Miracleman #12



John Totleben gets right to the heart of this issue's subject, Miraclewoman. Note that she appears to be sleeping, as we will see what kind of fantasies she was fed by Gargunza.

In the future, we see more of this world, with talk of lonely people being matched up by computers (eMiracleman?), see volumes of sex instruction books, and see what appears to be Miraclewoman on a screen. Miracleman speaks of his Venus, his muse, then recalls their first meeting.

The alien fighting Miracleman departs the battle and rushes to Mike's flat. Miracleman follows and the alien calls a truce to attend to its dying mate, asking to call its people. MIraclewoman tells MM to let them e and he recognizes her; but, realizes their previous meeting was a Gargunza fantasy. Miraclewoman fills in the details, while Liz is all but ignored.



The story is similar to Mike's, except Avril Lear was sexually assaulted from the first. She was taken to a secret bunker, but not Zarathustra. She was part of an even more secret experiment by Gargunza, in a location unknown to the RAF, where she was cloned and given a costume with more sexualized lines. Also there was Terrence Rebbeck, a teenager, who was dubbed Young Nastyman, a villain. They were fed para-reality fantasies, though Rebbeck's mind was damaged. Miraclewoman is fed fantasies derived from pulp magazine covers and stories, with plenty of bondage and torture. Rebbeck is fed fantasies of even worse scenarios, as his identity as a villain allows for even more twisted scenarios. An already damaged mind is turned monstrous. Rebbeck escaped his mental prison and awoke, then smashed the place and escaped physically. Miraclewoman was fed a scenario and sent to find the Miracle Family.



She eventually finds Rebbeck, lying next to a woman who had been dead for 3 days. They fought and all he sought was his own death. They end up in a volcano and he is destroyed, his bodies fusing in a flash. It was his remains that the Spookshow found and labeled Young Miracleman. Miraclewoman escaped, having learned the truth at the Zarathustra bunker (after trailing Rebbeck's aura to the location). The Miracle Family receives a summons home, of a new threat and return to find the Skybase, aka the Dragonslayer device that was created as a safeguard, leading to the nuclear explosion that killed Young Miracleman and left Mike Moran comatose and Kid Miracleman alive, but injured. Miraclewoman took the identity of McCarthy and lived in her own body, becoming a doctor. She would periodically change forms and delight in a world of discovery.

Miraclewoman finishes her tale and the alien has made contact and we have new arrivals: the Warsmiths.



Miracleman and Woman will accompany the aliens, while Liz and the baby remain. Liz is frantic, but ignored. The group departs. We end with Johnny Bates being attacked in a bathroom, wile Kid Miracleman taunts him about yet another beating. He asks Johnny to let him loose, to imagine the looks on the bullies' faces. Johnny refuses and is left bloodied and crying on the floor. Back in the future, we see statues of Miracleman and Woman inter-twined, as the story ends.

Lots of great stuff fere, as we learn how Avril Lear and Terrence Rebbeck were kept separately and subjected to depravities unlike any fantasy that the Miracle Family endured. Lear became Gargunza's plaything, sexually and experimentally, while Rebbeck was made murderous, for Gargunza's twisted amusement. He is Gargunza with the power, but not the intellect.

Moore really paints a hellish picture of Lear and Rebbeck's experiences, especially compared to Miracleman's. The males got superhero and child-like fantasies, while the other two got nightmares and sexualized drama. In many ways, Moore is making a statement about the role of female characters in traditional comic stories: the damsel-in-distress, even when they have super powers. Moore takes it further, as the comic book and pulp metaphors mask real assaults on actual bodies. Rebbeck is driven insane and made into a terrifying serial killer, who is eventually taken down by someone who should have been a comrade. he learns the truth first, but can't deal with it. Moore takes our expectations and twists them, showing us a more realistic response. More than anything else, this series set the stage for Watchmen.

Totleben continues to dazzle, mixing the Mick Anglo-styled fantasies with the nastier reality. The simpler style of the fantasies makes the depravity all the more unsettling, as we see Miraclewoman bound and gagged and chained to operating tables, straight out of numerous comics and pulps, while the narration strips them of any innocence. His vistas of Olympus are breathtaking and he even gives beauty to monstrous forms. He emphasizes the brutality of the attack on Johnny, at the end and we can tell that Johnny can't take much more. We can sense the impending doom.

