Miracleman Book 2 Red King Syndrome

TITLE-Miracleman Book 2 Red King Syndrome
SOURCE-Marvel Hardcover

This is where Moore's run on MM really takes off. Miracleman has learned some of his real origin. His wife is captured by Dr Gargunza.

While MM and Mr Cream are on their way to Gargunza' secret base,we find out why Gargunza helped create Miracleman. Seems he wants to live forever. So MM was created so that in the future he will have a kid. And Gargunza plans on implanting his mind into MM's kid's body.

Once Miracleman makes it to the base we learn that Gargunza has a backdoor. He can say a word and for 1 hour Miracleman is stuck in his Mike Moran form.

If is after revealing this that Gargunza shows us MiracleDogg. And Miracleman in his powerless human form plus Mr Cream get a head start before Miracle Dogg gets let go.

Some quick thinking lets Mike survive. And once that hour is up KIMOTA is yelled and Miracleman gets his hands on Gargunza. 

Then takes the evil scientist up to right where the atomosphere ends. And in a scene that reminds me of Stardust the Super Wizard,MM throws Dr Gargunza at the planet Earth. 

With the big bad taken care of now MM must get his very pregnant wife to a safe place. Which gives us an issue penciled by the great Rick Veitch. An issue that was infamous cause it shows a very graphic child birth scene.

Re-reading this again I really caught how much stuff Moore foreshadows in each issue. And this time re-reading it since I know more about Fletcher Hanks and Stardust I am wondering if Miracleman's costume is not somewhat based on Stardust's costume.

The only negative to this collection,and it is a minor one,is how so many different artists worked on this book. Most for an issue...

Miracleman Book 2 Red King Syndrome gets an A.
 

Miracleman Book One:A Dream of Flying Hardcover

 

TITLE-Miracleman Book One A Dream of Flying

SOURCE-Marvel Hardcover

Far from the first time I have read this first book of Miracleman. Hell not even the first time I have owned this run in Hardcover. But this is the first time I have read the Marvel remastered version. I know about the slight changes to some of the dialogue. And the coloring  changes. 

Published at first in the UK comic Warrior,Miracleman was Alan Moore taking the UK Clone of Shazam/Captain Marvel and updating him for the early 80s comic  audience.

Mike Moran is a reporter. Heading off to write about a protest at a nuclear plant. People take over the plant and when Mike sees the word Atomic reflected backwards he says KIMOTA and for the first time in decades Miracleman is free.

The rest of this hardcover shows us how Mike and his wife deal with learning he is the most powerful being on the planet. And Mike testing out his limits. Which there seems to be none.

The last few chapters reprinted in  this book deal with Miracleman going to where he was born. He learns he is a clone mixed with alien DNA. And all the adventures he had were all memory implants. 

This causes Mike to get angry,and the main part of this Book ends with an angry Miracleman having  destroyed the bunker.

Then we get two Warpsmith stories. Both of which are tied into the main story. And one of which I am  thinking hadnt been reprinted in the US before.

Now with it appearing finally the second part of the Miracleman saga is getting published it is the time to read this comic.

Moore takes the concept of the superhuman ,works that into the real world . And shows us that really all your superhero comics from before this was published were really childish power fantasies.

I have loved Miracleman since being  introduced to it not long after Eclipse started publishing it. Glad these hardcovers are now easy to find and affordable.

Miracleman Book One A Dream of Flying gets a A.

2016 Comic Challenge 194 Miracleman #024

TITLE-Miracleman #024
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Yeah the final,as of the writing,part published of the Miracleman The Silver Age story line.This is actually my 3rd copy of this comic. Got it the first time when it came out. Then lost that copy in a fire. Then right at 6 years ago got lucky and a comic shop I use to goto often had a bunch of Eclipse "File copy" issues for sale. And the owner cut me a great deal. Considering that back then it looked like this issue would never be reprinted. So it was selling for a big amount,since being the final issue and coming out right before Eclipse went under the print run is fairly small. I still have that copy. Now this 3rd copy .... well I guess the patron Saint of Geekdom smiled on me about a month ago.

We recently got a gaming/card/comic shop in town.Sure it is more gaming and cards than comics. But they got about 10 longboxes of buck comics. I was digging through them and saw the above comic. I looked at it closely and while it isn't Mint is is pretty close. I thought,ok this was put in here on accident,and once I get to the counter he is gonna tell me it is way more than a buck. I grab a few more comics. Head to the counter. And as he is going through my stack of dollar comics I said "Yeah was surprised to find the Miracleman issue in the cheap bins. We both know it is worth a bit more than a buck," He just looked at me and kept counting the dollar books. So yep got the above copy for a buck,

Under that gorgeous Barry Windsor Smith cover is a story of Young Miracleman trying adjust to the new world. Plus the revelation that Young Miracleman was/is sexually attracted to Miracleman. The latter plot point had been hinted at as far back as the early issues with Moore writing the series. Kind of neat that Neil Gaiman took something that was pretty much a throwaway line and made it a major part of his second story arch on the title.

