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Miracleman, Libro Uno: El sueño de volar by Gary Leach, Alan Davis, Mauro Mantella, Alan Moore
dryden's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
After an almost 20 year absence, Miracleman reappears, throwing his alter ego Mike Moran's life into chaos...
Back in the day, before he was Alan Moore: Supreme Curmudgeon and Master of Beards, Alan Moore was simply a cutting edge comic book writer. Miracleman was his ticket to the big time, before Swamp Thing, before Watchmen, before whatever it is he's doing these days besides seemingly being pissed off all the time.
Miracleman started life as Marvelman, a 1950s British Captain Marvel homage/ripoff. Moore, Alan Davis, and some others brought him back in the pages of Warrior, a UK comic magazine. How does one revive a ripoff character from the 50s and make him relevant?
Spectacularly! That's how. Moore takes essentially a kid's comic, breaks it down, and shows what superheroes might be like in real life. I love how he deconstructs the Captain Marvel-like hero and actually makes it believable. Also, this volume nicely illustrates the carnage super heroes would create in the real world.
I do have a couple gripes, though. This volume is super thin for what it costs. Also, I'd much rather have a couple more issues included instead of the Warpsmith material and the sketches, especially considering I still have a couple issues of Warrior and Miracleman lying in some dark corner of the Dan Cave. The story itself is a little dated, more by the writing style than the cultural references. For a comic, it was pretty wordy.
All things considered, Miracleman is still pretty damn good and a cool piece of 1980s comic book history. Four out of five stars.
Back in the day, before he was Alan Moore: Supreme Curmudgeon and Master of Beards, Alan Moore was simply a cutting edge comic book writer. Miracleman was his ticket to the big time, before Swamp Thing, before Watchmen, before whatever it is he's doing these days besides seemingly being pissed off all the time.
Miracleman started life as Marvelman, a 1950s British Captain Marvel homage/ripoff. Moore, Alan Davis, and some others brought him back in the pages of Warrior, a UK comic magazine. How does one revive a ripoff character from the 50s and make him relevant?
Spectacularly! That's how. Moore takes essentially a kid's comic, breaks it down, and shows what superheroes might be like in real life. I love how he deconstructs the Captain Marvel-like hero and actually makes it believable. Also, this volume nicely illustrates the carnage super heroes would create in the real world.
I do have a couple gripes, though. This volume is super thin for what it costs. Also, I'd much rather have a couple more issues included instead of the Warpsmith material and the sketches, especially considering I still have a couple issues of Warrior and Miracleman lying in some dark corner of the Dan Cave. The story itself is a little dated, more by the writing style than the cultural references. For a comic, it was pretty wordy.
All things considered, Miracleman is still pretty damn good and a cool piece of 1980s comic book history. Four out of five stars.
cassie_grace's review against another edition
4.0
A compelling deconstruction of golden age superheroics. Rights issues have kept it out of print for two decades, and I'm glad it's finally back.
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
4.0
This Vulture article made me very excited to read this recently re-released comic, and now that I have, I don't even know where to begin with a review. So here is a brief history of the comic, taken from the Vulture article (click the link above for the full article):
When the U.S. stopped importing then-popular Captain Marvel to Britain in 1954, British publishers created their own knock-off, Marvelman, who was popular until U.S. comics import restrictions eased in the early 60s, causing Marvelman do disappear in 1963. In 1982, Dez Skinn launched the anthology Warrior and brought back Marvelman, giving it to writer [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1304944713p2/3961.jpg]. This series continued until 1984, when it came to a stop amidst rumors Marvel Comics pressured Warrior to drop it because of the Marvelman name. In the early 90s, American publisher Eclipse bought the character rights and started reprinting the Warrior comics with the character renamed as Miracleman. They also continued the story with writer [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. This lasted until Eclipse went out of business in 1994. Then, in 2009, Marvel bought the rights to the character, and announced they were reprinting all the stories... and letting Gaiman write and publish the end of the saga.
