- Marvel Man and Marvel Man (comics) both direct here, for the Marvel Comics super hero formerly known as Marvel Man, see Quasar (Wendell Vaughn).
Marvelman, known for trademark reasons as
Miracleman in his
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reprints and story continuation, is a
fictionalA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
created in 1954 by writer-artist
Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
for publisher
L. Miller & SonL. Miller & Son, Ltd. was a British publisher of magazines, comic books and pulp fiction. Founded by Colin Traver and intended primarily to take advantage of the British ban on importing printed matter. Between the 1940s and 1966, the firm published British editions of many American comic books...
. Originally intended as a
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
home-grown substitute for the American character
Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
, the series ran until 1963.
- Marvel Man and Marvel Man (comics) both direct here, for the Marvel Comics super hero formerly known as Marvel Man, see Quasar (Wendell Vaughn).
Marvelman, known for trademark reasons as
Miracleman in his
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reprints and story continuation, is a
fictionalA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
created in 1954 by writer-artist
Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
for publisher
L. Miller & SonL. Miller & Son, Ltd. was a British publisher of magazines, comic books and pulp fiction. Founded by Colin Traver and intended primarily to take advantage of the British ban on importing printed matter. Between the 1940s and 1966, the firm published British editions of many American comic books...
. Originally intended as a
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
home-grown substitute for the American character
Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
, the series ran until 1963. He was revived in 1982 in a dark, post-modern
deconstructionDeconstruction is the name given by French philosopher Jacques Derrida to an approach which rigorously pursues the meaning of a text to the point of undoing the oppositions on which it is apparently founded, and to the point of showing that those foundations are irreducibly complex, unstable or ...
ist series by writer
Alan MooreAlan Oswald Moore is an English writer known for work in comics, including the acclaimed comic book series Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell...
, with later contributions by
Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
.
The character is notorious for the long, complex and expensive legal battle over various creative rights attached to it. Unresolved for many years, the litigation had directly involved Gaiman,
Todd McFarlaneTodd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
and several other people who also claimed at least partial ownership of the character and the works containing him. This rights conflict had prevented the reprint and distribution of any of the Miracleman stories, making the critically acclaimed work extremely difficult to find. However, at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con,
Joe QuesadaJoseph "Joe" Quesada is an American comic book editor, writer and artist. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics.-Writer and artist:...
announced
Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
had purchased the rights to Marvelman.
Marvelman: The Mick Anglo years
In 1954
Fawcett ComicsFawcett Comics, a subsidiary of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comics publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
, the U.S. publisher of Captain Marvel, discontinued the title after a
lawsuit from DC ComicsNational Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 , was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel...
. Len Miller had been publishing black & white reprints of the series, along with other Fawcett titles, in the U.K., and rather than stopping he turned to comic writer
Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
for help continuing (or replacing) the comic. They transformed Captain Marvel to Marvelman while Miller continued his other Fawcett reprint titles and used logos and trademarks that looked significantly like Fawcett's. This added to the appearance that the Fawcett line was continuing, and that Marvelman was still Captain Marvel, in order to retain the audience.
Marvelman was very similar to Captain Marvel: a young reporter named Micky Moran encounters an astrophysicist (instead of a wizard) who gives him his superpowers based on atomic energy. To transform into Marvelman, he has to speak the word "Kimota" (phonetically, "atomic" backwards; rather than "Shazam"). Instead of Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, Marvelman was joined by Dicky Dauntless, a teenage messenger boy who became Young Marvelman, and young Johnny Bates, who became Kid Marvelman; both of their magic words were "Marvelman". They had fairly typical, unsophisticated superhero adventures.
The changes took place with issue number 25 in each title, both cover-dated February 3, 1954, although they had been announced about five issues earlier. The new titles published were
Marvelman,
Young Marvelman, and
Marvelman Family .
Marvelman and
Young Marvelman each had 346 issues (#25-370), being published weekly except for the last 36 issues, which were monthly, reprinting old stories.
Marvelman Family was a monthly which usually featured Marvelman, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman together, from October 1956 to November 1959. A variety of
Marvelman and
Young Marvelman albums were printed annually from 1954 to 1963.
Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
's association with Len Miller ended in 1960, and the comics ran until February 1963.
At the height of their success, the British "Marvels" saw a series of Italian reprints. Gordon and Gotch, one of Australia's largest comics publishers, also published reprint editions. In Brazil, British Marvelman stories were reprinted in the same titles as Fawcett's original Captain Marvel. However, in Brazil, Marvelman became
Jack MarvelJack Marvel was the name given to British comic book character Marvelman when his stories were reprinted in Brazil's Marvel Comic in the early-1960s....
.
Marvelman (in Warrior)
In March 1982, a new British monthly black-and-white anthology comic was launched called
Warrior. Until issue #21 (August 1984), it featured a new, darker version of
Marvelman, written by
Alan MooreAlan Oswald Moore is an English writer known for work in comics, including the acclaimed comic book series Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell...
