Miracleman 1: A Dream of Flying

I've been waiting for a new Miracleman/Marvelman collection for years, and while this edition has beautiful coloring, an extensive bonus section, and a wonderful new cover by Alan Davis, I'll be passing on future volumes in this cheap, hardcover format. This volume has some serious production issues. The pages are thin and wavy, the book doesn't lay flat, and the trim size is too small. Marvel already has an oversized hardcover model in place, so I'm not sure why they didn't choose to present this material closer to its original size as it appeared in WARRIOR. I've waiting a long time for this story to come back in print, I can wait longer for a more durable and quality format.

Miracleman is one of the most important works in modern comics and one ofthe finest from Alan Moore. This review is not so much about the content as the presentation. Opening up this book after years of only being able to read this work as poorly scanned online bootlegs was akin to a 6 year old finding an ugly sweater in the big box on Christmas day. The presentation is awful, the printing is of very poor quality and the pages and binding are subpar. The whole thing just screams "cheap" at you.

The artwork is vastly scaled down and printed on cheap paper.The binding appears glued, not sewn on top of that. It's really a shame given the amount of work that went into re-coloring and digitizing the original artwork. If this book lies closed on a flat surface you can slide coins underneath it; the book is actually curved. When I say it doesn't lay float, it's not that it doesn't lay float when it's open (it doesn't), it's that it doesn't lay flat CLOSED.

I've canceled my pre-orders for the later editions of the books in the expectation that they will be of similarly poor construction. Hopefully the rights-holders will get their act together and print a higher quality edition with artwork scaled to the excellent single issues currently being released.

You would be better served, at this point in time, to purchase the single issues. The artwork is correctly sized for the original publication and the printing and paper is much higher quality than what I have seen with this hardcover.

I had anxiously been waiting for the release of this collection. I had bought the Mircacleman series when it first came out in American in the early 90's. Over time, I loaned my original issues out and they were lost. Wanting to re-read them, I looked online to find that buying them back would be incredibly expensive, so when I saw this was going to be available I instantly pre-ordered it. It came today, and I sat down and was enveloped in the story I had loved years earlier. That is, until about 2/3 of the way through the book when I suddenly started seeing characters and a storyline I was unfamiliar with. It seems they stopped with the actual Miracleman run and shifted to printing issues of a book only peripherally related to Miracleman about a group of characters called "Warpsmiths". It seems they did a crossover with MM and these characters in the British books, and are including this as part of the MM book. I did NOT want this. I had never even heard of it. I expected to find every issue of the first Miracleman run, as part of this collection. I do not care about the Warpsmiths. This is only space filler so they can sell us a couple more volumes instead of giving us what they promised here. So my rating reflects the five stars I would give for the original story and the zero stars I give them for a HUGE bait and switch. Yes, I will probably buy future volume so I can replace my original comics, but this is a shady way of stretching out my purchases for a few years. No wonder Alan Moore want's nothing to do with Marvel.

This is the best work in the superhero comics medium. I'm not going to go on about the book, there are plenty of places where you can read about Miracleman (or Marvelman).

I owned the complete Warrior series and sold it.
I owned the complete Eclipse series and sold it.
I've longed to reread these stories for 7-8 years.

Now I get to do it--and it is far more beautiful than it has ever been.

I was planning on only ordering the hard cover books as they were published, but I am making my way to my local comics shop for the first time in years to buy the monthlies. The monthlies offer many more extras, but these books don't really need the extras. Don't let anyone spoil these stories.

Honestly--this is as good as comics get.

Having read and bought Moore's Swamp Thing, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, The Watchmen and V for Vendetta this series is beyond a doubt far superior in breadth and scope than any of these- which is truly saying something. Thankfully Marvel republished the series and as an added bonus there are orginal sketches by all of the artists including Rick Vietch in the back of each volume. For decades for various unknown and even some business reasons none of us in the graphic novel universe fandom were able to participate in the mind blowing existential and philosophical journey this series offers. Prepare yourself before you begin- and be thankful if you already know Moore is a genius of the highest caliber - in life we should save his best for last this this is it!