So this first volume, collecting Miracleman issues 1-4, is a bit dated and distinctly British, but it is also the early work of graphic novel legends Moore and later, Gaiman, and it shows. The opening gambit, a Golden Age interpretation of Miracleman and his sidekicks had me quickly flipping through the book to make certain the entire run wasn't like that, but fear not, it isn't. It is just a brilliant way to contrast the way Miracleman is about to be handled going forward -- by turning everything the reader, and he himself, knows end over end. In a word, this comic is an early archetype of the subversive work Moore would later be known for.
This is not on the level of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649] or [b:The Sandman|23754|The Sandman, Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes (The Sandman #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358923255s/23754.jpg|1228437] -- at least not this first volume -- but it is unmistakably brilliant in its own right, so much so that [b:The New Avengers, Vol. 2: Sentry|105910|The New Avengers, Vol. 2 Sentry|Brian Michael Bendis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317302961s/105910.jpg|102091] basically stole Miracleman's origin for their Sentry character.
I do have one issue with this collection that does not relate to the comic run, and that is that this 176 page hardcover book is about a third filler material, some of which is the type of obligatory sketches almost always found at the end of most trade paperbacks, but there are also multiple comics at the end that do not feature Miracleman at all. So just be aware going in that this collection is a bit slimmer than you might initially expect. I guess Marvel has to make as many trade paperbacks as it can out of a 24-issue initial run. And, of course, I will run out and buy them all. Sigh.
When the U.S. stopped importing then-popular Captain Marvel to Britain in 1954, British publishers created their own knock-off, Marvelman, who was popular until U.S. comics import restrictions eased in the early 60s, causing Marvelman do disappear in 1963. In 1982, Dez Skinn launched the anthology Warrior and brought back Marvelman, giving it to writer [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1304944713p2/3961.jpg]. This series continued until 1984, when it came to a stop amidst rumors Marvel Comics pressured Warrior to drop it because of the Marvelman name. In the early 90s, American publisher Eclipse bought the character rights and started reprinting the Warrior comics with the character renamed as Miracleman. They also continued the story with writer [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. This lasted until Eclipse went out of business in 1994. Then, in 2009, Marvel bought the rights to the character, and announced they were reprinting all the stories... and letting Gaiman write and publish the end of the saga.
So this first volume, collecting Miracleman issues 1-4, is a bit dated and distinctly British, but it is also the early work of graphic novel legends Moore and later, Gaiman, and it shows. The opening gambit, a Golden Age interpretation of Miracleman and his sidekicks had me quickly flipping through the book to make certain the entire run wasn't like that, but fear not, it isn't. It is just a brilliant way to contrast the way Miracleman is about to be handled going forward -- by turning everything the reader, and he himself, knows end over end. In a word, this comic is an early archetype of the subversive work Moore would later be known for.
This is not on the level of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649] or [b:The Sandman|23754|The Sandman, Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes (The Sandman #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358923255s/23754.jpg|1228437] -- at least not this first volume -- but it is unmistakably brilliant in its own right, so much so that [b:The New Avengers, Vol. 2: Sentry|105910|The New Avengers, Vol. 2 Sentry|Brian Michael Bendis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317302961s/105910.jpg|102091] basically stole Miracleman's origin for their Sentry character.
I do have one issue with this collection that does not relate to the comic run, and that is that this 176 page hardcover book is about a third filler material, some of which is the type of obligatory sketches almost always found at the end of most trade paperbacks, but there are also multiple comics at the end that do not feature Miracleman at all. So just be aware going in that this collection is a bit slimmer than you might initially expect. I guess Marvel has to make as many trade paperbacks as it can out of a 24-issue initial run. And, of course, I will run out and buy them all. Sigh.
alterpetrus's review against another edition
5.0
Marvelman era un personaggio creato negli anni ’50 dal fumettista Mick Anglo per sostituire, nei periodici inglesi della L. Miller & Son, Capitan Marvel, di cui la Fawcett Comics aveva interrotto le pubblicazioni e che aveva grande successo in Gran Bretagna. Le avventure di Mike Moran, ragazzino che grazie alla parola kimota si trasformava in Marvelman, molto semplici e rivolte ad un pubblico giovane conclusero le pubblicazioni nei primi anni ‘60.
