So can someone tell me about MiracleMan?

[Sharcque]

I know nothing about him, character-wise. Sure, I know there's been like 78 years worth of lawsuits involving Gaiman, Todd, Bucky & Marvel Comics (did I miss anyone?), but I wanna know about the character. What made him so special? I mean, what's the big deal about him? Why does everyone want him back so much? Why do people want to seel TPBs so badly of his stories?

[Sir Tim Drake]

I know nothing about him, character-wise. Sure, I know there's been like 78 years worth of lawsuits involving Gaiman, Todd, Bucky & Marvel Comics (did I miss anyone?), but I wanna know about the character. What made him so special? I mean, what's the big deal about him? Why does everyone want him back so much? Why do people want to seel TPBs so badly of his stories?

In brief, Miracleman was originally just a Captain Marvel clone. However, in the '80s the character was revived by Alan Moore. The resulting series (originally published in the English magazine Warrior, and then reprinted by Eclipse in the States, eventually with new material) was one of Alan's first great works. His replacement on the series was Neil Gaiman. Also, because of the inavailability of reprints, the original Eclipse issues, especially the scarce ones from #10-16, are now ridiculously expensive.

So in short, Miracleman is so popular today both because it had two great creators and because it's almost unavailable, which gives it something of a mystique.

[Graham Vingoe]

I can really only echo what Sir Tim says, but I will suggest that you try and get hold of Kimota! The Miracleman Companion from twomorrows publishing which is probably the best way to get up to speed with the character, his publishing history and what Alan Moore, Neil gaiman et al do with a Captain Marvel rip off.
I was fortunate to read the series in Warrior in the early 80's knowing nothing about the previous incarnation in the 50's and 60's. It remains one of my favourite titles to this day.
The lack of Miracleman/Marvelman in print is deeply sad and, even though the legal situation is almost completely indecipherable to me, I hope it is at least possible to resolve some of the problems so that what has been published before can be reprinted.
IF you ever get a chance to get hold of the series in any form for any price, do it, you won't be disappointed.

[Agentum]

As it is now nobody can make any money on Miracleman so i don't understand this stupid fight over the rights.
I guess it's just about who is right.

[TheHistorian]

I can really only echo what Sir Tim says, but I will suggest that you try and get hold of Kimota! The Miracleman Companion from twomorrows publishing which is probably the best way to get up to speed with the character, his publishing history and what Alan Moore, Neil gaiman et al do with a Captain Marvel rip off.

Also, in a bit of irony, out of print.


I'll agree with the general answer so far: it's not an incredibly special character, but the series was written by two of the best comics writers ever, had really nice art, and is ridiculously out of print. Quality + scarcity = demand

[Tadhg]

As it is now nobody can make any money on Miracleman so i don't understand this stupid fight over the rights.
I guess it's just about who is right.

It's about who owns the rights. So it's not so much "who is right" as "who gets the money."

Dez Skinn apparently bought Miracleman from the Anglo estate(The Anglo family disputes this but I don't think they have much of a case). Skinn(Publisher or Warrior), Moore, and Leech all shared the rights to the character. Skinn sold his share to Eclipse with it reverting back to him in case of Eclipse's bankruptcy. Leech gave his share to Alan Davis, who eventually sold it to Eclipse. Moore gave his share to Gaiman, who split it with Bucky. Eclipse went bankrupt and McFarlane bought its assets. McFarlane then offered the rights of Miracleman to Gaiman as well as cash for payment over Angela royalties. McFarlane never followed through on the deal. McFarlane/Gaiman went to court over the Angela rights and Gaiman won. But instead of enforcing the old deal, Gaiman chose to keep the rights to Angela because it appears that McFarlane does not actually have any rights to Miracleman.

So right now, the stories are all copyright their respective creators, and 1/3 of the character is owned by Gaiman/Bucky with the other 2/3s being under dispute between Todd McFarlane/Dez Skinn. What I'm not clear on is whether the total rights of Miracleman that Eclipse held reverted to Skinn or just the share that he held. So McFarlane has either 0-1/3 of the rights. Skinn 1/3-2/3 of the rights, and Gaiman/Bucky with 1/3 of the rights. Skinn/Gaiman/Bucky will work together to reprint the old stuff and possibly finish the story they were working on. McFarlane, well, he doesn't really want to play ball, it seems.