, illustrated by
Garry Leach-Biography:Leach studied Graphic Design at St. Martin's School of Art. He was first noted for his early work for 2000 AD, this mainly was on one-off stories featuring Dan Dare and M.A.C.H. 1. He then became a fan-favourite for his work on the series The VCs.In 1981 he joined Dez Skinn's company,...
and
Alan DavisAlan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books.-UK work:Alan Davis was born on 18 June, 1956, and began his career in comics onto an English fanzine...
, and
letteredA letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and other special captions and credits that usually appear on a story's first page. The letterer also writes the...
by
Annie ParkhouseAnnie Parkhouse has been one of the leading letterers in British comics for over 30 years.-Biography:Beginning her career working on Lion for IPC magazines, she has since provided dialogue for many DC Comics titles and 2000AD, working on scripts by writers and artists such as Alan Moore and Garry...
. Warrior also published a
Marvelman Special collecting Mick Anglo stories within a frame story by Moore. The "Marvel" trademark was now owned by
Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
, who objected to its use in the series' title.
Warriors legal troubles led to the character being licensed to an American publisher: first to Pacific ComicsPacific Comics was an independent comic book publisher that flourished in the early 1980s. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began out of a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes...
, and after Pacific's collapse, to Eclipse ComicsEclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel for the newly-created comic book specialty store market...
. They would reprint the series as Miracleman and then continue it.
Moore had been fascinated by the notion of a grown-up Michael Moran and this was the Moran presented in the first issue: married, plagued by migraines, having dreams of flying, and unable to remember the word that had such significance in his dreams. In his initial run of Marvelman stories, Moore touches on many themes of his later work, including the superhero as a source of terror, the sympathetic villain, and exploring the mythology of an established fictional character.
Moran is working as a freelance reporter when he gets caught up in a terrorist raid on a newly built atomic power plant. Fortuitously seeing the word "atomic" backwards when being carried past a door with the word written on glass, he remembers the word "Kimota", Marvelman is reborn and saves the day. As Marvelman, Moran remembers his early life as a superhero, but comic books are the only evidence, and his wife Liz finds his recollections of the adventures ridiculous. Moran later discovers that Johnny Bates (
Kid MarvelmanKid Marvelman, later known as Kid Miracleman, is a fictional comic book character appearing in Marvelman. In 2009, Kid Miracleman was ranked as IGN's 26th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.-History:...
), not only also survived, but lived on with his superpowers intact. Bates, however, was corrupted by his power and is now a
sociopathPsychopathy is a psychological construct that describes chronic disregard for ethical principles and antisocial behavior.The term is often used interchangeably with sociopathy. This is a commonly made mistake. Sociopathy is no longer a correct term to use, and when it is used it actually refers to...
. After a brutal confrontation, Kid Marvelman says his magic word ("Marvelman") by mistake and reverts to his alter-ego, the 13-year-old Johnny Bates. The boy, innocent but aware of the evil he committed as Kid Marvelman, mentally recoils in shock and reverts into a catatonic state.
With the aid of renegade British Secret Service agent Evelyn Cream, and after a short fight with a new British superhero called Big Ben, Marvelman makes his way to a top secret military bunker. There he discovers remains of an alien spacecraft, and two non-human skeletons fused together. Marvelman views a file that reveals his entire experience as a superhero was a simulation as part of a military research project, codename "Project
ZarathustraThus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885...
", attempting to enhance the human body using the alien technology. Moran and the other subjects had been kept unconscious, their minds fed with stories and villains plucked from comic books by the researchers, for fear of what they could do if they awoke. As their enhanced minds fought the enforced dreaming, those administrating the project grew fearful of what would happen if they awoke. As a result, it was decided that the project was to be terminated, and so were Marvelman and his two companions: in a final, real adventure they were sent into a trap where a nuclear device was meant to annihilate them. Moran survived, his memory erased, and
Young MiraclemanYoung Marvelman is a fictional comic book character appearing in Marvelman. The character was created by Mick Anglo and first appeared in Marvelman #101 published in July 1955. He is the alter-ego of Dickie Dauntless. and transformed into superhuman form by saying the word "Marvelman"...
died. In the meantime, it is revealed that Liz has conceived a child with Marvelman, which has the potential of being the first naturally-born superhuman on Earth.
The series stopped (incomplete) in issue #21 of Warrior, just after Moran meets his dream-world arch-nemesis Dr. Gargunza (loosely based on Dr. Sivana). In "reality" Gargunza was the scientific genius behind the experiment that created Marvelman. Gargunza, after working as a geneticist for the Nazis, had been recruited by the British after World War II. Unable to keep pace with the U.S. and Soviet nuclear arms race, the British had backed Gargunza to use genetics to develop a new superweapon. By coincidence, an alien spacecraft crashed in the U.K. in 1947 and Gargunza was able to reverse-engineer enough technology to create the first Marvelmen. The alien technology, and thus the Marvelman project, consisted of giving someone a second body, which was stored in an extradimensional pocket of space when not in use; when a special word was spoken the two bodies switched place in space and the mind was transferred as well. After the cancellation of the project, Gargunza escaped to South America where he developed bio-technology weapons such as "Marveldog". It is revealed that Gargunza has a deeper purpose: after the death of his mother, he has a mortality complex, and intends that the child of Marvelman will act as the host of his own consciousness.
