Miracleman (character)

Miracleman (character)
Miracleman (originally known as Marvelman) is a British Golden Age comic book superhero appearing in comic books first published by L. Miller & Son, Ltd. Created by Mick Anglo, the character first appeared in Marvelman #25 (February 1954). The character was subsequently revived in 1982 by Alan Moore and Garry Leach as the lead of Marvelman in the pages of Warrior. After that publication was cancelled the revival was continued as Miracleman by Eclipse Comics in 1985, with the character renamed accordingly, but went out of print following the company's demise in 1994.
After a 15-year hiatus brought on by a confused legal situation, the character was successfully brought back into print by Marvel Comics in 2010, initially reverting to the Marvelman name. From 2014 onwards Marvel began reprinting the revival material, once again using the Miracleman name, and in 2022 began continuing the story.
Concept and creation
Following Fawcett Publications' cessation of their superhero titles in 1953, British publisher L. Miller & Son were left with the prospect of having to cancel their popular Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. weeklies due to a lack of material. Len Miller contacted Mick Anglo, whose Gower Street Studio had provided cover artwork and other material for Miller's titles, to create a replacement. Anglo modified Captain Marvel, changing his human identity from newsboy Billy Batson to copyboy Micky Moran. The character's superhuman form was changed from Captain Marvel to Marvelman, after consideration was given to naming the new character Captain Miracle and Miracleman - both names that would later be used by Anglo for further derivatives of Captain Marvel. Anglo took the opportunity to simplify the character's costume, eliminating Captain Marvel's cape and switching his lightning bolt to a simpler "MM" chest logo. To provide greater contrast Marvelman was given close-cropped blond hair and a predominantly blue colour scheme. Anglo considered giving the character a gravity belt but eventually decided to retain flight as an inherent ability of the superhero.
While Marvelman and (less frequently, despite debuting concurrently) Young Marvelman are occasionally called the first British superheroes this is not the case as the short-lived DC Thomson Dandy character The Amazing Mr. X debuted some ten years previously.
Publication history
1954-1963
Due to the backlog of Fawcett material Miller already had the company was able to prepare readers for the upcoming change. Captain Marvel #19, dated 19 December 1953, featured an in-character letter from 'Batson' to readers, telling them he planned to lead an ordinary life and would be handing over his duties to Marvelman; #24 featured the modified title Captain Marvel - the Marvelman and from #25 the title was renamed Marvelman, with the new character taking over. A similar process would take place on sister title Captain Marvel Jr., which would become Young Marvelman. The result was well-received by readers, and sales of Marvelman were actually larger than those of its predecessor. Anglo initially wrote and drew the strips himself; later other Gower Studio artists would work on the character, including James Bleach, Norman Light and Don Lawrence. Marvelman would also occasionally appear in the pages of Young Marvelman and later starred the additional monthly title Marvelman Family, which also featured Kid Marvelman. However by 1961 sales were declining as imported American comics began to arrive on the British market, featuring full-colour strips rather than the black-and-white adventures of Marvelman. Miller switched Marvelman to a monthly reprint title, causing Anglo to unsuccessfully attempt to set up his own Anglo Features label after turning down an offer to work for Miller's son Arnold on his own venture. Marvelman finally ended in 1963, and the character went into obscurity.
1982-1985
In 1981 Dez Skinn opted to revive the character for anthology Warrior. After his preferred choices turned him down, he became aware of Alan Moore's similar interest in reviving the character and requested a proposal. Impressed by the writer's ideas, Skinn commissioned Moore as writer for the strip, which debuted in the first issue of Warrior in March 1982. Moore would later relate that he was drawn to the character's resemblance of the concept of the Übermensch from the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, a concept that would be frequently drawn on in this revival. After others had demurred, Garry Leach was assigned to draw the strip. He modelled the revised Marvelman on actor Paul Newman and redesigned the chest insignia into a more modern style. Leach and Moore opted for a graceful look for the character in contrast to the more common musclebound superhero archetype.
The strip was a critical success, winning Favourite Comic Character (UK) at the 1984 Eagle Awards, and continued to be a success when Alan Davis took over as artist. Vintage Gower Street material would also be reprinted in the one-off Marvelman Special, with the conceit it presented imaginary adventures of the character. However, creative differences between Moore and Davis would lead to the strip stalling in 1985; while Grant Morrison was eager to take over Marvelman the dispute would prevent the strip from returning before Warrior was cancelled in 1985 after its losses became unsustainable for Skinn.