What surprises me is even though sometime soon,if not already,this issue is getting reprinted by Marvel.The Eclipse version has still held onto most of it's value.

So yeah unless you are one of those comic fans that can't handle having how childish and cliche most superhero comics are pointed out to ya,this is an issue and a series that is must read.

Miracleman #024 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 161 Miracleman #01

TITLE-Miracleman #01
PUBLISHER-Eclipse

Having recently found a second copy of issue #24 of this series I wanted to go back and start reading it again from the beginning. Sure I could read those nice new reprints from Marvel,which while very nice have way to high a cover price.But instead I dug out the old Eclipse run.

Coming out in the summer of 85 I was fairly young when Eclipse started publishing this UK series. Thankfully the comic shop I went to was run by a guy who had lived most of his life right outside Blackpool. So his shop always had copies of 2000 AD and even Warrior. Which back in the mid 80s wasn't that common.Around the time issue 3 hit the stands I was in the comic shop. I had 3 bucks left over after grabbing my normal monthly stack,and the owner handed me issues 1 and 2 of Miracleman. From then until it ended when Eclipse went under I read every issue.

Starting off with a reprinted 60s story of Mike Moran and the rest of the Miracle Family,by chapter 2 we are in 1983 England. Mike is a freelance reporter that is having the same dream over and over. After he is taken hostage by some terrorist at a nuclear plant,Mike remembers the magic word that turns him into Miracleman. And for the first time this world has a legit superhero.

Moore took a character that is basically the bastard grandson of Superman and made him into a much more nuanced and thought out person that Supers has ever been.And even in this first issue there are pieces of what Moore kept doing and brought to the forefront of the comic issues later. The idea that superhero comics are a very childish genre. And in the early 80s and hell even now most of the superhero comics published are written to appeal to kids/middle age man childs. These are reasons I think that some people hate this series. They can't accept that the genre they have loved since they were kids is at it's very core kind of silly and stupid. But being the great writer he is Moore manages to take this childish genre and by injecting a bit of realism make it into something that broke most of the genre rules. And by the end of his run a title that was more science fiction/religious based than just a silly comic with guys in colorful tights punching each other.

Right now is the best time since the early 90s to get into Miracleman. Marvel has reprinted most of the 24 issues Eclipse put out. And what isn't reprinted currently will be out soon. Plus finally Neil Gaiman,he took over the writing of the series after Moore left,will be able to finish his 2 and 3rd stories lines.


Miracleman #01 gets a buy.

Sweet zombie Jesus

WOW!!!!

I have been looking for this softcover for a few years now. I have seen it for sale on Ebay,but refused to pay what most people wanted for it. Well all the waiting finally paided off. I am currently on vacation on the Mississippi gulf coast. And there is a great comic shop in this area that I try to visit everytime I am down here. Well I was looking at the Tradepaper backs and hardcovers and found Kimota sitting on the shelf.I was figuring it would be priced at at least $30. But it had no price anywhere on it,well besides the original price. And since I know that it is not only out of print,but in high demand I figured it would be priced way over what I want to pay. Well I pick it up and go to dig through the $1 bins. The owner of the shop walks by and ask me if I had read much Miracleman. I told him I had read it all and only needs this book and issue 24 to complete my collection. Turns out he has a few copies of 24 and goes to the back to pull one out. He brings it to me and it looks near mint. So I gather up 24 and kimota and head to the register. Figuring I am looking at at least $80. He tells me Kimota is $10 and 24 is $25. I tell him I'm more than glad to give him 40 or 45 for both,but he refuses. So I paid for both and then went back to the dollar bins and bought about 20 comics. Kimota is a guide to one of the most under rated comics of the 80s/90s. Written by Alan Moore and later on Neil Gaimen,Miracleman was one of the earliest deconstrution of the superhero genres. This guide has interviews with almost everyone that was ever involved with the series. And shitpiles of unreleased artwork. I'm only about half way thru it and already have learned so much about the history of the comic. I urge anyone who has read Miracleman to seek out and buy this book. Kimota earns a sold 9.5. If it had more color artwork it would get a perfect 10.