Name change to Miracleman
In August 1985, Eclipse began reprinting the Marvelman stories from Warrior
, colorized, re-sized, and published under their own title. However, they were renamed and re-lettered throughout as Miracleman
, due to pressure from Marvel Comics. Issues 1-6 reprinted all the Warrior
content, after which Eclipse began publishing all-new Miracleman stories from Moore and new artist Chuck BeckumChuck Austen is an American writer and artist of comic books, most famous for his controversial work on the popular X-Men franchise, as well as on other Marvel and DC titles.-Early career:...
(aka Chuck Austen), soon replaced by Rick VeitchRick Veitch is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics. He is the brother of Tom Veitch, underground comix writer, American poet, and writer of Star Wars comics.-Early career:...
and then John TotlebenJohn Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comics.-Biography:After studying art at a vocational high school in Erie, Totleben attended the Joe Kubert School for one year...
. Moore wrote the series through Issue 16.
The new Miracleman material widened the story's scope and continued to build in intensity. Moran's daughter was born in issue 9 (which became somewhat controversial due to a highly graphic birthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
scene, based on medical illustrations of the process); two races of aliens, one called WarpsmithThe Warpsmiths are fictional aliens in several science fiction comics by Alan Moore and Garry Leach.-Publication history:Created by Alan Moore when he was a teenager for a small publication by an arts lab in his native Northampton, England...
s, the other called Qys (who were behind the original body-swapping technology) came to Earth; MiraclewomanMiraclewoman is a fictional superheroine appearing in the Eclipse Comics comic book Miracleman.In the Miracleman comic, Miraclewoman is the analog of other feminine super heroines such as Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel. Her given name is Avril Lear, but she also uses the alias of Dr. McCarthy.-...
emerged; and certain native super-humans were revealed to already be living on Earth, such as Firedrake.
It was with the return of Kid Miracleman in issue 15 ("Nemesis") that Moore wrote at his darkest. Now out of his catatonia, the small, spindly boy has been repeatedly beaten by several older bullies at his group home. When one of them goes so far as to rape him, Johnny's desperation leads him to transform into Kid Miracleman. Slaughtering his attackers, Bates unleashes a murderous vengeful holocaust on London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
while Miracleman, Miraclewoman, and their allies are in outer space.
The gory excess of Kid Miracleman's rampage and that of the battle which followed when Miracleman and his allies return to discover the carnage is highly disturbing, featuring a degree of violence not previously seen in superhero battles. John Totleben's detailed apocalyptic renderings are still acclaimed today (by the few who possess a copy of the book). Depicted are people running from a rain of severed hands and feet, skins hung up on clothes lines, corpses impaled on the hands of Big Ben, the Tower Bridge in ruin, mounds of severed heads, heads on pikes, cars full of people plummeting to earth, mutilated children wandering screaming through the streets, and countless dead bodies.
When the Miracles discover what is happening, they and their alien allies collectively challenge Bates. Bates, however, has had many years more experience using his powers than any except Miraclewoman, and is unrestrained by reason or compassion in his use of them. The battle goes poorly, with none of them able to stop Bates. It is only when one of the Warpsmiths, Aza Chorn, realizes that they cannot go through Bates' personal force field, and instead teleports some wreckage inside the force field -- *into* the body of Kid Miracleman, that he is forced by pain to transform back to his mortal form. His rampage is stopped, but Bates kills Aza Chorn as his last act. Unwilling to risk another chance for repeating this horror, Miracleman quietly kills Johnny Bates, knowing that it is the only way to be certain it will never happen again. The heart of London, however, has been destroyed, 40,000 people are dead, the Warpsmith Aza Chorn lies dead, and the world now knows that gods walk among them.
Moore's last issue, number 16 ("Olympus") ends with an unsettling depiction of Miracleman's apotheosisApotheosis , refers to the exaltation of a subject to divine level...
, as he and his superhuman allies bring the entire planet under their totalitarian control. Miracleman and his companions, explicitly compared to gods, now rule the planet as they see fit, though they are ineffectively opposed by groups such as an alliance of ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
and Islamic fundamentalists. The "age of miracles" is ostensibly benevolent, but in scenes such as the final conversation between Miracleman and Liz, Moore suggests that Miracleman has lost his humanity and that his utopia is ultimately harmful to humankind. This ending contrasts with that of the simultaneously conceived serial V for VendettaV for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic-book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s about the 1990s...
, in which the "hero" destroys a dystopian society. Lance ParkinLance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
's book on Moore argues that the two endings, read together, demonstrate the writer's refusal of "easy" Utopian/dystopian answers (the ending also contrasts with the conclusion of Moore's PrometheaPromethea is a comic book series created by Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III with Mick Gray, published by America's Best Comics/WildStorm...