Nel 1982, con la nascita della nuova rivista Warrior, il redattore ed editore Dez Skinn decise di rivitalizzare il vecchio personaggio e di affidarne i testi all’allora giovane sceneggiatore di belle speranze Alan Moore.
Con Marvelman Moore pone il primo tassello del suo percorso di revisionismo della figura del supereroe, trasformando lo spensierato eroe di Anglo nella personificazione dell’oltreuomo, che osserva l’umanità con parametri che vanno al di là di quelli propri dell’essere umano. Mike Moran e ora adulto, ma ignora il suo passato, fin quando, in una situazione di forte tensione arriva a pronunciare la parola che gli conferiva i poteri, tornando ad essere Marvelman. L’opera, che per la chiusura di Warrior passa all’americana Eclipse Comics, si dipana in 16 numeri, che definiscono 3 volumi: Il Sogno di un Volo, La Sindrome del Re Rosso e Olimpo.
Nel primo Moore cala Miracleman (rinominato così a fine anni ’80 per la pubblicazione americana a causa dell’opposizione della Marvel) in un ambiente realistico, presentando un Mike che prova un complesso di inferiorità nei confronti del suo alter-ego ed un diabolico Kid Miracleman, delineato in modo tale da rimanere impresso nel lettore. Nel secondo libro sono esplorate le origini del personaggio (con le aspirazioni prometeiche di Gargunza ed il suo sogno dell’immortalità), per iniziare quel cammino di elevazione dalla condizione di comune essere umano, fino ad arrivare a quella divina nel terzo e conclusivo volume. Ai disegni si susseguono Garry Leach, Alan Davis, John Ridgway, Chuck Austen, Rick Veicht e John Totleben. Quest’ultimo, assieme a Leach è stato certamente il mio preferito, per la potenza data ad ogni singolo particolare della tavola e dalla composizione delle varie vignette. La scrittura di Moore è come sempre stupenda, con un aumento della resa epica soprattutto col libro terzo, dove la parola passa a Miracleman, che anche in ciò viene definito come un essere superiore, nonostante non dimentichi la sua umanità, anche quando viene spinto al limite, verso azioni non proprie di un eroe puro, che per un pubblico moderno non fa certamente più l’effetto che avrebbe fatto ad un lettore di supereroe dei primi anni ‘80.
La serie è stata assente a lungo dagli scaffali americani (e in quelli italiani era quasi completamente inedita) a causa di una diatriba per i diritti fra Todd McFarlane (che aveva acquistato il catalogo Eclipse al fallimento della casa editrice) e Neil Gaiman (che, avendogli ceduto i diritti Alan Moore aveva iniziato negli anni ’90 un suo ciclo sul personaggio), conclusasi con l’intervento della Marvel, che schierandosi con Gaiman ne ha in seguito acquisito i diritti e ripubblicato la run di Moore.
La Panini ha pubblicato nell’ultimo anno e mezzo il spillati l’edizione Marvel, ed il primo volume in versione deluxe (personalmente per le dimensioni eccessive della raccolta, consiglierei gli spillati, che contengono anche brevi storie di Anglo, interessanti, anche se solo per motivi storici).
Una riproposizione questa che non ha solo un sapore archeologico, perché in primo luogo la storia rimane bellissima ed appassionante anche dopo più di trent’anni e Moore si rivela essere fin da giovane non meno di quanto si dimostrerà in futuro (e stava già dimostrando, poiché la più famosa V for Vendetta è coeva a questa serie, essendo pubblicata anch’essa su Warrior). Rappresenta inoltre la prima sperimentazione di quello che verrà poi portato avanti dopo Watchmen nel mondo del fumetto supereroistico.
