Miracleman Book 3: Olympus (#11-16)

"Thus we hewed stones, smoothing away their roughest edges.  And were masons of utopia" - Miracleman

So, not an obscurity and not officially by Alan Moore still, but that "by The Original Writer" credit ain't fooling anyone.  Anyway, this volume deals with the final issues of the series as Alan Moore lets his imagination go wild and is illustrated by one of my favourite artists, one of his collaborators on his Swamp Thing run, John Totleben.  By this point the series had left the defunct black and white UK comic Warrior far behind and was published in full colour by Us publisher Eclipse, but has been recoloured for this deluxe release and very nice it looks as well.  There is a huge amount of extra stuff contained between the covers, including the Grant Morrison one-shot that he pitched back during the eighties and which has been drawn especially for the collection.  The framing sequence is set in a utopian 1987 which was around the time of the original publication, but flashes back to events taking place in 1982 which is two months after Miracleman and his human alter-ego's wife Liz's daughter has been born.  I have to say, if you find Alan Moore's poetic prose unbearably flowery in something like Promethea you might have a hard time swallowing some of this.  I like it, but it's a big difference from the grittier, deconstructionist take of the first two volumes.  Moore manages to take all the elements of his previous plotlines, adds in some more characters from the past and ends on a fascinatingly uncertain note as the stage is set for Neil Gaimen's take which was to follow.  And I am not going to lie, there is some rape as well. Spoilers! Sigh.

We begin in 1987.  Miracleman is walking through his palace, and he decides to write his experiences up:

Miracleman: "I have legends to write.  Tales of how it feels to live in a mythology".

We then get glimpses of what was going on for some of the characters in November 1982.  Johnny Bates, the host of the evil Kid Miracleman still be mistreated in a children's home, but is resisting the urge to change.

Then we see Liz, Miracleman's human wife who is still feeling weird after the birth of their daughter Winter.  She feels like her "feelings aren't my own.  As if they get switched on and off".  She thinks it's probably post natal depression.

In his human guise of Mike Moran, Miracleman goes for a walk in the park.  He is followed by two stranges who say they want to talk to him, to discuss his "other self".  Mike runs from them then says "Kimota" and changes into Miracleman.  The two strangers join hands and speak in an alien tongue and change themselves.

Miracleman: "And then the light of an older heaven than this was in my eyes.  And when I saw again.  I saw Titans".

The two aliens attack Miracleman, smashing him into a wall and beating him down.  They keep shifting and changing bodies as they press their attack, "I began to understand the extent of my predicament" thinks Miracleman.

The Qys make themselves known.

As he lies bleeding on the ground he wonders "how long has it been since I'd last told Liz I loved her".  He thinks that he wants to stroke his daughters soft hair and with this thought the aliens stop their attack.  They have read his mind and on discovering he has a child, one of them races off to find it.

The alien bursts into the Moran house, but before it can harm Liz or Winter a mysterious woman appears and crushes the alien's throat.  Back in 1987 Miracleman looks down on humanity from his palace and poetically muses that:

Miracleman: "When politicians and moviestars prove inadequate only gods remain."

Then he remembers first meeting the woman who will be revealed as Miraclewoman for the first time, "this stark Madonna of the quantum age... my muse... my Venus"

Miraclewoman.

The other alien comes to the aid of it's fallen comrade in the Moran house and Miracleman follows. The uninjured one asks for a truce so it can summon help.  It says things are different now, they will not attack again.  Miraclewoman backs it up.  Miracleman recognises her, he has a vague memory of meeting her in the 50's.  Or was it one of Gargunza's illusions?

They leave the aliens and go and talk in another room, "I sat stunned as all reality seeped from our lives and listened to the angel tell her tale."  Her human name is Avril Lear, an orphan who was abducted for a secret project Gargunza was running that he had kept secret from the government.

He diverted cash from Project Zarathustra to fund it  He cloned a perfect body for her and set her free in "infra-space".  She was alone, there was a male - Young Nastyman - and a hideously mutated dog.  While the pair of them were dreaming in virtual reality, Gargunza raped their bodies over and over for fourteen years.  She didn't care however, even when she found out from the tapes he made of him doing it.

Miraclewoman: "I was elsewhere.  A cosmos full of colours and emotions that were simple, bright and wonderfully garish.  Free from hindering logic, I explored a realm of incandescent comic book ideas".

Miraclewoman dreams.