, in which an "apocalypse" of expanded human consciousness heals rather than destroys the world).
The notion of bringing superhero fiction into the real world—having immensely powerful characters use their power to make drastic changes to global politics—has become an extremely popular theme in recent "mature" superhero fiction, such as Rising StarsRising Stars is a 24-issue comic book limited series by J. Michael Straczynski about 113 people born with special abilities following the appearance of a mysterious light in the sky above Pederson, Illinois. The series explores how society may react to the advent of superpowers, and how those who...
, Squadron SupremeThe Squadron Supreme is a fictional superhero team that appears in publications under the mature-audience Marvel MAX imprint by Marvel Comics. The team first appears in Supreme Power #1 and was created by writer J...
, The Authority, Kingdom ComeKingdom Come is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by DC Comics. It was written by Mark Waid and painted in gouache by Alex Ross, who also developed the concept from an original idea...
and Moore's own WatchmenWatchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted into a collected graphic novel...
.
A glimpse of how Moore originally meant the story to continue is presented in Warrior issue 4 (also called the Warrior Summer Special), which features Marvelman and Aza Chorn gathering energy for the final battle with Kid Marvelman. This story has never been reprinted in any shape or form since then, so it remains an obscure yet highly discussed piece of comic history.
Miracleman: The Neil Gaiman years
Writer Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
picked up the series at #17, and developed it further in the 1990s, working with artist Mark BuckinghamMark Buckingham is a British comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Marvelman and Fables.-Biography:Born in Clevedon, he debuted on Tyranny Rex by John Smith, but his work was cut short by a payment dispute with the publishers of 2000 AD.He is most famous for his work on Marvelman ,...
. He planned three books, consisting of six issues each; they would be titled "The Golden Age", "The Silver Age" and "The Dark Age".
The first part, "The Golden Age", showed the world some years later: a utopiaUtopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system...
gradually being transformed by alien technologies, and benignly ruled by Miracleman and other parahumans, though he has nagging doubts about whether he has done the right thing by taking power. Gaiman's focus in "The Golden Age" is less the heroes themselves than the people who live in this new world, including a lonely man who becomes one of Miraclewoman's lovers; a former spy (whose tale recalls J.G. Ballard's short story War Fever); and a robot duplicate of Andy WarholAndrew Warhola , more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
.
Eclipse followed up "The Golden Age" by publishing the standalone, three-issue mini-series Miracleman: Apocrypha, written and illustrated by a variety of other creators, with framing pages by Gaiman and Buckingham. These stories did not form part of the main narrative, but instead further fleshed out the world of "The Golden Age".
Two issues of "The Silver Age" appeared, but issue #24 was the last to see print. Issue 25 was completed (apart from colouring) but due to the collapse of Eclipse it has never seen light. #23 and #24 saw the resurrection of Young Miracleman and would describe the beginnings of trouble in Miracleman's idyllic world, and #25 would have reintroduced Kid Miracleman. A few pages of issue #25 can be read at various sites online, and in George Khoury's book Kimota! The Miracleman Companion. "The Dark Age" would have seen the full return of the character of Kid Miracleman and completed the story once and for all.
During this period, Miracleman was a featured character in the mini-series Total EclipseTotal Eclipse was a comic book mini-series in five parts published by Eclipse Comics in 1988. The title was a cross-company crossover in the style of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and intended to bring all of Eclipse's characters together, no matter how obscure or bizarre.The title consisted of a main...
, written by Marv WolfmanMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and penciled by Bo Hampton, with pencil assists by James Ritchey III and Mark Pacella (among others), and inks by Rick Bryant.
A short story by Gaiman and Mark BuckinghamMark Buckingham is a British comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Marvelman and Fables.-Biography:Born in Clevedon, he debuted on Tyranny Rex by John Smith, but his work was cut short by a payment dispute with the publishers of 2000 AD.He is most famous for his work on Marvelman ,...
(entitled "Screaming") appeared in Total EclipseTotal Eclipse was a comic book mini-series in five parts published by Eclipse Comics in 1988. The title was a cross-company crossover in the style of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and intended to bring all of Eclipse's characters together, no matter how obscure or bizarre.The title consisted of a main...
#4, where it technically comprised Gaiman's first published Miracleman story. This story was reprinted in issue #21 and in "The Golden Age" trade paperback.
Alternate versions
An alternate version of Marvelman is seen in the British comic The DaredevilsThe Daredevils was a comics magazine and anthology published by Marvel UK in 1983.It featured Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis, as well as new Night Raven text stories and reprints of Frank Miller's Daredevil stories...
#7 (1983), owned by Marvel UKMarvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.It now forms part of Panini...
. Actually called Miracleman (the first time the name was attached to the character) is shown on Earth-238 being killed by the FuryThe Fury is a fictional character created by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Alan Davis as an antagonist for the Marvel Comics hero Captain Britain...