Nel 1982, con la nascita della nuova rivista Warrior, il redattore ed editore Dez Skinn decise di rivitalizzare il vecchio personaggio e di affidarne i testi all’allora giovane sceneggiatore di belle speranze Alan Moore.
Con Marvelman Moore pone il primo tassello del suo percorso di revisionismo della figura del supereroe, trasformando lo spensierato eroe di Anglo nella personificazione dell’oltreuomo, che osserva l’umanità con parametri che vanno al di là di quelli propri dell’essere umano. Mike Moran e ora adulto, ma ignora il suo passato, fin quando, in una situazione di forte tensione arriva a pronunciare la parola che gli conferiva i poteri, tornando ad essere Marvelman. L’opera, che per la chiusura di Warrior passa all’americana Eclipse Comics, si dipana in 16 numeri, che definiscono 3 volumi: Il Sogno di un Volo, La Sindrome del Re Rosso e Olimpo.
Nel primo Moore cala Miracleman (rinominato così a fine anni ’80 per la pubblicazione americana a causa dell’opposizione della Marvel) in un ambiente realistico, presentando un Mike che prova un complesso di inferiorità nei confronti del suo alter-ego ed un diabolico Kid Miracleman, delineato in modo tale da rimanere impresso nel lettore. Nel secondo libro sono esplorate le origini del personaggio (con le aspirazioni prometeiche di Gargunza ed il suo sogno dell’immortalità), per iniziare quel cammino di elevazione dalla condizione di comune essere umano, fino ad arrivare a quella divina nel terzo e conclusivo volume. Ai disegni si susseguono Garry Leach, Alan Davis, John Ridgway, Chuck Austen, Rick Veicht e John Totleben. Quest’ultimo, assieme a Leach è stato certamente il mio preferito, per la potenza data ad ogni singolo particolare della tavola e dalla composizione delle varie vignette. La scrittura di Moore è come sempre stupenda, con un aumento della resa epica soprattutto col libro terzo, dove la parola passa a Miracleman, che anche in ciò viene definito come un essere superiore, nonostante non dimentichi la sua umanità, anche quando viene spinto al limite, verso azioni non proprie di un eroe puro, che per un pubblico moderno non fa certamente più l’effetto che avrebbe fatto ad un lettore di supereroe dei primi anni ‘80.
La serie è stata assente a lungo dagli scaffali americani (e in quelli italiani era quasi completamente inedita) a causa di una diatriba per i diritti fra Todd McFarlane (che aveva acquistato il catalogo Eclipse al fallimento della casa editrice) e Neil Gaiman (che, avendogli ceduto i diritti Alan Moore aveva iniziato negli anni ’90 un suo ciclo sul personaggio), conclusasi con l’intervento della Marvel, che schierandosi con Gaiman ne ha in seguito acquisito i diritti e ripubblicato la run di Moore.
La Panini ha pubblicato nell’ultimo anno e mezzo il spillati l’edizione Marvel, ed il primo volume in versione deluxe (personalmente per le dimensioni eccessive della raccolta, consiglierei gli spillati, che contengono anche brevi storie di Anglo, interessanti, anche se solo per motivi storici).
Una riproposizione questa che non ha solo un sapore archeologico, perché in primo luogo la storia rimane bellissima ed appassionante anche dopo più di trent’anni e Moore si rivela essere fin da giovane non meno di quanto si dimostrerà in futuro (e stava già dimostrando, poiché la più famosa V for Vendetta è coeva a questa serie, essendo pubblicata anch’essa su Warrior). Rappresenta inoltre la prima sperimentazione di quello che verrà poi portato avanti dopo Watchmen nel mondo del fumetto supereroistico.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
UPDATE:
Came back to this one about 2 years later with the intent of reading parts 2 and 3. It's pretty solid. Last time, I think I got sidetracked by the Warpsmith bullshit at the end. What the hell even was that? A bunch of time-hopping, dimesion-surfing alien people with names that look like someone was trying to cash in a bunch of useless consonants on their turn at Scrabble? It was WAY too much, way too confusing, and I rarely say it, but I think the book is stronger without this additional material.