So.... raped multiple times but you got kickass powers so who cares?  I said in my last Moore post that gratuitous usage of rape and sexual assault would get him tossed in the Sin Bin and I think this definitely applies.  We already KNOW Gargunza was a monster what did this add to our understanding of him?  And the fact it has no repercussions means that this is exactly the annoying use of rape that makes me sigh so much about Moore's work. Anyway, moving on.

His depravity started affecting the fantasy world and she found herself suffering from psychosexual tortures.  He pushed Terry, Young Nastyman's real name far into the role of the villain until he snapped and escaped the lab.  Panicking about his secret work being found out, he woke his official Miraclemen and Miraclewoman and sent them out to look for him.

When Miraclewoman met the Miraclemen she noted Young Miracleman was jealous of her immediately.  He says Young Miracleman loved Miracleman, "and you didn't know".  Miraclewoman found the Project Zarathustra bunker and discovered the same truths Miracleman did in Book One. 

Miraclewoman defeats Young Nastyman.

She tracked Young Nastyman down, and found him too far gone to go along with her plan of faking their deaths and escaping Gargunza.  She fought him in a volcano and last saw him flickering between his two bodies, his double skeleton was the one Miracleman found in the bunker, not Young Miracleman's, so that leaves us with the mystery of what happened to Young Miracleman.

She then disappeared herself, living a normal human life as a doctor as the Zarathustra project shut down.  When Miracleman and Kid Miracleman reappeared she kept an eye on them and when the aliens appeared she realised it was time to become Miraclewoman again.

The aliens in the other room have summoned help from their enemies the Warpsmiths who can travel comsic distances in the blink of an eye.  It's time for Miracleman to learn the deeper truth behind his origins, and although Liz exhorts him not to go, he teleports away along with the two aliens and Miraclewoman. 

Meet the Warpsmiths.

We get another glimpse of the hellish time Johnny Bates is suffering in the childrens home, being beaten and bullied relentlessly, but still he resists Kid Miracleman.  Then we return to Miracleman in 1987.  He thinks that "two years ago we abolished hell".  He thinks of how things have changed for the world below:

Miracleman: "Computers and telecommunications webs make earth a place where distance is irrelevant.  And yet it took Warpsmith philosophies to demonstrate the virtues of an instantaneous world.... when screens can take the office into every home.  No borders in the electronic state.  Where jokes in Aberdeen raise laughs in Japan."

Alan Moore predicted Lolcats!  Seriously though, it's interesting he believes it would take alien intervention to give us something like the internet, but for the time he was writing this in 1987 this is actually a solid piece of predictive science fiction.  Especially for a luddite like Moore.

Back to the story and Miracleman finds himself transported to an alien planet called "Qys", the home of the monsterlike aliens also called Qys.  Apparently the birth of Miracleman's daughter has changed everything.  Earth is no longer of "animal" status and a place for their new intelligent race needs to be negociated.  The Qys are also the originators of the multiple body technology that Gargunza engineered from the crashed Qys spaceship as part of Project Zarathustra.

They are bought before the "glorious KingQueen" of the Qys.  Underneath "hir" are Qys and Warpsmiths dancing even though they are bitter enemies, "in perpetual cold war deadlock.. for eleven thousand years."  Miracleman finds it hard to believe the Qys haven't won, but the Warpsmiths are fast, "their mastery of space matches our own manipulation of identity" says their Qys escort.

On an alien world.

The Qys then reports to the KingQueen that a ship had been lost on earth during a "firedrake sweep".  They later found "six earthbeasts" transformed by "debased Qys technology".  Three are dead, two are here in the form of Miracleman and woman, and the third is locked away inside Johnny Bates where they think he will stay.  "He is no threat".

They were going to destroy the altered earthbeasts but then stopped because Miracleman had produced a child.  This means that Earth is "intelligent class" and needs to be dealt with differently.  The KingQueen asks what the Warpsmiths think.  The "white warrior class" one suggests conflict over the earth.  They think Qys has unfairly influenced it with their technology.  The KingQueen practically sighs saying that are both cultures doomed to unproductive wars?

Miraclewoman: "Excuse me.. But couldn't you have sex instead?"

...............