One other thing we see here, is that, according to Miraclewoman, Young Miracleman worshipped Miracleman.  He seems jealous of Miracle Woman.  Moore doesn't really return to this; but, it will form a central plot point in Neil Gaiman's unfinished Silver Age.

Of course she was. I really do love The Original Writer's work, but his over-reliance on rape as a story device gets old after a while.

Miracleman #13



Man, Totleben is rocking the covers! This is one of my favorites, as it shows the calm before the very big storm.

Our story begins in the future, as Miracleman observes life inside a glass bubble, that he has created. The scene reminds me of the bottle city of Kandor, in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. As he moves on, we see the helmet of one of the Warpsmiths under glass, with the lettering Aza Chorn, underneath. The title is Hermes and we will learn of the "god of speed."

Miracleman and Woman are whisked to the Qys homeworld, by the Warpsmiths. The injured Qys is attended to and the pair are brought to a summit ball (as in dance) where negotiations will go on for Earth's place in the intelligent universe. The presence of a baby conceived from a genetically altered form, based on Qys technology, has elevated the status of Earth from a planet of animals to a planet of intelligent beings. We learn that the Qys and Warpsmiths are long standing enemies.



The Qys representative speaks of the cuckoos (the Miracle Family); three are dead an two are present and the KingQueen inquires about the sixth, Johnny Bates. We find out as the scene shifts...



Notice something interesting about the incorporeal Kid Miracleman. At first, we saw him in his yellow costume, inside Johnny's mind. Notice now that an inky blackness is covering parts of the costume. This is significant, as Kid Miracleman is losing the trappings of the hero and gaining a greater darkness. It matches the danger for Johnny, as he can't tell the doctor about the truth and he doesn't tell about the abuse. He finds his abusers waiting for them, after the adults have left. Johnny's time struggling is growing short. Darkness is consuming his psyche, with the systematic abuse from without and within.

The conference continues and we learn the significance of Miracleman fathering a child. The Qys and the Warpsmiths are infertile, they can produce no more of their race. Advanced beings on Earth can, creating a further evolution of the higher species. This means the higher man will increase over generations, while the aliens will stagnate and decrease. There is talk of conflict and Miracle Woman makes a bold suggestions: why don't the Qys and Warpsmiths have sex, instead of fighting? She speaks of the contructive nature of sex and the destructive nature of conflict. the aliens are taken aback, with the notion of inter-mating, possibly creating a new species. The make an agreement to monitor the development of Earth, with the Miracles acting as observers for the Qys (due to the nature of their change forms and the original technology) and two Warpsmiths will observe for their race, including Phon Mooda, a female warrior, and Aza Chorn, the Warpsmith who brought the Qys and the Miracles to this world.

Miracleman returns home and finds Liz sitting there and starts telling her about the world, when she tells him she is leaving. She believes Winter is controlling her feelings and that she is lost, no longer a part of Miracleman's life. After she leaves, Winter speaks out loud, again...



So, prologue is pretty much over. The conflict with the aliens is settled and Liz has had enough and left. Winter reveals how advanced she truly is. Miracle Woman is shown to be far advanced of Miracleman, in her thinking, as she is better able to understand these aliens on their own terms. Her greater experience in her advanced form has given her a greater advantage over Miracleman. She is the teacher to his student. He speaks of this as when he fell in love with her.

Totleben gets to indulge in some weird imagery, as we see the KingQueen, which resembles a network of coral, yet is the perfect form, which has to be explained to Miracleman. Olympus continues to dazzle, in snippets. he shifts between the fantastic and the mundane. He is able the illustrate wonder on faces as equally as mental anguish.

When I originally read this, it was a bit hard to digest, as it gets into the philosophical. That was quite a departure for your average superhero comic, beyond basic concepts of good and evil, peace and violence. We get into far more alien concepts here and you do have to apply your brain a bit to draw significance from this. rest assured though, we are about to enter the traditional phase of hero punching villain; only, on a scale that hadn't really been seen before.

Miracleman #15



Where the defecation hits the oscillator!!!

I don't think I can add much to the cover Now, imagine walking in to your comic shop, in August of 1988. You see some Action Comics Weekly, the first part of A Death in the Family, Alf, Wolverine #2, and so on; then, yousee this cover!

