So today, after decades of arguing and speculation and heartache and anger and perhaps even here and there a little joy, Miracleman #1 has been published by Marvel Comics. It’s the end result of all that arguing, speculation, etc etc etc.

If you would like to know more about what I am talking  about, I direct you here, to Padraig O’Mealoid’s Poisoned Chalice, and exhaustive chronicle of all things Marvelman/Miracleman/Alan Moore/Mick Anglo and more.

It’s already being noted that this first issue is being sold in two versions, a 12-year-old version and a “rated T for teen” version online. While Miracleman didn’t really get r-rated for a few issues, times do change.

And as a special treat, here are all the various variant covers in all their glory. Enjoy Miracleman #1 Day! It’s a once in a lifetime holiday, and as they say: never again.

 

miracleman2014001_dc11_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc21_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc31_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc41_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc51_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc61_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc71_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc81_lr001 miracleman2014001_dc81_lr002

39 COMMENTS

  1. Question about the $5.99 price–what’s the actual content in this issue? The first two issues of Miracleman? Miracleman #1 plus the Warrior stuff?

  2. For the 5.99 we get:
    1) The Eclipse prolog chapter, with art by the Anglo studio and dialog by (maybe?) Alan Moo… er…. the original writer.
    2) The first two Warrior chapters, gloriously restored. Really, they look fantastic.
    3) An as yet unseen (to my knowledge) sketchbook from Gary Leach.
    4) Two reprinted articles from (I believe) the Marvel Miracleman primer, with a history of the character and Quesada’s visit with Anglo.
    5) Two reprinted “golden age” tales by Anglo’s studio.
    Frustratingly my copy is missing a folio, so I’m missing about 8 pages of content. Fortunately it’s from the Eclipse prolog and the reprinted Anglo section, but still….

  3. Oh, and no digital code to be seen. Amazingly they list issue 2 as having a January 29th sale date!

  4. Is this the first time Marvel has placed that Parental Advisory on the cover?

    I wonder what they’ll put on the cover for issue #9?

  5. >> Some of the potentially objectionable material has been drawn over:>>

    Not in the Parental Advisory version, which I’m looking at right now.

    >>Hmm, looks relettered in those panels too.>>

    All of the modern stuff, at least, was relettered in a digital version of the original font. I’d assume that was easier and crisper than trying to clean up scans, and made it easier to swap in “Miracleman” and such as needed.

    kdb

  6. So… six bucks for 15 pages of Alan Moore’s Miracleman – and 45 pages of filler.

    Thanks, Marvel. Always stay classy.

  7. Gotta agree with MHF. We want the Original Writer, not all this other stuff. Had to pass even though I’m a huge fan of the Orginal Writer and have never read Miracleman. We’ll see what the trade is like.

    Why has everyone throughout the years who may of may not have held the copyright think everybody wants the character, as good as it may be? It’s the Original Writer and, as I’m assuming he’ll be known as, the Follow-up Writer that we want.

  8. Censorship Shmensorship — this will just get them in the press more when O.W. gets mad about it. They will have an “original” hardcover version, I’m sure. This is a big launch for them with a big audience.

    That being said, interesting they cut the nudity and leave the language.

  9. Guys, it’s not just the original writer. Gary Leach, Alan Davis and John Totleben all brought their a-games to the book. Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham also exceeded expectations. The Chuck Beckham/Rick Veitch chapters are… okay. Nothing against Veitch, but his chapters were clearly rushed against deadline doom.

  10. >> So… six bucks for 15 pages of Alan Moore’s Miracleman – and 45 pages of filler.>>

    The prologue story with the Science Gestapo is also Moore, redialoguing an old Marvelman Family story, if that makes a difference.

    I assume Marvel wants to make sure new American readers get a sense of the context these characters existed in, what they’re being changed _from_. Either that or they want to honor Mick Anglo, make sure he’s cut in for a royalty share of what will doubtless be a high-selling issue, or something like that.

    kdb

  11. Kurt says: “I assume Marvel wants to make sure new American readers get a sense of the context these characters existed in, what they’re being changed _from_.”

    You’re being far too kind here, given the circumstances. First off, Marvel already released a crap-ton of Angelo’s work in high-priced hardcovers in anticipation of this ‘event’ for anybody interested in such. Second of all, the prologue story was more than enough to clue people in on what sort of universe MM existed in before the 80’s.

