Alan Moore's MIRACLEMAN Offers Comic Fans Something Unique to Enjoy

Alan Moore is a name synonymous with comic books. Whether you have comic book ink running in your veins, or have never picked up a comic book aside from catching the latest Marvel or DC film, you have probably heard of Alan Moore. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Watchmen, From Hell, V for Vendetta, and Batman: The Killing Joke all have film adaptations based on his prolific works. However, let me caution you not to judge Moore by the films based on his works. Moore has a long-standing... hatred for the film industry because of these adaptations. However, this article is not about Moore, but about one of his lesser-known works, Miracleman. 

Thanks to a large sale on Marvel digital comics and books from awhile back I was able to pick up Miracleman Vol. 1-3, and Miracleman: The Golden Age. Created by Mick Anglo in the 1950s, Miracleman, or Marvelman as he was originally known, was the UK’s answer to Captain Marvel. Mike Moran would say a magic word, “Kimota,” and be transformed into the superpowered Miracleman. Then in 1982 Alan Moore took over writing duties and transformed the character into something...different.

Miracleman Vol. 1 begins with Mike Moran, a freelance journalist, waking up from a dream in which Miracleman, Young Miracleman, and Kid Miracleman are flying toward the airship fortress of their arch-nemesis, Dr. Gargunza. Something goes wrong and an explosion rips through the intrepid heroes. In the explosion, Young Miracleman seems to become two people, while Kid Miracleman is nowhere to be seen. The explosion causes Miracleman to fly backward and then- Mike wakes up from the same recurring dream that he has had for years. Plagued by a headache Mike says goodbye to his wife and heads off to his assignment with the beginning of a word hanging from his lips. At the assignment, something goes wrong and in the chaos, Mike remembers the word, Kimota! (atomic backwards). Mike is transformed once again into Miracleman, an act that sends shockwaves throughout his life and the world around him.

Miracleman Vol. 1 plays out like a renewed origin story. Moore crafts a story with the beautiful art of Garry Leach and later Alan Davis that easily carries the reader along. Moore’s writing is almost poetic, a trend that will continue and grow through all three volumes. Without giving too much away, Vol. 2 focuses on the resurfacing of Dr. Gargunza and further delves into the origins of Miracleman, while Vol. 3 sees the resurrection of a villain introduced in Vol. 1 and the forming of Miracleman’s great utopia. For those who appreciate history, or just want to see how the character has evolved from the 1950s until the 1980s, the volumes are populated with the original Marvelman comic strips, interviews with the original creator, interviews, and comments from the artist, and illustrations from pencil sketch to page. 

New readers of Miracleman will notice that Alan Moore’s name is missing from the cover. Instead of Alan Moore, the book is authored by The Original Author or something to that effect. This detail is just one more piece to the complicated history of the character. Starting out as Marvelman, the character later had to be changed to Miracleman to avoid conflict with DC’s Captain Marvel, who is now known as Shazam. Of course, we could also discuss Marvel’s own Captain Marvel, not to mention Mar-vell, but honestly who cares. At one point the copyrights to Miracleman were owned or rather perceived to be owned by Todd McFarland. If you search online you will even find a figure, statue, and reference to a Man of Miracles, who was a character featured in Hellspawn. However, Neil Gaiman, who authored Miracleman: The Golden Age, fought to reclaim copyright of the character. After a lengthy battle that almost sent Miracleman into obscurity the original creator, Mike Anglo, sold the copyright of the character to Marvel. 

Once again, Miracleman represents the writing of Alan Moore and later Neil Gaiman, while also offering something unique for new and seasoned readers of comics. Word of warning though, Miracleman is not for children! The story features many adult concepts ranging from brutal murder, rape, and outright genocide. The violence and horror in the series only works to highlight the beauty of the story later on. My only complaint with the series is that, at times, I found the direction of the word boxes hard to follow. This could have been due to my being tired since I tend to read late at night, so other readers may not have a similar issue. 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Guest Article By Joseph Fridley (@brother_fridley)