Old Review:
Pretty good stuff. Although I think this suffers from the fact that, although it came first, I only just now got my hands on it.
There was a big legal battle over the character and the rights to reproduce these issues, it seems. Between Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane, no less. There was some back and forth, a trade was made where Gaiman surrendered claims to characters Angela and Cogliostro, and then McFarlane violated the deal, Gaiman sued, and in the end justice won out. You know, after a few decades or so.
Interestingly enough, while I was finding THAT out, I also found that there's a guy named Al Simmons, which is the name shared by McFarlane character Spawn, and apparently Simmons wrote a book about his experience sharing the character's name and dressing in costume for promotional appearances. Aaaaand McFarlane sued the guy. The defense for Simmons mounted a good argument in saying that Simmons has never been mistaken for Spaen. Let me remind you, Spawn is a character who was a special forces dude who got double-crossed, died, went to hell, and then made some kind of deal with the devil and came back as this sort of demon creature thing with mystical powers and a rad outfit, including lots of chains and capes.
I tried for about 3 minutes to see if this book, The Art of Being Spawn, was available, and it's not. So my guess is that one way or another, Simmons' book was squashed.
The point here, I really hate it when these stupid disagreements keep comics and books off the shelves. Everyone wants a piece of everything, and as a result, nobody gets to have it. And that's bullshit.
I know for a fact that McFarlane had plenty of cash. I know for a fact that Gaiman is also doing just fine at this point. So when do we stop talking about who is right and start talking about whether or not I get to read goddamn Miracleman already!? Not to mention that the issues contained here were written by ALAN MOORE, not Gaiman or McFarlane, so what the fuck? Buncha jerks.
And the reason I'm all steamed up, it would have been great to read this prior to reading a lot of the other stuff I read in the DECADES since this got all tangled up. It would have made me feel different about a series like Mark Waid's...shit, what was that one I liked? Indescribable? No, that's not it.
Untouchable? No, that's the baby carriage movie.
Unstoppable? No, that's the movie where Denzel fights a train.
Inconsolable? No, that's how I felt after I hit a duck with my car once.
Incontinent? No. Definitely no.
Inconceivable? No. And don't say "ma-widge", okay?
Unconditional? No. That's my love.
Incredible? Hulk.
Unassailable? That's probably the next Spider-Man adjective.
Inappropriate? Closer. Warmer.
Unintentional?
Uninspired?
Irredeemable! That's it! Goddamn! I liked IRREDEEMABLE, and I can see why some other people might not have. It's a bit of a re-tread of stuff in here. But I have to come at it with what I know.
It's a little like watching a heist movie and someone says, "They did all this crap in the first Taking of Pelham 123." I'm sure they did. But I didn't see it first, and now I can't UNsee all the stuff from Ocean's 12.
By the way, what the holy fuck was Ocean's 12? I saw a portion of that, and it appeared that Bruce Willis was himself and Julia Roberts was a Julia Roberts impersonator? I'm to believe that in this Oceans world, there's Julia Roberts the movie star and then this lady who looks EXACTLY FUCKING LIKE Julia Roberts because she is Julia Roberts?
Anyway. This has gotten all out of whack.
Came back to this one about 2 years later with the intent of reading parts 2 and 3. It's pretty solid. Last time, I think I got sidetracked by the Warpsmith bullshit at the end. What the hell even was that? A bunch of time-hopping, dimesion-surfing alien people with names that look like someone was trying to cash in a bunch of useless consonants on their turn at Scrabble? It was WAY too much, way too confusing, and I rarely say it, but I think the book is stronger without this additional material.
Old Review:
Pretty good stuff. Although I think this suffers from the fact that, although it came first, I only just now got my hands on it.