    This was just bad marketing & half-assed greed at play, pure & simple. If Marvel was going to make people plunk down $6 for a first issue after YEARS of waiting for this, the least they could’ve done was served the customer (and their future sales) by reprinting a sizable chunk of the first arc. As it is, if I were coming into this with no prior knowledge of what’s to come, I would’ve been even more massively disappointed by this opening salvo than I actually was.

  12. >> First off, Marvel already released a crap-ton of Angelo’s work in high-priced hardcovers in anticipation of this ‘event’ for anybody interested in such.>>

    Yes, but that’s such a differently-aimed package that I bet only a small fraction of those who bought MM 1 bought them.

    By having them in the issue itself, that creates a context that’s immediate, connected to the experience at hand.

    >> Second of all, the prologue story was more than enough to clue people in on what sort of universe MM existed in before the 80′s.>>

    I tend to agree, but that doesn’t mean whoever put the book together does.

    >> This was just bad marketing & half-assed greed at play, pure & simple.>>

    I find this is a charge readers like to make, as if publishers are actively looking to make their customers unhappy, but it’s not something I encounter much when talking to publishers and editors. They generally want readers to be happy with what they buy and eager for more, not angry and feeling abused. Of course they want to make money, but they don’t want to do so at the cost of reader goodwill.

    That doesn’t mean they always make the best choices, or inerrantly deliver whatever’ll make each and every reader the happiest. But if you imagine comics editors and publishers as Snidely Whiplash, out to cheat the reader and laugh about it, you’re starting (in my experience, at least) with a bad assumption.

    kdb

  13. Thanks for sharing your personal experience, Kurt. It’s illuminating to hear informed opinions from someone who has spent a lot of time “inside the machine” and doesn’t have a dog in this fight (to use a particularly odious expression).

  14. KB: “…if you imagine comics editors and publishers as Snidely Whiplash, out to cheat the reader….”

    Heaven forfend that any comics editor or publisher… especially DC or Marvel… why, even the kindly, wise & omnipotent Disney Corporation itself… would EVER stoop to such villainy as to cheat its habitual readership, to scam them into paying far more than necessary for a simple short story.

    Clearly all the people in the industry itself who have been screwed over by the Godcorp mentality – including The Original Writer, I’ll wager – were just disgruntled and/or ungrateful malcotents, seeing Snidley Whiplash ’round every corner, and the field is certainly better off without them.

    Look, Kurt – I know that there are many people in this business who love the medium & want to do right by everbody involved. I would even go so far as to say that you’re one of them. However, there have always been wolves in the fold – and with more marketing, corporate & Hollywood types entering the playing field everyday, those wolves have gone from tin-plated dictators ruling over their own little fifedom to slick, professional (and often clueless – being the most dangerous of all) self-absorbed assholes. To blind one’s self to that, to simply write it off as misdirected cynicism – well, let’s just say that nobody in a blue leotard is going to save us from this. It needs to be called out for what it is, whenever & wherever it happens.

    And in this particular case, be it from woeful ignorance or bad PR or outright hucksterism. Marvel screwed the pooch big-time with this one. MM #1 was an over-priced rip-off, pure & simple.

  15. >> Clearly all the people in the industry itself who have been screwed over by the Godcorp mentality – including The Original Writer, I’ll wager – were just disgruntled and/or ungrateful malcotents, seeing Snidley Whiplash ’round every corner, and the field is certainly better off without them.>>

    Yes, that’s clearly what I was saying.

    kdb

  16. Okay, who fed MHF the grumpy pills?
    I do wonder about the economics of this. Think of all the money paid out just to get to this point. Payments to Leach, Davis, Anglo, Austin, Veitch, Buckingham, Gaiman and Totleben at the VERY least. I’m assuming Moore turned down the money, but who knows? Dez Skinn is likely in the mix too. Then there’s the cost of the restoration, paying for the name and trademark, the legal fees to sort it all out… This is likely the most expensive reprint project in comics history.

  17. Yes it was relettered, Garry had lettered the first episode himself and Anni Parkhouse took over after that. Garry Leach worked personally to clean up the copies of the art as much as possible. Yes it was padding and they know it, the bad reaction to the material they put out before is probably still piling up at their doors (but they want to recoup their money as quickly as possible). The lead-in story was originally actually recreated by Garry Leach as they didn’t have a good copy to go from. These covers remind me of the original Eclipse covers, IE: No one but Garry, Alan Davis and John Totleben brought their A game. Garry’s cover had all sold out in town so saved me the bother of picking one up.