Look, Alan.  I like sex myself.  In fact I'd say sex with someone you are in lust with and who lusts after you in return is a very enjoyable way to spend time together.  Almost as enjoyable as Gears Of War split screen co-op.  But I just can't see sex as this universal panacea as you do.  Also, despite on the surface seeming like a cool and groovy free love sixties concept, Moore's use of sex has always had a strangely puritanical underpinning we see summed up perfectly in this volume.  Good people only ever have Good, healthy, erotic, creative Sex.  Bad people only have empty, meaningless, destructive and rapey sex.  There is no happy medium.  The only time he's come close to implying a bad person might be able to have a decent relationship is between The first Silk Spectre and The Comedian and even then it's still supremely fucked up that the woman falls in love with the man who raped her originally even if they later reconciled and had a good thing (Laurie) come of it.  I think in a way this explains his overuse of rape and sexual assault as a plot device, he sees sex as the supreme transformative act and to twist and despoil is the most villianous thing he can imagine.  But he still overuses it and when you've read enough Moore you find yourself rolling your eyes and thinking "again with the rape?" Which isn't great when you think about it. And we're not actually done with it here either as well.  Something to look forward to as you read on.

Anyway, while the two races mull this over, Miraclewoman continues to explain what she means in more detail:

Miraclewoman: "It's obvious.  If two organisms or two cultures are forced into contact it can be Thanatic and destructive or Erotic and creative."

The KingQueen decides this idea has potential and sends them away while it consults with it's advisors about how they are going to deal with earth.

Miracleman falls deep into thought as Miraclewoman asks their Qys escort many questions about their abilities, "did I first love her then?"  Finally a decision is reached.  Earth will be left uninterfered with.  Miracleman and Miraclewoman will observe for the Qys, two Warpsmiths will also observe to maintain parity.  Their base will be behind the moon and Miracleman and woman will liase with them.

Liz Moran takes her leave.

Miracleman is then transported back to his home and Liz.  He starts to tell her all about it, but she starts crying saying she can't take it anymore.  She thinks Winter is controlling her moods so she is going to stay with her sister for a while.  They hug then she leaves.  Once she is gone, Winter says to Miracleman, "Father, I think it's time we discussed mother don't you?"

When Miracleman says Winter can speak, Winter says she could from the day she was born but didn't because it would "upset mother".  She admits she's been manipulating Liz's moods, when Miracleman queries how, Winter says he should follow Miraclewoman's example and try to be more adventurous with his powers.  She says she chose her own name and she flies out of the window.  Miracleman says someone might see her.

Winter goes for a fly.

Winter: "Nobody will see anything I don't want them to see.  You shouldn't worry about them so much.  They're only people."

She tells Miracleman she is already more advanced than him so she'll be going away soon.  Miracleman says he loves her.  "I know" she says.

Later he goes to meet Miraclewoman and the two Warpsmiths on their base.  The Warpsmiths have mastered english now.  They discuss the fact that earth will change due to the appearence of superhumans.  They are scanning earth for the prescence of more, including something called a "Firedrake".  They plan to usher in a "glorious age" on earth.  "the change is worth the effort, be assured."

They find two more extraordinary beings.  One is Big Ben from Book One, but he is mad and no use to them.  The other is a Firedrake a black American called Huey Moon.  He is immune to fire, but can cause anything within range to ignite explosively.  "Thus did Apollo.  Fire of Heaven.  Come into our midst".  The five of them touch hands "and first convened our glorious pantheon".

Back with Mike and Liz, she leaves permanently saying she doesn't belong with them anymore. "I'm sorry Mike.  I'm sorry for us all."  With Liz gone, Winter also departs.  She intends to go to Qys to learn from them and hopes she can surpass lightspeed within the year.  She promises to come back and teach Miracleman everything she has learned, ".. do not look so sad.  It's such a lovely universe".

Kids, tsk.

Mike Moran climbs to the top of a lonely mountain and undresses.  He leaves a note for Miracleman with the date of his "death" on it and says "Kimota" for the last time.  Thus Mike commits a kind of suicide and Miracleman respects his descision and will not turn back.  He carves for himself an underwater fortress where he can be alone.

Meanwhile things are going very badly for Johnny Bates.  A gang of kids corner him and hold him down while one of them starts to rape him.  Tearfully he whispers "Miracleman" and transforms into Kid Miracleman who immediately kills all the kids and the nurse who was kind to Johnny before going out and beginning a rampage through London.

Horrible stuff, but in this case it works.