.
The ownership of Marvelman and the character's future
The legal ownership of Miracleman is a complicated story, which stems from the character's beginnings.
L. Miller & Son was a U.K. publisher of dozens of comic titles. Len Miller reprinted material from many U.S. publishers and European sources as well as creating his own original British comics. One of Miller's main sources of income came from reprints of comic stories featuring Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
and the Marvel Family, originally created by Fawcett Publications in America. However, the company one day found itself facing the cancellation of two popular titles (Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.) due to the conclusion of a long-running legal battle between Fawcett and National Periodicals (the forerunner to DC ComicsDC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment...
). National maintained that Fawcett's Captain Marvel infringed the copyrightCopyright infringement is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.For electronic and audio-visual media,...
of National's SupermanSuperman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc...
character (see National Comics Publications v. Fawcett PublicationsNational Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 , was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel...
for further details). Faced with reduced sales in the 1950s, Fawcett Publications eventually capitulated and this decision meant that Captain Marvel would no longer be published.
Faced with the sudden loss of their star feature, L. Miller & Son, Ltd.L. Miller & Son, Ltd. was a British publisher of magazines, comic books and pulp fiction. Founded by Colin Traver and intended primarily to take advantage of the British ban on importing printed matter. Between the 1940s and 1966, the firm published British editions of many American comic books...
turned to Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
to come up with a replacement character that, while ostensibly a new creation, mimicked enough core elements of Captain Marvel to retain the interest of readers who had enjoyed the reprints. Anglo created Marvelman, which proved successful enough to keep the Marvelman/Young Marvelman titles going. In 1959, Britain allowed the importation of "real" American comics for the first time since 1939. American publishers were quick to respond with "pence price" editions of popular titles. Soon, with new American four-color silver-age comics circulating in the United Kingdom, the demand for British produced black and white reprints began to shrink. Miller, in an effort to save money, cancelled Marvelman Family and turned both Marvelman and Young Marvelman into reprint books in 1959- October :* October 29: first issue of Pilote, featuring debuts of the series Astérix by René Goscinny, and Albert Uderzo, and Michel Tanguy by Uderzo and Jean-Michel Charlier.-U.S...
. This move, however, was not enough to save the titles, both of which struggled on, but were finally cancelled in 1963. Despite experimenting with format and a variety of material, L. Miller & Son Ltd. ceased comic book publication in 1966. The physical asbestos printing plates from which Miller had produced their comics, and presumably the rights to the comics as well, were sold to Alan Class, Ltd. Class, for his part, was interested primarily in horror and science fiction stories and reprinted few of the original Miller creations. Class was still using some of the Miller printing plates as recently as the late 1990s.
In 1960, a disgruntled Mick AngloMichael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
recycled some of his Marvelman stories as Captain Miracle which appeared briefly under his Anglo Comics imprint which folded in 1961. Anglo always claimed ownership of Marvelman and although creator's rights were almost unheard of in the work-for-hire British comics industry of the 1950s and, 1960s, at least some of Anglo's Marvelman stories do have a tiny "© Mick Anglo" in the margins lending a measure of credibility to Anglo's claim.
Warrior
In 1982-Year overall:Steve Gerber sues Marvel over rights to his character, Howard the Duck, and brings out his own Destroyer Duck from Eclipse Comics....
when Warrior reintroduced Marvelman as its flagship feature, the rights to the character were allegedly held in a four-way split between Warrior editor Dez SkinnDerek "Dez" Skinn is a British comic book and magazine editor and author of number of books on comics. Headhunted away from editing the UK MAD Magazine and House of Hammer for Warner Bros, he became editorial director for the UK arm of Marvel Comics, where he reported directly to Stan Lee and...
, writer Alan MooreAlan Oswald Moore is an English writer known for work in comics, including the acclaimed comic book series Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell...
and artist Garry Leach-Biography:Leach studied Graphic Design at St. Martin's School of Art. He was first noted for his early work for 2000 AD, this mainly was on one-off stories featuring Dan Dare and M.A.C.H. 1. He then became a fan-favourite for his work on the series The VCs.In 1981 he joined Dez Skinn's company,...
, who owned 30% each, and the originating publisher, Quality Communications, which owned 10%.
However, in subsequent years there arose confusion as to how Skinn had gained the rights to Marvelman, or even if he actually held them. It is unlikely that the 1960s deal between Miller and Class was known in the 1980s. Several conflicting justifications were proposed:
- Skinn thought the rights were in the public domain.
- He had purchased outright the rights from Marvelman creator Mick Anglo
Michael "Mick" Anglo is a British comic book writer and artist. He is best known for creating the superhero Marvelman, also later known as Miracleman.-Biography:...
.
- After publishing had already begun, he had offered some form of retroactive deal to Anglo.
- He just took the character, assuming there would be no interest in an obscure property owned by a dead company (Skinn has admitted, in the fan book Kimota!, that this fourth possibility was in fact the case).