There was a big legal battle over the character and the rights to reproduce these issues, it seems. Between Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane, no less. There was some back and forth, a trade was made where Gaiman surrendered claims to characters Angela and Cogliostro, and then McFarlane violated the deal, Gaiman sued, and in the end justice won out. You know, after a few decades or so.
Interestingly enough, while I was finding THAT out, I also found that there's a guy named Al Simmons, which is the name shared by McFarlane character Spawn, and apparently Simmons wrote a book about his experience sharing the character's name and dressing in costume for promotional appearances. Aaaaand McFarlane sued the guy. The defense for Simmons mounted a good argument in saying that Simmons has never been mistaken for Spaen. Let me remind you, Spawn is a character who was a special forces dude who got double-crossed, died, went to hell, and then made some kind of deal with the devil and came back as this sort of demon creature thing with mystical powers and a rad outfit, including lots of chains and capes.
I tried for about 3 minutes to see if this book, The Art of Being Spawn, was available, and it's not. So my guess is that one way or another, Simmons' book was squashed.
The point here, I really hate it when these stupid disagreements keep comics and books off the shelves. Everyone wants a piece of everything, and as a result, nobody gets to have it. And that's bullshit.
I know for a fact that McFarlane had plenty of cash. I know for a fact that Gaiman is also doing just fine at this point. So when do we stop talking about who is right and start talking about whether or not I get to read goddamn Miracleman already!? Not to mention that the issues contained here were written by ALAN MOORE, not Gaiman or McFarlane, so what the fuck? Buncha jerks.
And the reason I'm all steamed up, it would have been great to read this prior to reading a lot of the other stuff I read in the DECADES since this got all tangled up. It would have made me feel different about a series like Mark Waid's...shit, what was that one I liked? Indescribable? No, that's not it.
Untouchable? No, that's the baby carriage movie.
Unstoppable? No, that's the movie where Denzel fights a train.
Inconsolable? No, that's how I felt after I hit a duck with my car once.
Incontinent? No. Definitely no.
Inconceivable? No. And don't say "ma-widge", okay?
Unconditional? No. That's my love.
Incredible? Hulk.
Unassailable? That's probably the next Spider-Man adjective.
Inappropriate? Closer. Warmer.
Unintentional?
Uninspired?
Irredeemable! That's it! Goddamn! I liked IRREDEEMABLE, and I can see why some other people might not have. It's a bit of a re-tread of stuff in here. But I have to come at it with what I know.
It's a little like watching a heist movie and someone says, "They did all this crap in the first Taking of Pelham 123." I'm sure they did. But I didn't see it first, and now I can't UNsee all the stuff from Ocean's 12.
By the way, what the holy fuck was Ocean's 12? I saw a portion of that, and it appeared that Bruce Willis was himself and Julia Roberts was a Julia Roberts impersonator? I'm to believe that in this Oceans world, there's Julia Roberts the movie star and then this lady who looks EXACTLY FUCKING LIKE Julia Roberts because she is Julia Roberts?
Anyway. This has gotten all out of whack.
uosdwisrdewoh's review against another edition
4.0
This minor lost classic was out of print for decades due to deeply complicated rights issues which largely stem from its first publisher Dez Skinn pretty much stealing the character of Miracleman from its creator Mick Anglo,* who himself created the character as Marvelman in the 60s as a transparent copy of Captain Marvel—not the Brie Larson one, the one that eventually became Shazam—to publish when DC sued Captain Marvel out of existence in the 50s. As I said, it’s complicated.
Dez Skinn dug this character out of the vaults in the 80s and hired a young Alan Moore to write it in a more mature, sophisticated way. Moore ran with it and created a work so deeply influential that when you read it today its innovations are blunted by their prevalence throughout all of comics-derived pop culture. Subversive, extremely violent takes on superheroes are everywhere from The Boys to Kick-Ass, and these supposedly grown-up stories didn’t take long to whip back around to juvenile.