1985-1993
The story was eventually picked up by American publisher Eclipse Comics in 1985. To avoid legal attention from Marvel Comics the series and its leads were renamed Miracleman; Moore had previously suggested this as an alternate title in his original proposal as a substitute name should the editor decide against reviving Marvelman, and had also used it in print for the name of a proxy version of the character that had featured briefly in his parallel work on Marvel UK's Captain Britain strip. Those involved do not appear to have been aware of the name being previously considered by Anglo, or its use as the name given to a series of British reprints of the artist's Spanish-market Superhombre. Moore was initially resistant to the name change due to Marvelman having predated the establishment of Marvel Comics but eventually agreed, though he would air his dissatisfaction with the issue in an essay printed in the second issue of the title. Eclipse began by printing coloured, relettered versions of the Warrior material before Miracleman #7 (cover dated April 1986) saw the story continue with new material. The series continued its critical success, and was by Eclipse's standards a sizeable commercial success. Initially Chuck Austen (then using his birthname Chuck Beckum) drew the new adventures before Rick Veitch continued the work. From Miracleman #11, John Totleben became regular artist until #16, which was also the final issue of Moore's run.
Moore then passed over the title to Neil Gaiman, having completed the stories he had planned for the character. Gaiman and new artist Mark Buckingham planned three six-issue storylines for the character, and opted for an anthology approach for the initial arc. As such "The Golden Age" focused more on Miracleman's impact on Earth than the character himself, who was more felt than seen across Miracleman #17-22, largely featuring in cameos by various literary devices such as flashbacks, imaginary sequences and fictions-within-fictions. Meanwhile Gaiman found that numerous other creators were interested in working on the character; to harness this and expand their revenue, Eclipse produced the three-issue limited series Miracleman: Apocrypha, featuring contributions by the likes of Alex Ross, Kurt Busiek, Matt Wagner, James Robinson and Darick Robertson. Gaiman and Buckingham provided a framing story for the series which established it as a collection of imaginary stories. Miracleman returned to being more central in the creative team's second arc, "The Silver Age". However, after only two issues of the storyline had been published Eclipse went bankrupt; this also prevented the publication of another spin-off mini-series called Miracleman Triumphant, written by Fred Burke and drawn by Mike Deodato and taking place between Gaiman's first two arcs.
1995-2008
Gaiman mistakenly believed at the time he owned a one-third share of the rights to the Miracleman characters, with the other two-thirds residing with Eclipse. As such he reached an arrangement with Roger Broughton to continue the series once the Canadian publisher purchased Eclipse's rights. However at the 1996 liquidation auction Broughton was outbid by Todd McFarlane, who had collaborated with Gaiman on various Spawn spinoffs. Gaiman began legal action while McFarlane remained sure he owned the character, and produced Miracleman merchandise. A reimagined Mike Moran, now a principled journalist at the New York Daily Times, was added to the supporting cast of Hellspawn, a dark spin-off title of Spawn, in February 2001. Artist Ashley Wood released teaser images of Miracleman ahead of his planned debut in Hellspawn #12. However, Wood left the book after Hellspawn #11 and the storyline was abandoned when Gaiman sued McFarlane in 2002. In-universe, the appearances were subsequently ascribed to the character Man of Miracles, whose aspect is shaped by the perceptions of others.
2009-Present
Since 2001, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada had been among the major industry figures to support Gaiman in the dispute. Marvel eventually discovered in 2009 that the rights to the Marvelman characters had resided with Anglo all along, having never been officially purchased by Skinn (who believed the character was in the public domain, and reached a private agreement with Anglo) in 1981. They licensed the characters from Anglo directly and in 2010 began a series of reprints of classic material under the Marvelman name. In 2014 after further legal rights were secured they began to reprint the revival material, now named Miracleman once again. Marvel published new material with the character in 2015, and Miracleman's logo was featured in the one-shot Timeless in 2021, foreshadowing his introduction to the Marvel Universe.
In October 2022, Gaiman and Buckingham continued The Silver Age storyline after a hiatus of nearly 30 years.