Do not buy the Marvel edition of Alan Moore's Miracle Man! Alan Moore's name isn't even on it, they put "The Original Writer"! They also redid all of the colors! It's so much worse now! The cover is awful, find the Eclipse Comics collections. Don't buy an Alan Moore book with "The Original Writer" on it! Shame on Marvel!

In the event, God forbid, that one day all of my comics went up in flames and I had time to save only a handful, the choice is simple. I’d save my entire run of Miracleman, #s 1-24. It really is no contest. I received the first issue of this series, written by Alan Moore with art by Garry Leach, free when I ordered some comics from one of those back issue companies you see advertised in comics. This company, I can’t remember the name, used to send 2 free “grab bag” comics with every order. With this particular order, I got a months-old issue of Marvel Age, and the first issue of Miracelman. A few months later, while browsing my local comic shop, I saw the entire run of this series being sold for, I believe, around $100. It was worth every penny.

A brief history:
Miracleman (whose real name is Marvelman, but to avoid any possible lawsuits from a certain comics giant was renamed when he made his move to America in the 80s) was born in 1954 when Fawcett Comics, its publisher, found itself with no material to publish once the Captain Marvel stories were put on hold during a lawsuit from DC Comics when they decided Fawcett’s Captain Marvel too closely resembled DC’s own Superman. So Fawcett decided to, instead of copying another company’s character, copy their own and the transition from Captain Marvel and the Captain Marvel Family to Marvelman and his sidekicks Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman was an easy one.

The characters:
Mike Moran, Dicky Dauntless, and Johnny Bates were the Marvelman family, but eventually, as comics sometimes do, they vanished. However, there was something about them. In 1982, Alan Moore and Garry Leach got to revive the character for Warrior magazine, being published independently by Dez Skinn. In 1985, the strip was picked up by Eclipse Comics and ran for 24 issues before vanishing once again, this time due to Eclipse Comics going bankrupt.

Book one:
One day in 1963, Miracleman and his sidekicks were caught in an atom bomb blast. Young and Kid are killed (so it is believed. Johnny Bates, Kid Miracleman, turns up later in the first issue, grown up and very dangerous) and Mike is left with no memory of his time as Miracleman nor of the magic work, “Kimota”, which is used to summon his alter-ego. When Book One opens, Mike Moran is a 40-something-year-old Londoner. It’s 1982, he’s married, and works as a freelance journalist. One day at a political rally, Mike and a bunch of other journalists are taken hostage by a group of terrorists who plan to steal the plutonium from the plant the reporters are there to write about. Mike inadvertently utters the magic word he hasn’t been able to remember for almost 20 years, and Marvelman--sorry, Miracleman--is reborn.

This first book, “A Dream of Flying”, reprints the first 3 issues, which were also reprints from the original “Warrior” run, and tells the story of Mike’s first few months back as Miracleman as he and wife Liz try to adjust to this huge new addition to their lives.

What Mike learns about himself, his sidekicks, and the entire world he’s grown up knowing surprises not only him, but the reader as well. Early on, as Mike is telling his wife about his career as Miracleman in the 50s and 60s, she asks why she’s never heard of him. Mike says maybe the government hushed it up. But in book one we learn this wouldn’t have been necessary as Mike’s history as Miracleman was nothing more than an experiment, a computer-generated life inside a government facility called “Project Zarathustra” where Mike gained his powers, very much like The Matrix only without the kung-fu. Book one is a short one compared to the ones that followed, spanning only 4 issues when books 2-4 take up a good 5-6 issues each, but as a starting point, it just doesn’t get any better.