The issue begins with Miracleman thinking back, juxtaposed by the skins of humans hanging on a wash-line, people impaled upon a hand on the clockface of Big Ben. The Miracles are still at the Warpsmith lunar base when they notice smoke from London. they wonder if it is a bombing. We see body parts raining down on fleeing people, cars tumbling through the sky, with people inside, and London burning. Then, we see this...



The Warpsmiths whisk the Miracles there in an instant; but, as MM points out, Johnny had been there for hours. Miracle Woman attacks first. She is more skileld and subtle; but, Johnny is stronger and has spent more time in this form. Aza Chorn attacks and warps Johnny into the Marble Arch; but, he smashes free. They ext sick the Firedrake on him, as he explodes a gas main to feed his fire. Johnny laughs it off.

We next get apocryphal accounts of the clash between MM and Johnny...



The battle between Miracleman and his earlier self is a reference to the story from Warrior #4 (which Eclipse did not reprint) where the future Marvelman goes back in time and is attacked by his younger self.

The fight grows more intense as MM and Johnny finally square off. Johnny has transformed his costume completely to black, with yellow accents, and a fierce KM logo, with jagged lines. MM pleads with Johnny, tries to reason with him, tries to reach the child within, only to be struck with a fuel truck. Aza Chorn materializes concrete and rebar rubble inside Johnny's skull, causing agony. He reacts by exploding part of Chron's body. In his dying moment, Aza materializes an I-beam into Johnny's chest, causing unspeakable pain and Johnny cries out "Miracleman" through the spasms.

Kid Miracleman is replaced by poor, young, abused Johnny Bates, his pants still down around his ankles, as they were when the boys attacked him. He sees the death and horror and cries in anguish, that he couldn't control him and still can't. he knows he will get out again. Miracleman shushes him and tells him it will be okay, that he can ensure that Kid Miracleman never returns. He comforts Johnny and hugs him close and then crushes his skull. The story ends with Miracleman howling in grief, holding the lifeless, decapitated body of Johnny Bates, amidst mounds of bodies and rubble. The scene pulls back to unspeakable horrors as the living are almost worse off than the dead. London is all but destroyed in a terror far worse than the Blitz. It is a killing field that shames all others.

The impact of this issue is beyond expression, for me. It is the horror of war magnified beyond the reasonable. It is over the top, but in such a plausible and scary manner that it is all the worse. Moore and Totleben gave us an image of Hell on Earth. It is dark and gritty, bloody and visceral, and nothing has topped it for impact; gore maybe; but not narrative impact.

Where can the book go from here? Well, when the world has been destroyed, all you can do is pick up the pieces and start again. Next, Moore will show us how a superman tries to make a better world.

This issue was much talked about in the day and its impact still holds. It inspired the climax of Kevin Smith's Dogma, though less skillfully realized. It certainly inspired some artists to produced some gruesome images of splattered viscera; but, not with the same emotional connection.

One thing to remember, though, for the future: although Johnny Bates is gone, Kid Miracleman still exists in infra-space. The Qys have demonstrated that infra-space can be probed. The genie may not be fully contained.

Miracleman #16



How to you follow up mass murder on a massive scale? How about superbeing sex in the skies...

In the future, it is the 6th anniversary of the return of Miracleman (when Mike Moran unknowingly released his superior form, at the nuclear plant). MM reflects back to the end of the battle with Bates. 40, 000 people were dead by his hand, over half of London was destroyed. The Miracles were exposed to the world and we are told that Russia, the US, France and China all contemplated pre-emptive nuclear strikes. They held back due to fear that it wouldn't work.

The Miracles meet with the British government and outline their plans.



I presume that Moore is getting a dig in at Thatcher, while also chastising it as an easy shot.

Phon Mooda addresses the UN and tells the delegates that all nuclear and chemical weapons have been warped into the sun. They laugh until phones start ringing and they find out the truth, abandoning the assembly room.

The Miracles and the Warpsmiths proceed to make improvements, removing nuclear plants (to protests ) and adding topsoil to the deserts to re-green them. They replenish the ozone layer and move on. next MM abolished money. Basic needs are met freely, with greater luxuries available for those willing to work for them. We soon see the results of this super-socialism...



