quetzelish's review against another edition
4.0
A dream of flying is a strange introduction into the character of Miracleman. The first few pages trick one into thinking that this is a collection of the early 1950's superhero stories before a page featuring a Nietzsche quote turns the story into a post-modern, deconstructionist story. From there the story takes a quick dip into dark, uncertain territory that is very common for Moore. For the most part, it is an interesting read but a bit difficult to follow at times. It is also relatively short, with only around 80 pages being miracleman's story and featuring about 25-30 pages of some strange, trippy and hard to parse side story. In this latter section, Moore goes full on cryptic with his narrative boxes and tells his almost incomprehensible story. The rest of the book is all bonus material. It's hard to say whether or not this is a good book because, narratively, it's all over the place. That is in part due to Moore's writing style and also due to the original serialized format (each section being around 8 pages in black and white originally). Regardless, the story itself is well constructed and if you can parse through the main story, it is well worth a read. Maybe volume 2 makes more sense.
kandicez's review against another edition
5.0
Alan Moore is a crazy genius! Review to follow. I have to think about this. Maybe for a year...
backgaminnn's review against another edition
5.0
This is probably the best graphic novel I've ever read behind Watchman, also by Moore. The creativity he has in adapting a golden age comic to the present day and the story line were both great. I had a hard time getting into the last story about the Warpsmiths, but the first section was so good that I'm more than willing to forgive that (and perhaps I'll get more into it as I read further issues in the collection).
treading's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Fun, good stuff outside of the 2 or 3 pages where Alan Moore tries to write the internal monologue of a black character
jammasterjamie's review against another edition
5.0
You know when something is so ridiculously over-hyped for years how you end up knowing in your heart of hearts that there is no way it could possibly be as good as everybody always says it is? Well, Miracleman is every bit as good as I'd always heard, and I'd actually say that it was even better than that, totally exceeding my expectations. I was reading comics in 1982, but I wasn't reading comics like this! I know a lot of themes and some of the tropes are familiar now, but they sure weren't back then, and reading with that in mind makes this some pretty far ahead of its time content. I tend not to give spoilers with my reviews, and I'll still be somewhat vague as to the hows and the whys around it, but there's an interaction in there that creates jealousy between Michael Moran and his Miracleman alter-ego that I thought was just incredibly poignant, wonderfully presented, and added so much more depth to the story through that one tangentially related interaction that it instantly turned this into one of my all-time favourite superhero stories. I'm really looking forward to moving on to Book Two soon!
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
(Minor spoilers will follow)
“Behold, I bring you the Superman! The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman shall be the meaning of the earth!"
Friedrich Nietzsche
Alan Moore's first excursion into the superhero concept is an underrated one, at least to me. Watchmen, V For Vendetta, and From Hell are considered some of, if not the, greatest comic books ever conceived, Swamp Thing and The League of Extraordinary Men have achieved cult status, and Top 10, Promethea, Tom Strong, and Lost Girls show an aging, yet still gifted and inventive creator. But I don't hear a lot of people bring up Miracleman, except for die hard Alan Moore heads like myself. Miracleman, formerly known as Marvelman, was initially a Captain Marvel/Shazam rip off that was made for the UK after the US' supply of comics at the time became flakey, and young Alan Moore took this character and made him into a postmodern reflection on how superheroes would work in a real and credible world and how it would bring nigh apocalyptic change to the world, and how that wouldn't be such a great thing like we would be led to believe. I could go over Miracleman's complicated legal history, but that doesn't interest me as much as the actual source material does.
Michael Moran is a freelance journalist. He's happily married, has a pretty good job, and a decent life. But he remains dissatisfied with his life, he has bad dreams about flying and crippling migraines, he hasn't been able to have kids with his wife Liz, and he has a general feeling of dissatisfaction with his life. One day, he gets caught up in a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant that he was supposed to cover for his work, as he begins to have migraine attacks, he sees the word 'atomic' and remembers the word from his dreams...kimota. So he says it and Miracleman is born once again and saves the day! After that, he gets a call from an old friend, Jonathan 'Johnny' Bates, his former sidekick known as 'Kid Miracleman,' who has his memories intact and has become quite the success as a media mogul. However, John isn't as he seems...and he isn't happy that Miracleman is back. If that isn't a hook, I have no clue what is.
Miracleman is as perfect a thematic prequel to Watchmen as one could get, while Watchmen primarily aims its deconstruction at the caped crimefighters such as Batman, Daredevil, The Green Arrow, etc, Miracleman's primary aim is at the actual superhumans, such as Superman or Shazam (though Miracleman aims more at Shazam than Superman.) Miracleman is not a perfect work, as the work steadily shows Moore growing as a storyteller, but it shows the potential of Moore's scope and depth that he would take with later works such as V For Vendetta (which he was writing at the same time that he started Miracleman) and Watchmen and it shows Moore giving depth to the superhero genre and showcases his penchant for subversion and deconstruction. Moore's superheroes are full of awe, but also of terror. But as the first arc goes on, we see both, but Moore focuses on the awe aspect of a superhero appearing into our world in this volume, as well as showcasing the sheer absurdity of these superhero antics in our real world. I said in a previous review that Moore did a spiritual trilogy of sorts with superhero deconstructions, and he started with his run on Miracleman, which more or less helped to jumpstart his career.
Now, like I said earlier, this book isn't perfect. There are moments where Moore can come off as self indulgent and even tongue and cheek, but I think that I can excuse that because that's kind of the point. Moore isn't directly lampooning the superhero concept, much like with Watchmen, but is delivering a message on the status of superheroes and how superheroes have come to be our new mythology, which is something that Moore would hit home time and time again throughout the series is how these superhumans are people who are comparable to gods, and that's rather terrifying, but I'll save that speech for when I get to volume 3.
A genuinely riveting beginning to a master creator's most overlooked masterpieces, and I can't wait to get to the rest of them.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
2.0
Just because something is old doesn't make it good. Just because other people say it is good doesn't make it good. This book, sigh. The bits set in the olden days, perhaps reprinted are as stupid and bad as anything with the same storyline as Shazam would have. And no, I don't care which was the knock-off. The semi modern day bits had some good moments. Pretty much anything with Liz Moran was good. And the art was okay. But then it went right back to stupid. And then the follow up story - a bunch of incoherent idiocy with pretty cool art. I would have liked it better if it was pointless but without words. What the heck are people thinking? I definitely miss the point on this one.
rebus's review
4.5
Moore's first attempt--he would do so later with Supreme and Top 10--to go all post modern on the super hero genre by reviving an actual British Golden Age character. The opening salvo is excellent, just a notch below his very best work.