All that notwithstanding, this seminal work still retains some of its power. Alan Moore’s gift for storytelling is present very early in his career, and he convincingly sells elements that are now cliches like the evil government conspiracy, the “everything you knew is a lie” origin, and the corrupting influence of total power. Moore, along with the very talented artists Garry Leach and Alan Davis, convey the awesome potential of superpowers, from the frightening to the awe-inspiring.
Even with the talents involved, the blind spots of the original work show. Miracleman’s wife Liz is an important figure in the book, but the reader knows what her naked body looks like well before they discover anything about her personality. One of the villains is a Black assassin with diamond teeth named Evelyn Cream, a very uncomfortable blaxploitation villain coming from the pens of very white creators.
Marvel eventually straightened out the rights issues in 2014 and reissued it in pricey hardcovers. The art has been reconstructed and recolored; some find such work garish, but I think it’s perfectly fine. Like so many of Marvel’s books, though, it’s staggeringly expensive for the page count, $30 for 112 story pages. The volume is padded out with original art scans and variant covers. Back-up stories featuring the Warpsmiths that conclude the volume are included here for completeness’s sake, as they’re tangentially related to Miracleman and by the same creative team, but they’re a real step down in quality from the rest of the book and have a wildly different tone.
All of this is not to distract from Miracleman being a landmark work in mainstream comics, a key step in their journey out of juvenalia. It could easily have been lost for ages. It’s nice to have it at last.
*This cheating of Mick Anglo is the primary reason Alan Moore asked to have his name removed from these editions. He’s credited as “The Original Writer” so that Anglo’s family can earn his full royalty as co-creator.
Dez Skinn dug this character out of the vaults in the 80s and hired a young Alan Moore to write it in a more mature, sophisticated way. Moore ran with it and created a work so deeply influential that when you read it today its innovations are blunted by their prevalence throughout all of comics-derived pop culture. Subversive, extremely violent takes on superheroes are everywhere from The Boys to Kick-Ass, and these supposedly grown-up stories didn’t take long to whip back around to juvenile.
All that notwithstanding, this seminal work still retains some of its power. Alan Moore’s gift for storytelling is present very early in his career, and he convincingly sells elements that are now cliches like the evil government conspiracy, the “everything you knew is a lie” origin, and the corrupting influence of total power. Moore, along with the very talented artists Garry Leach and Alan Davis, convey the awesome potential of superpowers, from the frightening to the awe-inspiring.
Even with the talents involved, the blind spots of the original work show. Miracleman’s wife Liz is an important figure in the book, but the reader knows what her naked body looks like well before they discover anything about her personality. One of the villains is a Black assassin with diamond teeth named Evelyn Cream, a very uncomfortable blaxploitation villain coming from the pens of very white creators.
Marvel eventually straightened out the rights issues in 2014 and reissued it in pricey hardcovers. The art has been reconstructed and recolored; some find such work garish, but I think it’s perfectly fine. Like so many of Marvel’s books, though, it’s staggeringly expensive for the page count, $30 for 112 story pages. The volume is padded out with original art scans and variant covers. Back-up stories featuring the Warpsmiths that conclude the volume are included here for completeness’s sake, as they’re tangentially related to Miracleman and by the same creative team, but they’re a real step down in quality from the rest of the book and have a wildly different tone.
All of this is not to distract from Miracleman being a landmark work in mainstream comics, a key step in their journey out of juvenalia. It could easily have been lost for ages. It’s nice to have it at last.
*This cheating of Mick Anglo is the primary reason Alan Moore asked to have his name removed from these editions. He’s credited as “The Original Writer” so that Anglo’s family can earn his full royalty as co-creator.
magnetgrrl's review against another edition
3.0
Miracleman, under a few other names, was an old U.K. 1950's superhero that was basically a close rip-off of Superman and Captain Marvel. Then, when he stopped selling or being interesting, and throughout crazy lawsuits over amazingly similar superhero names and a few company takeovers and buyouts (partially explaining how Captain Marvel is a DC comic, not a Marvel comic) Miracleman after several name changes his own eventually got re-written by a very early Alan Moore (and picked up after by a very early Neil Gaiman) in a 1980's rewrite that made him darker, and more real. This was an early moment in the superhero deconstruction of the 80's. Then due to an even more complicated story involving lawsuits and rights... he was only ever seen in cameos, promos, toys and statues, for the next couple decades, as the rights to who owns his character and copyright were fought over in court. (Honestly, the story ABOUT Miracleman is, in my opinion, more interesting and dark than any incarnation of Miracleman himself!)