“Once upon a time there were three heroes. They knew magic words. They did good deeds. And they killed all the monsters and dragons... They were living happily ever after when one of them died. His name was Young Miracleman and he died by fire. One up to the dragons. The second hero was called Miracleman. He came through the fire, but it made him forget he was a hero. He married and lived happily ever after... Until yesterday. Yesterday he remembered that he was a hero. But it wasn’t until today that he remembered about the dragons... The third hero was only a little boy. He was called Kid Miracleman and he was very powerful. Without the other two heroes to bother him, he could do whatever he liked... He grew up. He grew up into a dragon.”

“Get out Liz. Get out of the building. Get out of the AREA! Now,Liz!!”

“And she runs. Liz Moran is a brave woman, and she loves her husband very much. But she is only human. She runs...for to be human is not enough...when gods cry war amidst the thunder.”

Christ, I love Alan Moore’s writing. But to see the page is so much more powerful. Garry Leach, and later, Alan Davis, do such justice to Moore’s words, the menace of those panels jumps out at you and it’s one of the few times reading a comic book you’ll feel yourself in danger. The scene with Mike and Johnny Bates on the balcony outside Johnny’s office, holy crap, I still get chills just looking at the panels and thinking of the discussion between them.

“John, I listened to your story just now...rags to riches, redemption through honest toil. It’s a great story. I really wanted to believe it, John. But then halfway through I got this funny idea into my head. I thought, ‘What if he’s lying?’ I tried to get rid of it. I tried. But I couldn’t. I thought ‘What if he didn’t lose his powers? What if he survived that blast that took out me and Dickey and was STILL Kid Miracleman?’ I tried to imagine what it would feel like...to be sixteen years old and the most powerful creature on the face of the planet...and to be answerable to no one. You could do anything, John. You’d never need to turn back to dull, weak, human Johnny Bates ever again. Oh, sure, you could take his name, his identity...but you could stay as Kid Miracleman forever. You could have it all...money, prestige, fame... You could sever all your links with humanity. You could become remoreselss, unstoppable...and totally corrupt. Is that it, John? Is that what happened? You’re still Kid Miracleman, aren’t you? I can tell by your voice, by the way you stand...you’re not human, John. I can feel it . . . John, are you doing something to my mind?” Liz comes outside and with the distraction, Mike pushes John over the rail. And John doesn’t fall.

That’s the kind of stuff that make comics memorable. Moore’s words, Leach’s art, a perfect combination, the look on Liz’s face, the evil on John’s face. And that’s just in the first third of the book. What follows from his awakening will keep you guessing to the end as Moore reveals one more layer and one more layer and one more layer, a bit at a time. Miracleman, Book One: A Dream of Flying has me more psyched to be reading comics than I’ve been in over 10 years and I can’t wait to jump into Book Two.

The art is by Garry Leach and Alan Davis, and the use of space is amazing. Panel layout is designed to give the story not only a great flow, but a dramatic one as well, leading the eye where it needs to go to get the full experience, serving to enhance the dialogue and caption boxes in a way few other comics creators can manage before or since this book’s original publication in the pages of WARRIOR magazine in the early 1980s.

The latter half of this collection contains a ton of extra material, including a “between the scenes” Miracleman story from “the future” and two Warpsmith stories, characters which we have yet to be introduced to in the original issues from which this collection was compiled, but who will come to play a huge part in Miracleman’s story later.

I enjoyed the shorts here, but they were nothing compared to the main storyline, and, since we haven’t met these characters yet, they feel out of left field. Still, for someone who’s read the entire series a few times, these stories definitely helped flesh the Warpsmith concept out.

The final 60 pages or so are somewhat pointless reprints of original concept art and pages from the WARRIOR run, but these add nothing to the overall experience, nor do they enhance the story at all. I could have done without these pages, but I was going to pay whatever the cover price was for this collection regardless. Because it’s Alan Moore’s MIRACLEMAN and every great thing comics have ever strived for or have achieved starts right here. This isn’t just a great comic, it is, simply, the BEST comic. I just hope Marvel keeps them coming so I can collect the rest of the series in these awesome hardcover editions and then, God willing, get the final chapters of the story, 25 years overdue.

