Miracleman #1

Miracleman #1 

Another Marvel Now #1 and apart of the Weekly Pick-Ups 1/15/14. Deanpool was very interested in picking up this comic issue and even more excited to learn about this character with this new series. Unfortunately, he didn’t expect it to be a full-on history lesson. The issue contains reprints of Miracleman’s Silver Age works and the beginning works of its run in Warrior from the 1980s. Not exactly what Deanpool expected when getting this issue, especially with a cover price of 5.99. Don’t forget the interviews and sketches that can be found in the issue as well. Oh did we mention it has a parental advisory warning for explicit material and strong language? You see the back of a naked chick and they say damn maybe twice. But keep away from younger readers, we suppose. Deanpool did like seeing the older works from the original run of Miracleman, and even considered it sort of a crash course in Miracleman origin.

Before getting too far into the rest of this review, Deanpool wanted to address the Marvelman/Miracleman issue since it actually ties in with the Shazam/Captain Marvel legal issues. So you can catch up on why Captain Marvel became Shazam in the Hero Spotlight: Shazam post. In the period of time between when Fawcett stop publishing Captain Marvel and DC had not yet begun reprinting these issues, a UK publisher that had also been publishing Captain Marvel comics decided to come up with their own version of the hero with the cancellation of Captain Marvel. Instead of making their hero based heavily on mythology as Captain Marvel was, Mick Anglo decided to make Marvelman more science fiction based. Yup, Marvelman. Almost directly adapted from Captain Marvel. Michael “Micky” Moran was granted powers by recluse astro-physicist who had learned the secrets to the universe. Needing only to whisper the phrase “Kimota” (atomic backwards), young Moran becomes Marvelman with god-like powers. Sounds a bit like Billy Batson shouting “Shazam!” Billy worked as a young radio news reporter, Micky worked as a copy boy for a newspaper. Shazam family, Marvelman/Miracleman family (Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman). Why the change to Miracleman? Well Marvel comics trademarked “Marvel” so after some legal tangles, Marvelman finally found a publisher who changed the name to Miracleman. Captain Marvel/Shazam’s influence spread farther than Deanpool thought.

Shazam!
Kimota!

Back to the review. Alan Moore is well known for his work with Swamp Thing and Watchmen where he established a unique, clear style in writing. His work in Miracleman is the work of less experienced Moore, and may be considered cluttered and wordy as the dialogue and narration dominate the stories reprinted in this issue. The two Warrior stories reprinted show an adult Micky Moran trying to reconnect with his past self as it is obvious he doesn’t remember his relationship with his alter-ego. He suffers from nightmares and dreams of one of his last memories as Miracleman, but can’t remember any connection to the hero.

Kimota!

"ATOMIC" mirrored =
KIMOTA.

After being put in a hostile situation, Micky coincidentally sees a mirrored reflection of the word “atomic” and he suddenly remembers the “magic” word that has plagued him in his dreams. He turns into Miracleman and suddenly recalls everything about his adventures as Miracleman. His wife gives him a hard time as she finds it hard to believe Micky’s stories. She doesn’t even recognize him at first with the costume and he was apparently taller. However, his voice and eyes calm her down. Tales of the Miracleman family, villains with names like Young Nastyman, a recluse astrophysicist granting him powers, all sound so silly and fairytale-esque. “That sounds so stupid!” she tells him. A little demo of his powers were enough to prove her wrong.

You're really going to call on of the most powerful
guys in the universe,  "stupid"?

The other stories deal with older stories like Marvelman dealing with robbers that stole radium, a supervillain who uses a mirror machine to clone those who look into it, and others. As with most Silver Age stories, the writing gets hard to read after a while, and usually have predictable endings.

Deanpool couldn’t help but notice all the political influences it had in context to its time period in all the reprints. Most of the stories deal with the fears that came with the H-bomb, nuclear energy, and the arms race. Apparently, after doing reading other reviews, Deanpool learned that the coloring and lettering were re-done for these reprints, despite the issue saying no changes were made to the story. Though perhaps they meant the writing and plot. For the most part, the art still stays true to the time period it’s from.

Atomic Bomber.

Stolen Reflection.

Stolen Radium.

It wasn’t what Deanpool had in mind when picking up Miracleman. He was hoping for a revitalization of a once popular character that he has heard of here and there. The $6 cover price doesn’t help either. Save all the interviews and sketches for a collected edition or trade. The stories were interesting and provided a lot of insight into Miracleman and his character. But if this series is just going to consist of reprints for $6, it’s hard to say that this will stay on Deanpool’s Weekly’s. Maybe the second issue will be the deal-breaker if Deanpool gives it another shot (considering it’ll come out next week already). But with Deanpool having trouble connecting with this character and this series, it only pulls 6/10 Miracles/Marvels from Deanpool and wins the "most disappointing pick of the week" if we had one.

He looks so happy to be back.