As far as is known, Moore and Leach thought the second situation to be the case at the time, and believed their ownership to be legitimate. So when Leach left the strip and was replaced by Alan DavisAlan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books.-UK work:Alan Davis was born on 18 June, 1956, and began his career in comics onto an English fanzine...
, Moore, Skinn and Leach transferred part of their ownership of the character to Davis — with Skinn claiming 10% and Moore, Davis and Leach, 30% each. Moore and Leach continued to own the aspects of work they created. Further, Skinn says that when Anglo visited Quality's office to view the new work, he agreed to being paid only if his old work was reprinted, should the revision prove successful. This happened, and Anglo was paid against the Marvelman Special published in 1983. Skinn also comments that he never directly claimed to have bought the rights from Anglo, who may not even have held them to begin with, given his role as an editorial packager for L. Miller & Son.
To further complicate things, Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
, who objected to a competitor producing anything with "Marvel" in the title, threatened legal action in 1983. Even the rights to the alternate name for the character were murky, as Moore and Davis had already used the Miracleman name for a single-panel cameo appearance of a Marvelman duplicate in their run on Marvel UKMarvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.It now forms part of Panini...
's Captain BritainCaptain Britain , briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1...
. With the creative team unable to produce a united front due to a series of differences between Moore and Davis, the strip saw its last appearance in Warrior issue #21, though Skinn did print letters he received from Marvel lawyers in Warriors final two issues.
Eclipse Comics and bankruptcy
In 1985 Eclipse ComicsEclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel for the newly-created comic book specialty store market...
bought the rights from Skinn and started reprinting Marvelman, retitling it Miracleman to placate Marvel Comics. Davis, stating that he wanted no more to do with Moore or the situation, gave his rights to Leach.
So for much of the initial 16 issues on Miracleman, Eclipse believed they owned the rights to publish the character. When Moore completed his story with issue 16 and Eclipse announced they wished to continue publishing, Moore gave his 30% share to writer Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, who would be taking over the title, and Gaiman divided them between himself and artist Mark BuckinghamMark Buckingham is a British comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Marvelman and Fables.-Biography:Born in Clevedon, he debuted on Tyranny Rex by John Smith, but his work was cut short by a payment dispute with the publishers of 2000 AD.He is most famous for his work on Marvelman ,...
.
Unfortunately, Eclipse went bankrupt in 1994. The last published Miracleman issue was #24; issue #25 is nearly complete (per Kimota!) but has never been printed. Also, Gaiman had approved a spin off series called Miracleman: Triumphant which was written by Fred Burke and penciled by Mike Deodato JrMike Deodato , sometimes credited as Mike Deodato Jr., is the professional pseudonym of Brazilian comic book artist Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho.-Biography:...
and inked by Jason Temujin Minor. Most of the first issue of Miracleman: Triumphant was complete and ready for printing, and the second was scripted, but like Miracleman #25 the two issues would remain in publishing limbo after the collapse of Eclipse.
Todd McFarlane vs. Neil Gaiman
In 1996, Todd McFarlaneTodd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
purchased Eclipse's creative assets for a total of $40,000. It has been suggested that McFarlane was mainly interested in the Miracleman rights; the rest of Eclipse's characters and properties were incidental, though he did not expect to keep them idle. McFarlane's plan was to reintroduce Eclipse's characters through two new Image ComicsImage Comics is an American comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by seven high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties...
anthology titles, Todd McFarlane's Twisted Tales and Todd McFarlane's Alien Worlds. However, these were never printed and to date, the only Eclipse character to appear again has been The HeapThe Heap is the name of three fictional comic book muck-monsters, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals' Air Fighters #3 , during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
in McFarlane's SpawnSpawn is a fictional comic book character, an undead superhero created by Todd McFarlane. Spawn primarily appears in a comic of the same name, published by Image Comics, and his first appearance was in Spawn #1 .-Overview:...
title.
McFarlane clearly had plans for Miracleman, but had neglected to consult Neil Gaiman, the last person to have held part of the rights. In 1993, Gaiman had created the characters AngelaAngela is a fictional character in Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic book series. The character was created for the series by writer Neil Gaiman which led to a legal battle between McFarlane and Gaiman over the rights to the character....
and Medieval Spawn for McFarlane. Gaiman claimed that he had created them with the understanding that he would retain creative ownership of them, an ownership which McFarlane now disputed. His plans stymied, in 1997 McFarlane reached a supposed verbal agreement (and according to Gaiman, a written one as well) with Gaiman in which Gaiman would cede his half-ownership of CogliostroCogliostro is a supporting character in Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic series. Cogliostro was created in 1993 by author Neil Gaiman and introduced in Spawn issue #9.-Al Simmons:...
and Medieval Spawn in exchange for which McFarlane would trade his rights to Miracleman. A subsequent letter from McFarlane to Gaiman would void this deal, if it ever legally existed, as McFarlane claimed that he already owned the two characters and pointed to a copyright notice on Spawn #7 and cited them as the product of work-for-hire. He also stopped paying Gaiman royalties around this time for the action-figures and other items featuring the characters that were still in print. This was another of the direct causes for the legal action. At the time, no one was aware that the rights for Miracleman were not included in the purchase of most of Eclipse Comics' assets and both men believed that McFarlane held a large stake in Miracleman. That was a fact that would not become clear until after the lawsuit concluded. It turned out that McFarlane did, however, own two trademarks for Miracleman logos. Gaiman and Marvels and Miracles, LLC would take action to try to block him from being able to reregister these trademarks.