I think this rape is actually justifiable within the narrative.  We've seen Johnny resist normal violent bullying so it really needed something utterly horrifying to happen to him to push him over the limit and let Kid Miracleman out.  I think if it had been the only rape in this volume it would have had more dramatic impact, but the gratuitous rape of Miraclewoman kind of watered down that impact for me.  So no Sin Bin for this rape.

Kid Miracleman then runs riot for a couple of hours, causing acts of unimaginable cruelty.  Stripping people of their skins and hanging them on a washing line.  Impaling people on the hands of Big Ben.  Crushing, tearing and dismembering everything in his path.  Farting about above the earth, Miracleman and woman finally notice something is up when they see a plume of black smoke rising from London.  When they confront Kid Miracleman along with Huey Moon and Aza Chorn the warrior Warpsmith, it is on baby!

A one being holocaust on the loose in London.

Miraclewoman attacks first, Kid Miracleman says he remembers her and suggests some "novel ways" to get to know her (ALAN!).  They brawl, she is more refined in her fighting but he outclasses her, knocks her out and tosses her to one side.  He then goes for Aza Chorn who teleports him into Marble Arch but he smashes free.  Aza Chorn says he is going to his home planet to get some extra power.  He disappears then reappears saying "it is arranged."

Huey Moon goes next, and we get another censored usuage of the word "nigger" even though keeping it in would make Kid Miracleman come over even worse.  Moon calmly sets Kid Miracleman ablaze in a huge explosion and burns his business suit off to reveal his black costume underneath.

We then get a break in the action as we are told that the events of this epic battle are subjects to many different interpretations in the years after.  Theologians, conspiracy theorists, rationalists and gnostic faiths all have their own versions of the story.

Battle is joined.

Then we return to the battle proper.  Aza Chorn briefly teleports the three of them to the depths of the ocean then back to London.  The combination of the explosion and subsea pressures in quick succession knock the wind out of Kid Miracleman.  Miracleman smashes him down through the ground, they crash through an underground tunnel and crush a passing train. Back on the surface, they carry on trading blows.

Miracleman: "My apologists have claimed that the car I first hurled at Bates was empty.. I'm sorry but that isn't true."

Johnny chucks an occupied car back at him.  Miracleman tries to reason with him, saying what will happen when he runs out of things to destroy? "You've taken something marvellous and turned it into sewage" he shouts.  Kid Miracleman throws a lorry at him saying "burn in hell" and flames surround Miracleman.

Kid Miracleman is finally wounded.

Aza Chorn meanwhile has made a discovery that the Miracle family don't rely on tough skin for their invulnerability but a forcefield.  So instead of throwing things at it, he starts teleporting bits of rubble inside it.  Kid Miracleman roars in pain and lashes out, nearly blowing Aza Chorn in half.

Miracleman: "And the Warpsmith, eyes gone somewhere cold.  Somewhere beyond pain, faced death like some albino samuarai and insolently stared it down for just one vital moment longer".

Poor Johnny Bates...

Bad. Ass.  And to stop the pain Kid Miracleman says his magic word and turns back into Johnny Bates who is horrifed and distraught at what had happened. "Bad Johnny got out".  Miracleman realises there is only one way to stop it ever happening again. He tears Johnny's head off.

Bad Johnny won't ever get out again.

And as he holds the lifeless body, he realise that now things are really going to change for the world, there is no denying point the superpeople hiding anymore.

No one draws Hell like John Totleben.

And this horrfying scene of devastation isn't gratuitous, it's the logical outcome of what would happen if a) a supervillian really did run amok in a crowded city and b) just how spectacular the human cost would be if two superpowered individuals brawled in the same place.  Try watching The Avengers or Man Of Steel now, and wonder at how many hundreds if not thousands were killed in Manhattan and Metropolis.  This penultimate chapter finishes with Miracleman telling us the area was left and not rebuilt as a memorial to those who perished.

Miracleman: "These charnel pastures serve as a reminder.  A memento mori. Never letting is forget that though Olympus pierce the very skies, in all the history of earth, there's never been a heaven; never been a house of gods.. that was not built on human bones."

Back in the present of 1987, Miracleman reminisces that the "Bates Affair" cost forty thousand lives.  Now it was time to introduce the world to them officially.  Apparently many countries thought of attacking Britain with nukes, but realised against him, Miraclewoman, Huey and the Warpsmiths it would be pointless.

Miracleman meets with Margaret Thatcher and tells her of his economic plans.  She says nothing must be allowed to interfere with the market. "Allow?" says Miracleman.  And Thatcher ends up humiliated and in tears when she realises she has lost her power (ho ho ho).  "She looked so old, so suddenly.  I could not hate her" he thinks as she is led away.

