Miracleman (character)

Miracleman (originally known as Marvelman), whose civilian name is Michael "Mike" Moran, 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''. 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 Ãœbermensch from the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, a concept that would be frequently drawn on in this revival. After others had demurred, Garry Leach 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. Marvel 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, Marvel 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 Gargunza to use memory-loss gas on the world. Marvelman also crossed paths with mad scientist Dr. Gargunza, 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

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