In 2001, McFarlane had introduced Mike Moran (Miracleman's alter ego) in Hellspawn #6, with the alleged intention of returning Miracleman himself in Hellspawn #13. This never came to pass as the lawsuit was filed before the book was ready for print. McFarlane also had included Miracleman in his section of what was then the long-delayed Image 10th Anniversary Book, known today as the Image Hardcover. He also released a Miracleman cold-cast statue as well as a 4" scale action figure that was partnered with Spawn in a San Diego Comicon exclusive two-pack. It had been McFarlane's intention to use the character in his core title. Since the Hardcover story became a direct tie-in to the events of Spawn #150 and beyond, Miracleman was changed into a mysterious new character known as the Man of MiraclesThe Man of Miracles is a fictional, mysterious super-being, featured in the Spawn comic book series.-Fictional character biography:...
. His appearance as Miracleman is explained by Man of Miracles' ability to shape-shift and the fact that people see him as they wish to see him at the time.
Man of Miracles was released in action-figure form in Spawn Series 29, wearing a modified Miracleman costume and bearing one of McFarlane's two trademarked logos. This has created many fan-fueled rumors.
Marvels and Miracles LLC
To aid him with the legal battle against McFarlane, Gaiman formed Marvels and Miracles LLC, a company whose goal was to clear up the ownership of Miracleman once and for all.
In 2002 Gaiman sued McFarlane over his unauthorized use of Miracleman, prompting McFarlane to countersue in turn. McFarlane lost the suit, and the following appeal. The case was seen as one of the single most important events in the comic industry on the issue of creator's rights. Unfortunately, it only cleared up the confusion over the characters Gaiman had created for McFarlane. The issue of Miracleman was thrown out in both the initial lawsuit and the appeal before the 7th District Court and there have been no further legal papers filed on the subject.
Gaiman had been dropping hints that should he successfully win full ownership of Miracleman from McFarlane that the name would revert back to Marvelman, the character would see a return to publication through Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
, and that Marvel would also reprint all past material. In 2002, Gaiman wrote the 1602Marvel 1602 is an eight-issue comic book limited series published in 2003 by Marvel Comics. The limited series was written by Neil Gaiman, penciled by Andy Kubert, and digitally painted by Richard Isanove; Scott McKowen illustrated the distinctive scratchboard covers...
series for Marvel. Gaiman's profits from this series went to Marvels and Miracles LLC to aid his legal fight over Miracleman. Gaiman's dedication in the collected editions of 1602 reads "For Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, with infinite admiration. For Jonathan and Lenny, comics fiends. And, of course, to Todd, for making it necessary." Below, letterer Todd Klein thanks Gaiman for keeping him in mind, presumably to suggest that he, not McFarlane, is the beneficiary of Gaiman's remark, marking perhaps the only time a comic book letterer has submitted a dedication.
In late 2004 the A1 Sketchbook was released by Atomeka PressAtomeka Press is a publisher of comic books set up in 1988 by Dave Elliot and Garry Leach. Atomeka ceased publishing in 1997 and was then revived in 2004, but its future seems uncertain, as it has not published any new material since 2005.-History:...
, in part including art from original Miracleman artist Garry Leach-Biography:Leach studied Graphic Design at St. Martin's School of Art. He was first noted for his early work for 2000 AD, this mainly was on one-off stories featuring Dan Dare and M.A.C.H. 1. He then became a fan-favourite for his work on the series The VCs.In 1981 he joined Dez Skinn's company,...
. It contained four Miracleman-related pin-ups (although the pin-ups were not labelled as Miracleman, likely to avoid further legal entanglements). A variant of the sketchbook was also produced, with a "Miracleman" front cover and "Kid Miracleman" back cover by Leach.
Man of Miracles
In the December 5th 2005 edition of Rich JohnstonRich Johnston is an online columnist who writes about the comic book industry. Johnston grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, studied politics at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and works as an advertising copywriter; he currently lives in Kingston Vale, London, with his wife, Janice Hodgson,...
's column, it was revealed that a character called the Man of MiraclesThe Man of Miracles is a fictional, mysterious super-being, featured in the Spawn comic book series.-Fictional character biography:...
would feature in Spawn #150. The character was errantly rumored to be a retconRetroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change is informally referred to as a "retcon", and producing a retcon is called "retconning"...
of CogliostroCogliostro is a supporting character in Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic series. Cogliostro was created in 1993 by author Neil Gaiman and introduced in Spawn issue #9.-Al Simmons:...