Fictional character biography
Original
Having discovered the keyword to the universe through his experiments, Mississippi-based astro-scientist Guntag Barghelt travels the world searching for a worthy recipient of this power. After young Micky Moran first attempts to return a dime Barghelt dropped and then defends the scientist from a trio of hoodlums, the scientist takes the youth to his laboratory. There further tests reveal Micky has absolute integrity and a well-defined discernment of good and evil, and treats him in his atomic machine. Micky is granted the power to turn into the superpowered Marvelman whenever he speaks the keyword "Kimota". After Marvelman thwarts an attempt by the villainous Herman Schwein to capture Barghelt's notes, the scientist withdraws to an asteroid in outer space, knowing Marvelman will protect good on Earth. Micky works for the Daily Bugle newspaper as a copyboy and keeps his superhero identity secret from the world while using his power to protect the innocent. To help him fight evil, Marvelman would later call on the scientist again when impressed by the courage of messenger boy Dicky Dauntless, and calls up Barghelt once again. The scientist gives Dicky an elixir that allows him to transform into Young Marvelman, who would become Marvelman's ally in the fight against evil. Marvelman later selected another youth, Johnny Bates, who was granted the ability to become Kid Marvelman.
Among his many victories, Marvelman prevented Boromanian spy Balco from using the experimental XB999 atomic bomber aircraft against Washington, prevented crooks from poisoning Oklabama's water supply with radium, and foiled an attempt by Professor Zargunza to use memory-loss gas on the world. Marvelman also crossed paths with mad scientist Dr. Gargzuna, thwarting his plan to use animated skeletons to intimidate a judge. Gargunza would however return with numerous other amoral plans, which Marvelman again defeated.
Other escapades Marvelman was involved in included preventing Boromanian attempts to sabotage Professor Jowik's new megabathysphere; stopping the ice cream-crazed Abominable Snowman and his Snowman minions; defeating super-computer the Electronic Brain,; foiling a Boromanian plot to use scientist Doctor Ramado's miniaturised hydrogen bomb to blow up a table tennis tournament; saving oblivious astronaut Professor Swivelhead from his own oblivious behaviour; clearing his name after circus strongman the Great Anvello framed him as a criminal; defeating scientist Cuprini's evil mirror image version of himself; preventing destruction of a United States Navy squadron by a two-headed kraken; dealing with an epidemic of insomnia brought on by the King of the Land of Nod sulking; using a demonstration of his formidable powers to cause Martian War Lords to abort a planned invasion of Earth; stopping jealous electrical genius Austin Amps and his attempts to sabotage rival Oswald Ohms' all-electric town Wattingham;
travelling back to 1588 and helping Royal Navy Captain Farnaby warn England about the Spanish Armada; ending the crime spree of Professor Coisson's Marvelman II, a robot double of the hero; foiling the attempt of unlicensed dentist Mr. Nook to use misery gas in revenge for being exposed as a quack by Moran; putting an end to Nazi Otto Gruber's attempt to create a Fourth Reich; beating wizard Wizzo the Wizard and his mirror-henchman namlevraM; capturing embezzler Charles Crank despite his attempts to hide out on the Moon}; thwarting the attempts of Menzari driver Heinz Vifter to beat rival Nevady driver Micky Desmond to the Golden Wheel via sabotage;
exposing pickpocketing clowns from a travelling circus; forestalling an invasion from underground hat-wearing giant ants; undoing disgruntled prop manager Eddie Gay's attempts to sabotage a documentary made by Peakpoint Films;
uncovering cargo cult-leading machine Klashna;
and halting elderly bad-luck projecting nuisance Irwin M. Trouble
He would also team up with Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman as the Marvelman Family to face threats such as Garrer and his army of time-travelling renegades; a combined alliance of Marvelman's arch-enemy Doctor Gargunza and his nephew, Young Marvelman rogue Young Gargunza; the King of Vegetableland; invaders from the planet Vardica; would-be dictator Professor Batts and his speech-scramber; a crime boss intent on sinking Pacific City below the ocean; the cruel, slave-driving King Snop of Atlantis (which the story revealed would eventually become Australia); an attempt by Gargunza to declare himself King of the Universe; cruel 14th century knight Simon de Carton (clearing the name of Amadis of Gaul in the process); a monster accidentally collected from the planet Droon; and Professor Wosmine's shrinking ray
Revival
BOOK ONE: 'A Dream Of Flying' - written by Alan Moore
Two decades later, Mike Moran is a middle-aged man working as a freelance journalist and happily married to Liz, but he is suffering from mid-life crisis and is plagued by headaches. He remembers nothing of his adventures as Miracleman, but has recurring dreams of flying and of the terrible fate that apparently befell the Miracleman family when they were caught in a nuclear explosion.