Even if you don't view these issues within the context of the troubled legal history that preceded them, there's no discussion; you just buy the book. Why? It's nothing short of a masterpiece. Alan Moore was still cutting his teeth in the industry when his reinvention of Miracleman (formerly Marvelman) hit the scene, and it's quite obvious in the first few pages that Moore has always possessed an uncanny insight that bleeds into every word he writes. He's a born storyteller, not to mention a consistent game changer.

I won't spoil details of the story because the whole thing needs to be experienced by the reader firsthand, but the basic setup is a seemingly average man coming to grips with the fact that he used to be a courageous, squeaky-clean Golden Age superhero in the 1950's. Those memories have been suppressed for ages, but once he gets back into the swing of things, his whole world takes an increasingly dark and complex turn for the worse. This particular volume sets the stage and introduces most of the key players like any good first installment; just know that it's a mere appetizer for the epic, mind-blowing and deeply unsettling issues that will crop up in the next two volumes.

It's so great to see Alan Moore's Miracleman returning to the collected trade format. It's like being able to see Citizen Kane again if it was shunted off to a dark vault, smothered in legal red tape for decades. The format of this volume is very impressive, and it's loaded with some neat extras, but it's apparent that some compromises had to be made to put these stories back into readers' hands for a reasonable sum of money. For instance, Alan Moore is not identified as the writer anywhere in this book; he's just credited as 'The Original Writer'. The omission of Moore's name threw me initially, but once you crack that book open and start reading, you know whose work this is. The coloring is a little smoother and more vibrant in these pages, but I actually liked the coloring scheme in the old issues. Still, it's a minor quibble because the writing still makes a powerful impression.

Lastly, there are a couple of filler stories that follow the conclusion of Book One. They were written by Alan Moore, but they're definitely not necessary as far as the main narrative is concerned. Just skip these and dive into the second volume when it's released later this year. If you have read these stories before but couldn't stomach paying a couple hundred bucks for the original trades, you owe it to yourself to collect these reprints. If you haven't experienced Alan Moore's Miracleman yet, you're in for a helluva treat.

Miracleman rises again like a phoenix from the ashes. For the first time in nearly 25 years, Miracleman is being reprinted in this beautiful hardcover edition from Marvel Comics. For those of you inquisitive souls curious enough to peer into the depths of this milestone in comic books, allow me to indulge in a bit of history.

(If you wish to skip my history lesson, just jump down a bit.)

In 1938, National Publications unveiled the world's first superhero, the world renowned Superman. As the character and the idea of men with powers greater than those of mere mortals grew more popular in the human conscious, other companies took stabs at the idea, such as Timely Publications' Human Torch and Captain America. In 1939, Fawcett Comics released Captain Marvel, the world's mightiest mortal who transformed from boy Billy Batson to powerhouse hero by crying out, "SHAZAM!". The appearance and powers of Captain Marvel were so appalling similar to that of Superman that a years long lawsuit between the companies that owned each character resulted with the Captain, who at this time was much more popular than his predecessor, to cease being published.

In the United Kingdom, Captain Marvel was as equally popular as he was in the United States and with DC Comics (previously National Publications) putting a halt on all things Captain Marvel, Marvel's British publisher L. Miller & Son found themselves abruptly without their best seller. In the 1950s, they hired artist/writer Mick Anglo to pick up the comic and create a character enough unlike Superman that he wouldn't break the copyright, but enough like Captain Marvel that he would retain the character's popularity. Thus, Marvelman was born! A character created out of the atomic age, Micky Moran would shout, "KIMOTA!" and be transformed into his godlike alterego. Like Captain Marvel before him, Marvelman also had his share of supporting characters that drew their power from him, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman and the villainous Young Nastyman.