I used to hear my old boss at the comic book store wax on about Miracleman and how sad it was ithe the original Moore stories couldn't be reprinted, or that Gaiman's run couldn't be finished. To hear him tell it, they were the greatest stories of our time. I've been waiting probably 15+ years to read it (not that I was looking super hard or I probably could have found a way to read it sooner on the internet). I have to admit, after all this time I'm a bit disappointed.
Almost half of this hardcover is sketches and notes. There are at least 2 more hardcovers that I know of in this reprint. I wish they had condensed them into just two larger ones and cut out a bunch of the "extras".
This reprint is nostalgia, but it's for a character I was never familiar with, and can't be nostalgic for.
I find it hard to believe Miracleman was ever as "genre defining" as all the litigious hype and blurbs say. I think of him more as a test run of what later became Watchmen, or Dark Knight Returns, or Sandman, which are more refined and greater examples of the era of 80's superhero deconstruction.
Reading Miracleman is like glimpsing into the world of super music hipsters who find an obscure band that sounds like a crappier version of a now popular style of music and then claim they were "ahead of their time" and "started it all" rather than admit they were at best one of many early participants in a zeitgeist which produced other greater bands. It's worth it to give some props I guess, for posterity's sake, but if it's the only thing you read from this time period, you're missing out on better representations. I think it would be like reading Dickens' very first novel, but never getting to Great Expectations or David Copperfield.
I probably would have given this 2 stars, but for my old boss and everyone of his age, I'll say 3.
I used to hear my old boss at the comic book store wax on about Miracleman and how sad it was ithe the original Moore stories couldn't be reprinted, or that Gaiman's run couldn't be finished. To hear him tell it, they were the greatest stories of our time. I've been waiting probably 15+ years to read it (not that I was looking super hard or I probably could have found a way to read it sooner on the internet). I have to admit, after all this time I'm a bit disappointed.
Almost half of this hardcover is sketches and notes. There are at least 2 more hardcovers that I know of in this reprint. I wish they had condensed them into just two larger ones and cut out a bunch of the "extras".
This reprint is nostalgia, but it's for a character I was never familiar with, and can't be nostalgic for.
I find it hard to believe Miracleman was ever as "genre defining" as all the litigious hype and blurbs say. I think of him more as a test run of what later became Watchmen, or Dark Knight Returns, or Sandman, which are more refined and greater examples of the era of 80's superhero deconstruction.
Reading Miracleman is like glimpsing into the world of super music hipsters who find an obscure band that sounds like a crappier version of a now popular style of music and then claim they were "ahead of their time" and "started it all" rather than admit they were at best one of many early participants in a zeitgeist which produced other greater bands. It's worth it to give some props I guess, for posterity's sake, but if it's the only thing you read from this time period, you're missing out on better representations. I think it would be like reading Dickens' very first novel, but never getting to Great Expectations or David Copperfield.
I probably would have given this 2 stars, but for my old boss and everyone of his age, I'll say 3.
ein's review against another edition
5.0
Отзыв сразу про всю серию (1-24). Первые 10 выпусков - шикарны и обязательны к прочтению. После же начинается типичная геймановская тягомотина (качественная, богатая, но все же скучная), интересная разве что общими идеями - с какой еще стороны автор додумается взглянуть на уже не меняющийся мир?
Первая часть серии - 5 баллов, вторая - 3-4.
Первая часть серии - 5 баллов, вторая - 3-4.
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.