When a peaceful protest at an atomic power station is overtaken by terrorists, Moran is present and is taken hostage. In the throes of a migraine - he sees the ‘magic word’ (that has eluded him for decades but haunts his dreams) written on a glass door: ‘Kimota’. When he speaks this aloud he transforms into Miracleman, incapacitates the terrorists and flies away.
Miracleman returns home to a startled Liz and attempts to explain his newly-remembered backstory. Liz is initially skeptical but eventually convinced, and they spend the night together.
Miracleman’s appearance is noticed by Johnny Bates, who has become a very successful international businessman in the intervening decades. Bates invites Mike and Liz to his offices, and though they are initially convinced by his story Mike confronts Bates with his suspicions that he has become corrupted by his powers. These suspicions are confirmed when Kid Miracleman attacks. Transforming in Miracleman, Moran attempts to fight Kid Miracleman but is overpowered and only spared by Bates mistakenly speaking his ‘magic word’ and transforming back into a young boy. Miracleman and Liz escape, leaving the young Johnny Bates in the hands of the authorities.
As a result of their single night together, Liz becomes pregnant with Miracleman’s child, an event that fuels Mike Moran’s feelings of inadequacy in comparison to his superhuman alter-ego.
The ‘Spookshow’, a government agency, recruits Evelyn Cream to kill Moran. Cream instead kidnaps Moran and they agree to work together to discover Miracleman’s real origins. This leads them to a hidden bunker in the countryside where Miracleman encounters various ineffectual traps and a deranged superhuman called Big Ben, who he subdues effortlessly.
Once inside the bunker, Miracleman is confronted with the true nature of his past: he is the result of an experimental program by the British government to create superhumans as an escalation of the Cold War arms race. The program is derived from alien technology discovered in the 1950s and adapted and overseen by Dr Emil Gargunza, an ex-Nazi scientist given shelter by the British government. It is revealed that his entire past has been a virtual reality fiction created to subdue him and the rest of the Miracleman Family and make them pliable as super-weapons. Enraged by this, Miracleman destroys much of the bunker and, once calmed by Cream, returns home.
BOOK TWO: 'The Red King Syndrome' - Written By Alan Moore
As the birth of her and Miracleman’s child grows near Liz is kidnapped by Gargunza, now living in Paraguay, where Liz is taken. Whilst she is held captive Gargunza relates to her his life story, telling of how he worked on the Zarathustra Project, adapting the technology of a crashed spaceship and creating the Miracleman Family. He hopes to transfer his consciousness into the body of Miracleman’s child, thus achieving immortality.
Miracleman and Cream travel to Paraguay and confront Gargunza. However, Gargunza has implanted another ‘magic word’ which changes Miracleman back into a defenceless Mike Moran for an hour. He then sets his ‘Miracledog’ - a monstrous, genetically altered super-animal - on Moran and Cream. Cream is killed and Moran is maimed but he remembers the ‘magic word’ Gargunza used on the dog and it reverts back to its harmless original form, whereupon Moran kills it and evades Gargunza’s mercenaries until such time as he can change back to Miracleman. When he does, he slaughters Gargunza’s guards, kills Gargunza and rescues Liz who then gives birth to a daughter, Winter - who can already speak.
Back in England, domestic tensions between Mike and Liz are exacerbated by Liz’s mood swings - which she suspects are caused by Winter, who is developing at an unusually accelerated rate. Meanwhile two alien agents are tracking Moran, but are themselves being followed by a mystery woman.
BOOK THREE: 'Olympus' - Written By Alan Moore
The aliens - of the race The Qys - attack Moran, who becomes Miracleman and attempts to fight them off, but the aliens are able to change bodies in a manner similar to Moran / Miracleman himself and easily defeat him. Upon learning of Winter’s existence, they turn their attention to Liz but are thwarted by the mystery woman, who reveals herself to be Avril Lear - Miraclewoman - and tells the story of her past as another of Gargunza’s experiments.
The Qys take Miracleman and Miraclewoman to their homeworld where the future of the Miracleman Family - and Earth itself - is discussed by the ambassadors of the Qys and their mortal enemies the Warpsmiths. Miraclewoman convinces the assembly that Earth should be a neutral world wherein the two cultures can work together and hopefully achieve some form of understanding.