Jump ahead to the early 1980s, a young and talented writer, Alan Moore began a deconstructionist tale in the pages of weekly publication "Warrior" about whatever became of Marvelman. When republished in the United States, Marvel Comics (previously Timely Publications) forced the character to be renamed to Miracleman. A long, draw-out litigation over the ownership of the character would come about several years later and eventually Marvel Comics would obtain the character rights which brings us to today.

==END BACK STORY==

Welcome to the first reprint of Alan Moore's tale of Miracleman (here credited as "The Original Writer"). The story sees a now middle-aged Micky Moran rediscovering his secret life as Miracleman and how the world reacts to suddenly discovering that there are super-beings in the world. The story, I feel, still holds up, over 30 years after it was first published, and while it is clear that this is Moore's early writing, much like his work on Captain Britain from approximately the same time, one can truly see the genesis of his later works on such gems as Swamp Thing, deconstructing the earlier held continuity and origins of the character and weaving into it a much darker tapestry of reality. This first volume, "A Dream of Flying", questions what happens to a man when he discovers his entire life is a lie and he has the powers of a god?

There are also a few back-up tales included at the end of the volume featuring characters called the Warpsmiths who will become important later (in Book 3: Olympus). The first story, "The Yesterday Gambit", is a brief glimpse into Miracleman's future, while the other two stories, "Cold War, Cold Warrior" and "Ghostdance" are scifi pieces that take a glimpse into the world of the Warpsmiths and their mighty empire. Also included are some bonus features including looks at the original artwork and models, older artwork such as the original graphic novel's cover, etc. if you enjoy that sort of stuff.

The major change between this reprinted volume and the original is the coloring. Marvel made it no secret that they wished to completely overhaul the original 1980s colors with the newer coloring techniques that are used today. Firstly, when Marvelman was first printed in "Warrior", like many UK comics, it was in black & white. Only when Eclipse Comics reprinted the series in standard American comic format did they colorize it. Now, I've read the original colored issues from Eclipse and I have no problem with the original 80s style coloring. I also don't have a problem in recoloring older books to give the images a more high definition and crisp feel to them, so long as the coloring remains true the original. I've look over the old copies of Miracleman and this book and there is something a bit off, namely in the shading. At times, things just look a bit too dark here. I still think it looks wonderful, but I just can't put my finger on what's wrong. It may just be the 80s artwork not working well with the new coloring techniques. I have the same problem with Marvel's reprints of Walt Simonson's Thor.

Regardless, I highly recommend this book which will eventually lead to Neil Gaiman returning to the series and completing a story he was unfortunately prevented from writing 25 years ago. Enjoy and KIMOTA!

People always talk about "Watchmen" as the book that changed comics and put Alan Moore on the map. For me it wasn't. I read this book in the 1980s when Eclipse Comics published it. To put that into context, imagine listening to a Jimi Hendrix song or watching Bruce Lee fight. Any kid with a guitar and lots of time to practice (and most of your decent professional guitarists) can duplicate Jimi nowadays. Practice enough and you can copy Bruce's moves from "Enter the Dragon" or "Fists of Fury." Back in when Jimi and Bruce did what they did, no one else had even conceived of trying to do things that we take for granted in the context of music and martial arts.

This is what Alan Moore accomplished with Miracleman. We all grew up with Superman and Captain Marvel (Shazam). Moore touched on aspects of that archetype that no one had ever committed to writing before. Just as many genres of music owe a debt to Jimi and many martial artists of all styles owe a debt to Bruce, the world of comics and superheroes owe a debt to Alan Moore because of this comic. If you are passionate in your enjoyment of comic books, you owe it to yourself to read this.

Moore stopped at issue 17 and Neil Gaiman took over until Eclipse when bankrupt after publishing issue 24. (you might have heard of Gaiman... trust me, read up to number 24)