The Miracles begin constructing Olympus, on the ruined grounds of London: 250 sq. KM of space, standing 16 km on each side and 8 km in height, with the pinnacle in the upper atmosphere, a massive hollow space diamond refracting light, creating rainbow bridges.

Finally, the Miracles engage in skybound sex, for the enjoyment of the citizens of London, climaxing by plummeting into the water, as crowds clap. We are told that it was Miracle Woman's idea to start a eugenics program that shipped frozen miracle-sperm to women wanting super-babies. Thus are born the next generation of gods.

The Firedrake builds new renewable energy systems, the Warpsmiths streamline global communications. A Qys named Mors becomes a god of the underworld, capturing the vibrations of the deceased in artificial bodies, which roam the basements of Olympus, including 18 Andy Warhols (Me, I'd trade them all for one NC Wyeth or Virgil Finlay). Big Ben is adjusted to bring his fantasies more in line with reality, though without curing him of his dreamworld. he takes on the new identity of the British Bulldog, a sort of Herakles for the new Olympus. I wonder if Davey Boy Smith was told (or even Dynamite Kid)?

The Qys send a probe into infra-space, retrieving Miracle Dog, then inserting a more amiable canine brain into it.



Notice that we can see the floating forms of Mike Moran and Kid Miracleman, reminding us that their stories are not over. if Miracle Dog can come back, might they?

Winter returns from the Qys homeworld and takes on the role of guiding the new super-babies, who in turn aid her in helping the next batch, The Gargunza process is offered to all, to make all who wish into super-beings. Miracleman makes one offer of godhood in person...



We finish bey seeing support groups for former dictators, pan-fundamentalists, brought together in light of living gods, survivalists; and the Bates, people who worship Johnny Bates as the anti-god. We then move to the anniversary celebration, as we see the Miracles in formal attire, with MM resembling a slightly more fascist Captain Marvel, while Miracle Woman looks like she got her dress from the Dale Arden collection. We finally see the entirety of Olympus...



We end as we began this book, with Miracleman in quiet contemplation, wondering how Liz could turn down utopia, how anyone could? We may see that in the future (don't hold your breath waiting, though).

On the whole, the issue is filled with interesting and even somewhat comical ideas. It's all very tidy, though it is told through Miracleman's reflection. We can assume the world didn't go that willingly. It fits Alan Moore's politics, that is for certain. He concludes his presentation of the Nietzschean superman, making him the benevolent ruler of a utopia. Being a cynic, I distrust utopias and suspect that unrest will fester. The idea of everything being handed freely to people suggest little reason to want to engage in the world.

John Totleben gets a host of images to play with and covers everything from historical likenesses to new aliens, such as Mors.

Ultimately, I felt and still feel that things ended on kind of a whimper. As an epilogue, it seems too pat, like Moore was bored with the thing and wanted to move on. I think he could have spent much more time creating this utopia, facing the challenges across another book; but, he apparently had enough.

Moore handed the reins over to Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham to explore life in a utopia and they are up next. Gaiman got to preview things in Total Eclipse, the company-wide crossover event from Eclipse Comics, written by Marv Wolfman. It was really just a sidebar,rather than a segment of the story. It was reprinted in Miracleman: The Apocrypha, which was published between the Golden Age and the start of the Silver Age.

To my mind, this was some of Moore's best work in the post-modern superhero genre. He came up with some really interesting ideas and nightmares about superheroes and their creation and approach to things, while also looking at how true power affects people. The horror aspect climaxed with the battle between Miracleman and Johnny Bates. The best elements are earlier on, to my mind, though there is plenty of great material in all three books. Olympus covers a wide range of things; but, the inner struggle between Johnny Bates and Kid Miracleman is the most impactful, to me. Mike Moran's "identity suicide" is another strong element and Miracle Woman is intriguing if a little too perfect.

I still sometimes wonder if Moore had always been moving towards the ending of Book 3 or if his original ideas changed with the break in publication. I need to re-read Kimota (which I will cover, at the end of these reviews), as it has been a while and see what he says. I do recommend it, if you enjoyed the series or are interested in it. it's pretty comprehensive.

Moore doesn't do "unproblematic utopia". The concept of a benevolent dictatorship, which this basically is, would be anathema to him.