After returning to Earth Miracleman finds himself growing apart from his human ties as Liz leaves him and Winter [who is physically a small child but already beyond even Miracleman himself in terms of mental development] leaves Earth to find and learn from The Qys.
Mike Moran, his life turned upside down, commits a form of suicide by trekking into the wilderness and leaving a small memorial for himself to find when he transforms for a last time into Miracleman. Miracleman understands this gesture and never returns to his human form again.
With the help of Qys and Warpsmith agents including Aza Chorn, the initial alien/superhuman project is to gather together all the remaining superhumans on Earth and work in secret to begin to nudge Earth towards a more enlightened path. This is cut short, however, by the sudden re-emergence of Kid Miracleman.
Johnny Bates, who has been kept at a children’s home in England, has been attempting to keep his alter-ego at bay; but the brutal abuse he suffers at the hands of fellow inmates forces him to transform into a vengeful Kid Miracleman, who then destroys half of London in Miracleman’s temporary absence and kills forty thousand people. When he is discovered, a battle ensues where Miracleman and his cohorts - with apparently little regard for human life - attempt to subdue him.
Kid Miracleman is only eventually defeated by a dying Aza Chorn and, mortally wounded, transforms back to Johnny Bates. Miracleman then kills Bates to prevent him ever becoming Kid Miracleman again. In the ruins of London, surrounded by thousands of dead and dying, Miracleman now realises the world can never be the same.
He and Miraclewoman reshape the world into a utopia. All the practical ills of human society are cured, and the offer of superhuman powers and children is gradually taken up by a humanity who regard the Miracleman Family as gods. The pantheon of new gods build Olympus, a huge temple in the ruins of Central London where they are worshipped by human acolytes. Despite having created a utopia, Miracleman is haunted by Liz’s accusation that he has lost touch with his humanity.
BOOKS FOUR & FIVE: 'The Golden Age' & 'The Silver Age' - Written By Neil Gaiman with Mark Buckingham
After a series of short stories detailing the effects of this new society on ordinary humans and supporting characters from the series ['The Golden Age'], the main story picks up again in the year 2001 ['The Silver Age'], where Young Miracleman - Dickie Dauntless - is revived but has a great deal of trouble adjusting to the new world he finds himself in.
Miraclewoman convinces Miracleman that Dauntless is infatuated with him, and Miracleman attempts to kiss him to assuage his frustrations. This shocks and enrages Dauntless, whose attitudes towards sexuality and the world in general are still very much those of the 1950s. He leaves Olympus to discover himself in the changed world of 2001.
Powers and abilities
Miracleman can fly, has super-strength and is invulnerable. The source of his strength and durability is a forcefield, derived from Qys technology. He is able to tear open a bunker door without apparent effort, push his finger through a human chest without any sort of run-up, and clapping his hands together causes a concussive blast that deafens those within range. Miracleman survives being in the range of the Operation Dragonslayer nuclear bomb unscathed, only being forced into dormancy by the physical and mental damage done to Mike Moran, and is impervious to bullets, blades, rocket launchers and conventional explosives. He can survive without oxygen, and is able to singlehandedly carve Silence from subsea rock. Liz finds his speed cannot be measured by a stopwatch, estimating it as well over Mach 2. In the original, the character could fly around Earth fast enough to move backwards or forwards in time, an ability that has yet to be featured in the revival.
Reception
Critical reception
Timothy Adams of ComicBook.com called Miracleman a "classic superhero." Michael Doran of Newsarama included Miracleman in their "Best Marvel characters left to adapt to the MCU" list. Danilo Raul of MovieWeb ranked Miracleman 7th in their "Obscure Marvel Characters That Deserve Their Own Films" list.
Other versions
An alternate version of Miracleman is one of the heroes of Earth-238 that appears in the Captain Britain stories written by Moore and Alan Davis around the time of their work together on Marvelman for Warrior. A grave bearing the name is seen by Captain Britain shortly before he is killed by the Fury on the alternate world; the character's death at the hands of the symbiote was then shown in flashback during a nightmare experienced by
Linda McQuillan (the superhero Captain UK). Moore would later recall that they came up for the name for the Marvel appearances but it features in his original proposal for the Warrior strip as an alternate title, but it was the first use of the name in print. When asked, Moore could not recall if he remembered using it when settling on renaming Marvelman for Eclipse Comics.
Collected editions
Notes
References
Eclipse Comics superheroes
Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman senses
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics superheroes
Miracleman