[sheets]

Quality + scarcity = demand

Yeah, I have a hardcover edition of Miracleman Book 3. I took it to a used bookstore I frequent to trade in and they wouldn't take it because when they looked it up, they found it listed online for like $750. Too expensive for them. I guess I ought to put that thing on eBay before the rights get untangled and the price drops :)

[TheHistorian]

Last one I see on eBay went for about half that, but, yeah, it's a pretty crazy amount of money.

You have to bet on whether or not you think it's going to get reprinted... but since you were going to get rid of it anyway, I'd say sell it and get yourself some money!

[Tadhg]

Forgot to say that back in March of last year, Gaiman mentioned on his blog that he was closer to bringing his and Moore's work back in print.

[artimishoke]

It seems like most of the people who responded only know the history of Miracle Man and not the reason why before the lawsuits and BS started people were crazy over Miracle Man.

Take a look at what comics were out in that era and what kinds of stories they were telling. Then look at what was going on in MM...

Just thinking about those stories makes me wish I wasn't in Iraq so I could read them.

In comics now it is no big deal to have death, destruction, and madness. Back when those issues came out I was blown away with every issue.

That was the first book I read that took a real world look at what it would be like to find out you have incredible powers. Now it seems like that is the story with alot of books, but MM was way before any of them.

I have not read these issues for a couple years, but there are so many things I remember about them.
Teleporting a chunk of rock into some ones head. A graphic showing of a child being born. Limbs ripped off of people, London in a blood filled ruin, and a super powered kid who grew up in a super powered body with nobody to tell him what is the right thing to do.

When MM put his fist through kids head... I read that issue over and over just for it to sink in.

Its very few comics out of the ones I own that I remember so much about let alone call me back to re-read so often.

I hope I told you something about Miracle Man

atomic is kimota

~Artimis Hoke

[MartinRedmond]

MM is depressing Moore/Gaiman shocker trash. If you're reading modern comics right now, you're not missing out on anything. For exemple, in one issue MM french kisses a little kid. Because that's what Neil Gaiman puts into his stories once he realises how desperatly dull they are. He adds little shockers and unfair moments to get people's attention. If you find a pristine mint copy of it for 1$ or something be sure to sell it on ebay. I did that and made 75$. It sold in no time.

[rick]

It was a decent enough series but certainly wasn't either Moore's or Gaimans best work.

[Sir Tim Drake]

MM is depressing Moore/Gaiman shocker trash. If you're reading modern comics right now, you're not missing out on anything. For exemple, in one issue MM french kisses a little kid. Because that's what Neil Gaiman puts into his stories once he realises how desperatly dull they are.

That's not really a fair description of the story -- in my opinion, there was a good reason why that scene was included, as opposed to just shock value.

(Of course the trouble is that people can't just read Miracleman #24 and decide for themselves, except by resorting to illegal filesharing.)

[George Khoury]

It was a decent enough series but certainly wasn't either Moore's or Gaimans best work.

Really? I think it's among Moore best work. Very raw and powerful storytelling. A tale where anything could happen. You certainly don't see that in too many superhero stories these days.

[Sir Tim Drake]

Really? I think it's among Moore best work. Very raw and powerful storytelling. A tale where anything could happen. You certainly don't see that in too many superhero stories these days.

Nice to see you here, George.

[Allan Harvey]

If you read Marvelman as it was originally serialised back in the early-80s, seeking out Warrior each month, it was extraordinary stuff. Really. There had never been a super-hero comic like that before. Twenty-five years later, the world and his dog have been influenced by Moore's approach and so his stuff now perhaps appears less fresh than it once did. Trust me, at the time, it was absolutely ground-breaking -- and I can remember reading the first episode as if it was yesterday. Garry Leach's art, too, was quite brilliant, and if he weren't so slow a penciler, he'd be a superstar.

[George Khoury]

Nice to see you here, George.

Hey, Tim!

Miracleman is still one of my favorite things to talk about.

[Rob Allen]

So, it isn't about a French hero called Mirac, le Man?