder of Milestone Media, described by the Plain Dealer of Cleveland as "the industry's most successful minority-owned-and-operated comic company."

An independent company whose work is distributed by DC Comics, Milestone produces comics with ethnically diverse casts. Among its major characters (all of whom Mr. McDuffie helped create, in collaboration with illustrators and other writers) are Static, Icon and Hardware, all of whom are African American; Xombi, who is Asian American; and the Blood Syndicate, a crime-fighting group of men and women that includes blacks, Asians, and Latinos.

Static, perhaps the most famous, is the alter ego of a mild-mannered teenager, who uses secret electromagnetic powers to do valiant things.

That comic inspired the animated series Static Shock, originally broadcast on the WB television network from 2000 to 2004, for which Mr. McDuffie was a creator, story editor, and writer.

To those who thought comic books unlikely vehicles for advancing social justice, Mr. McDuffie's reply was simple.

"You don't feel as real if you don't see yourself reflected in the media," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1993. "There's something very powerful about seeing yourself represented."

- N.Y. Times News Service