, a character Neil Gaiman originally created for McFarlane's Spawn series. Johnston's assertion was rebuffed on the Alan Moore Fansite:
… David Hine-Biography:Hine has been working in comics since the early 1980s. For Crisis he drew the series Sticky Fingers in 1989, and wrote and drew a number of short pieces in 1990 and 1991...
, the current Spawn writer, told me that he doesn't intend to have any character in Spawn whose ownership is currently contested and that as far as he is concerned, the character Man Of Miracles is not Miracleman and bears no resemblance to the character. He has a clear idea of who the character is, which will be made clear as the book progresses. And I know both he and his friend Mark Buckingham had discussed this amicably …
An action figure of Man of Miracles was produced by McFarlane in Spawn Series 29.
Eventually the new Miracleman was revealed as the Man of Miracles, also known as MoM, also known as the Mother of Creation, an ageless and androgynous being of immense power, creator of worlds and gods, who, displeased about his/her "sons," GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
and the DevilThe Devil is believed in certain religions and folklore to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The Devil is commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other unbelievers...
, sided with their common creation (as the Mother believes that God may have created mankind, but it was Satan's doing in granting them free will) and stalked the Earth in several forms, perceived differently by different people. The Miracleman form is just how Al SimmonsSpawn is a fictional comic book character, an undead superhero created by Todd McFarlane. Spawn primarily appears in a comic of the same name, published by Image Comics, and his first appearance was in Spawn #1 .-Overview:...
comes to perceive it for a while: other forms in which he/she is known are Jesus Christ, Maya-People and languages:* The Maya peoples, peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America** Maya civilization, their historical pre-Columbian civilization** Maya society - social constructs and practices of the Maya...
, ShivaShiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...
and an unknown anime-inspired hero with platinum blonde hair and an unbuttoned blue jacket.
Marvel Comics acquires the rights
Alan Moore acknowledged that Mick Anglo held the rights and mentioned the possibility of reprints (and an animated cartoon) in May 2009, and said: "I believe that they’re going to be reprinting some of my stuff, but I’m not sure of all the details, I’ve just said, 'Yeah, go ahead,' and all the money from the first book, from the first printing of the book, should go to Mick Anglo."
At the San Diego Comic Con on July 24 2009, Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
announced they had purchased the rights to Marvelman "one of the most important comic book characters in decades."
Collected editions
The more recent comics have been collected into a number of individual volumesIn comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
. All of these books are currently out of printOut of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the anachronistic state of no longer being published....
.
- Miracleman Book One: A Dream of Flying, by Alan Moore, Garry Leach, Alan Davis. Collects Miracleman issues 1-3, which in turn reprinted stories from Warrior issues 1-11.
- Paperback: Eclipse Books, 1990. ISBN 0-913035-61-0.
- Hardcover: Eclipse Books, 1990. ISBN 0-913035-62-9.
- Miracleman Book Two: The Red King Syndrome, by Alan Moore, Alan Davis, Chuck Beckum, Rick Veitch. Collects Miracleman issues 4-7 and 9-10. (Issues 4-6 reprinted stories from Warrior issues 12-21; issue 8 reprinted Mick Anglo material; the rest, and everything below, were original to the Miracleman series.)
- Paperback: Eclipse Books, 1990. ISBN 1-56060-036-5.
- Hardcover: Eclipse Books, 1991. ISBN 1-56060-035-7.
- Miracleman Book Three: Olympus, by Alan Moore, John Totleben, Rick Veitch. Collects issues 11-16.
- Paperback: Eclipse Books, 1991. ISBN 1-56060-080-2.
- Hardcover: Eclipse Books, 1991. ISBN 1-56060-079-9.
- Miracleman Book Four: The Golden Age, by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham. Collects issues 17-22, but does not contain the "Retrieval" storyline published in those issues.
- Paperback: Eclipse Books, 1992. ISBN 1-56060-168-X.
- Paperback: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-105005-9.
- Miracleman: Apocrypha, by various.
- Paperback: Eclipse Books, 1992. ISBN 1-56060-189-2.
External links
- The Origin of Marvelman
- Neil Gaiman's journal entry on The Silver Age
- Guide to Miracleman at Sequart.com
- Introduction to The Golden Age by Samuel R. Delany
Samuel Ray "Chip" Delany, Jr. is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes a number of novels, many in the science fiction genre, as well as memoir, criticism, and nonfiction essays on sexuality and society.His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein...
- Moore's Marvel: The Miracleman Story, by Frank Smith at NinthArt.com
- Neil Gaiman's latest comment (2005-03-21) on the legal dispute
- Captain Marvel Culture A history of the many Captain Marvels and their social and historical significance
- Interview with Todd McFarlane about the character rights issue, Now Playing magazine
- Interview with Neil Gaiman about the character rights issue, Sequart
- Miracleman History and Reviews
- Whatever Happened to Miracleman? — History and overview of the character's legal situation, for Wizard magazine
- The Annotated Marvelman