  18. >> I’m assuming Moore turned down the money, but who knows? >>

    What he seems to do when he wants to refuse money is direct the company to give his share to the artists instead, rather than keep it themselves.

    But I don’t know the details here.

    kdb

  19. The dialogue for the Invaders from the Future story was rewritten by Dez Skinn, not by Alan Moore.

  20. Also, Alan Moore wanted all his money from this to go to the late Mick Anglo, and it is still to go to Anglo’s estate, to the very best of my knowledge.

  21. “Okay, who fed MHF the grumpy pills?”

    Well, clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks that the relaunch was a fiasco – as you can see via this link: http://www.progressiveruin.com/2014/01/17/possibly-the-only-place-youll-see/

    What I find most interesting about this situation – and about fandom, in general – is that guys like the one in the article above actually come out & say that they’re going to do Marvel’s job _for_ them, since they apparently can’t do it for themselves – and that pro’s like Kurt not only defend these bad decisions, but when faced with an opposing viewpoint, cherry-pick a related aside, poo-poo it, and by that, avoid the topic altogether.

    Look: If you wanna spend inflated prices for filler or sub-standard material, then more power to you. If you want to drop $200 on (for example) all the Secret Invasion crossovers & such, even though the _first_ time it was done, Roy Thomas wrapped it up in just six issues, nobody’s stopping you. But if you want to know why sales are still slipping despite nerd culture finally gaining mainstream acceptance, look no further than the shitty way the pamphlets are being produced & marketed. Waiting for the trade and/or swiping individual issues off the interwebs beats the living hell out of being overcharged for 1/678th of a recycled story and/or a book that 3/4th unwanted filler material any day.

  22. >> that pro’s like Kurt not only defend these bad decisions, >>

    I think you’re continuing to misunderstand what I said.

    I didn’t say you should like it, or even necessarily that it was a good choice. Merely that the people who made the choice are far more likely to have thought, themselves, that it was a good choice than to have been out to deliberately produce a book readers would dislike, out of greedy greediness.

    They tend to want to produce books they think a lot of readers will like and be happy to have, out of greedy greediness.

    kdb

  23. >> The dialogue for the Invaders from the Future story was rewritten by Dez Skinn, not by Alan Moore.>>

    Thanks. Since it was specifically uncredited, I assumed it was Moore.

    kdb

  24. Y’know, MHF, I can dig where you’re coming from: corporate comics can dick you over. And this is true, in certain cases and in degrees. But this just may be a case where the argument falls a tad flat. First, as Tom Brevoort cops to CONSTANTLY, Marvel Comics today is 100% mercenary, as it always has been; it exists to make money, period. That said, everything it publishes is designed to make money. This isn’t wrong. I own a bar – every drink I sell is based on a profit principle. This only sucks IF creators are being purposefully cheated (which, for all we know, they are not. Far from it actually), or the consumer. Now, this latter part is maybe true, IF we ascribe to the belief that ALL buyers of the new #1 either expect more and/or are already familiar with the product in question. I’m not saying you’re wrong; I’m just saying save the rage. We need it, but aimed at empty houses.

  25. As far as creators cheated, I meant in this particular I instance: as far as Miracleman is concerned, it would seem all payments are fair.

  26. Dear Paidraig and Kurt,

    The dialogue for the Invaders from the Future story was originally by Mick Anglo and was rescripted by Steve Moore for the Marvelman special Quality produced. When the material was used again in MM#1 it was reworked again by Alan Moore just so it would better fit the narrative he was working on.
    I believe you are also incorrect in the destination of all the royalties, but Alan may have changed his mind since I was last involved. But that is Alan’s business.
    -Dave

  27. Dave: Duly noted. I hope it all works for the better of everyone involved, but, sadly, it would be no surprise to me if it did not…

  28. More troubling is the spelling errors in the re-lettering. for example when MM is explaining Bates to his wife, on page 23, he says “When WE [instead of he] said my name he became kid miracleman.”. in my mine this is a pretty inexcusable mistake showing that they had no reliable QA involved in this, you would think, incredible important first issue.

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