I never thought I'd read this, so I'm grateful for Marvel reprinting the series. I'm amused at how they never mention the author's name, but part of me feels a bit bad for the author. ( )

In November 1982, just as I was rediscovering comics, I picked up a copy of issue #7 of the British black & white anthology title Warrior and was blown away by an installment of a strip called Marvelman that reworked a cheesy 1950s superhero concept with a modern adult sensibility. Written by Alan Moore before he became “Alan Moore,” with atmospheric and hard hitting page design by Gary Leach this collection of the first story arc (retitled Miracleman due to US copyright issue) is both a nostalgia trip for me and an example of the Renaissance of the superhero genre that eventually gave us classics such as Watchmen and more. ( )

A must-read for Alan Moore fans. ( )

An underappreciated masterpiece, now in a snazzy reprint. Makes me happy! ( )

I started reading this as a pirated ebook, a scanned comic. This is because the original comic is no longer available, and may never be, thanks to a piss-fest regarding the license rights.



I eventually had to put down the iPad, though, because the scan quality is very bad. Bummer - the story seemed excellent.

Update: I've miraculously been lended the physical comic. ( )

An ordinary man discovers that he is an immensely powerful comic-book hero who puts his normal life in the shade -- which starts to be a problem. This book delves into the psychology of the superhero vs. the ordinary man; in this case, in the same individual. ( )

The Miracleman comics were interesting. I liked the human drama of remembering who he was and all the consequences of that, but the weird Warp stories at the end were totally unappealing and didn't really make a lot of sense to me. ( )

The Miracleman comics were interesting. I liked the human drama of remembering who he was and all the consequences of that, but the weird Warp stories at the end were totally unappealing and didn't really make a lot of sense to me. ( )

The Miracleman comics were interesting. I liked the human drama of remembering who he was and all the consequences of that, but the weird Warp stories at the end were totally unappealing and didn't really make a lot of sense to me. ( )

The Miracleman comics were interesting. I liked the human drama of remembering who he was and all the consequences of that, but the weird Warp stories at the end were totally unappealing and didn't really make a lot of sense to me. ( )

Miracleman:
Book One:
A Dream of Flying
Author: Moore, Anglo, Leach, Davis, Lawrence, Dillon, Neary, Oliff, Caramagna, Eliopoulos
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Published In: New York City, NY, USA
Date: 2014
Pgs: 176

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
A magic word and a forgotten legend again walks the Earth. Two decades along, the man inside Miracleman wants answers. He will explore his origins and connection to Project Zarathustra. His truth. Their lies. And where the two become one. While Miracleman is busy with that, his very human alter ego must come to grips with life as the human half of a creature with godlike power.

Genre:
Adventure
Comics and graphic novels
Fiction
Science fiction
Superheroes

Why this book:
I’ve seen Miracleman/Marvelman before and was interested in taking a walk through this obvious Captain Shazam Marvel-esque character. KIMOTA! SHAZAM! BOOM!

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Favorite Character:
Miracleman, Young Miracleman, Kid Miracleman...I loved ‘em all three.

Least Favorite Character:
Kommandant Garrer and the Science Gestapo. Of course, they are villains, so I’m supposed to dislike him...and them. He makes me think of Per Degaton who was always a favorite comic book villain of mine. The time travelling Nazi schtick fits them both.

The Feel:
A little bit schizo, but that fits with the way the story is written.

Favorite Scene:
When Miracleman tries to describe his 1950s career to his alter ego’s wife in 1982 and she calls him on the silly names and such that were part of the comic book norm back then.

Kid Miracleman going all dragon...and, then, lamb.

Pacing:
The pace is alright. Not great. But alright.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
It’s hard to call this when you are looking at part of the story being virtual reality and the rest being dealing with that VR life in the real world.

Hmm Moments:
When Garrer destroys his time ships so that his Science Gestapo has to stay in the past and so that the Miracleman Family can’t send them back through time, it is very Cortez-ian.

Miraclebaby? Baby Miracleman? Is it cheating if your wife sleeps with your alter ego who is you...but not you? Though we don’t get the payoff on this within this hardcover.

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
If they got it onto the screen ahead of Captain Shazam Marvel, they’d be golden. But it would have to be rushed to get ahead of them with the Shazam movie already having a 2019 release date.

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Last Page Sound:
That’s all?

Author Assessment:
I like the way that the stories are written and formatted.

Editorial Assessment:
Wish the editor or whoever was responsible for putting this together would have pushed for more story.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
glad I read it

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library
Irving, TX

Would recommend to:
genre fans

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Errata:
The whole Fawcett Comics/DC Comics Captain Marvel not being able to be called Captain Marvel anymore even though he’s been Captain Marvel since the 1940s is such bullshit.

The whole referring to Alan Moore as The Original Writer in all the title pages of this books is, as above, bullshit. ( )

wow, this one was just so much more than i was expecting, having never read any of Miracleman aka Marvelman: Mick Anglo's original, Alan Moore's reboot, or Neil Gaiman's later continuation. i'm not really a fan of superheroes, except when Alan decides to play with them a little, cat and mouse style. anyway this here is the reboot; v2 is to follow, again - this set has been out of print a very long time due to a whole set of legal issues that would make a good comic opera, except for the tragic parts. and it's totally brilliant, combining all the incarnations of the original children's comic, made in the UK during the 50s, into one frame and then taking the concept and the characters completely apart and using them to deconstruct the whole idea of superheroes, and then systematically all the issues pertaining. and Alan (here described as The Original Writer, because he's got issues), writing in the early 80s here, before the US Swamp Thing run, moves seamlessly from prosaic description to astonishingly poetic passages. while every story tackles a whole different idea, with Alan in total control of his form and his subject matter. and this is what happens when you just let him go, in any season.

and then, out of the blue, the narrative accelerates out of this universe altogether, riffing off a minor alien character in Miracleman identified glancingly as a Warpsmith. so here we get a whole setup for the Warpsmiths in their own time, their purpose, along with a vignette, and a large number of fully realized characters, doing what they do across a vast sector of space unrelated to our own, with no reference to Miracleman (or his Warpsmith character) at all. and the artwork, by Garry Leach, is unfrigging real, some of the best i've ever seen in any era, still totally ahead of its time all this time later in composition, inks, coloration, characterization. these panels were all remastered by Leach in 1984 and they're beautifully printed here in Ultimate style. some of this was created by the artist via hand-painted color pages overlaid by color panelling and the result still looks incredible and totally original today. one of the very best collaborations between Alan and an artist ever, and they were both obviously inspired by each other's work to try stuff that could not be done. nobody wanted the series at the time. just, wow. ( )

1799 ( )