All your weapons are belong to us.

At the United Nations, he and the Warpsmiths tell the assembled countries, including those of the Warsaw Pact that their chemical, biologial and nuclear weapons have been teleported into the sun.  The media has various takes on them.  The conservative press call them "super-liberals".  The liberal press accuse them of taking away free will and destiny, a criticism that makes Miracleman uneasy.  But Miraclewoman retorts:

Miraclewoman: "Did humans ask such agonised questions about the free will of cows or the destiny of fish?  We'll give them more free will than they ever dreamed or wanted.  We're going to love them Michael.  We're going to make them perfect."

Despite protests, they begin to "repair" the world.  The ozone layer is renewed, the nuclear power plants got rid of, the smog threatening the ice caps disappated.  They remove money and though people can have a more luxurious life if they want to work, if they don't:

Miracleman: "Each soul shall have free clothing, food and shelter.  Entertainment, education, all the requirements for a worthwhile life.  Come summer money won't exist.  But then it never did."

Communist. They legalise all drugs resulting in drug crime disappearing overnight.  They find a herb that treats criminality and rehabilitate psychopaths so thoroughly that Charles Manson runs a group caring for abused children.  "By 1986 we had demolished earth's last penitentary".

Shagging in the sky.

They build a huge palace in London and finally Miracleman and Miraclewoman get together, and have sparkly, flying supersex in the skies over London.  She suggests they begin a eugenics programme to create more gods so they aren't the only deities.  Huey Moon takes charge of earth's energy needs while the Warpsmiths eagerly study earth's different cultures and languages.

The Qys also arrive, their representative creates artificial bodies that the recently deceased can be reborn in.  Big Ben is partially cured, now going by the name "British Bulldog" he is a Herculean hero.  Even Gargunza's monsterous dog is bought back, with a nicer dog's personality implanted in it, and is Miracleman's pet "Fenris".

His daughter Winter comes back to earth after having spent time amongst the Qys.  She takes charge of the eugenics programme and the super babies born of it.  The next step is offering superbodies to anyone who wanted them:

Miracleman: "Now everyone would be a god, and no one need let feelings of inferiority put barriers between themselves and those who were deities."

Brilliant use of layouts to emphasize the distance between them now.

He visits Liz and offers to put her at the front of the queue for one so she could be with him and Winter again.  Liz is not convinced, especially due to his relationship with Miraclewoman.  Miracleman says they are beyond possessiveness and she'll understand when she is like them.

Miracleman: "Liz? Come on.  You don't understand what you're turning down."

Liz: ".. and you've forgotten what you're asking me to give up".

She tells him to get out and he leaves.  He hasn't seen her again.  He admits to himself that not everyone wants a part of this new utopia.  There are holdouts, in shelters in the wilderness.  Also religious fundamentalists of all faiths resist, although it is futile.

As Miracleman walks through his palace to a party being held, he thinks "is this perfection?  I think so."  But even as he mentally exhorts humanity to "look up and see your gods at celebration" he ends up alone after the party in the Aza Chorn memorial garden.

Miracleman: "It's been five years since my rebirth.  I come here quite a lot these days.  Sometimes I think of Liz.  Sometimes I wonder why she turned my offer down; why anyone should not wish to be perfect in a perfect world.  Sometimes I wonder why that bothers me, and sometimes...sometimes I just wonder."

The end..?

And that brings Book Three and Moore's run on the title to a close.  And what a wonderful final way to end it.  Like Seymour reaching for Rorschach's diary at the end of Watchmen and threatening to bring down Ozymandias's plot to create peace on the backs of thousands dead, we're left wondering if utopia ever justifies the means.  That final note of uncertainty turns what could have come across as a niave manifesto for a better world by Moore into a question of whether it is ever right to force a new way of life on people that would seem to deny the urge people have to strive and become better through their own efforts. It would seem to be a recipe for a world where humanity "exists" but does not "live".  I am incredibly interested in what is to come in Neil Gaiman's take on the series as he obviously has to deal with this new world order set in place by the end. 

The house that Miracleman built.

I have to say this is an incredibly dense work of which I have only skimmed the surface of. Poetic and beautifully illustrated by Totleben who draws wonders both horrifying and beautiful with equal skill (and for me ties with JH Williams III when it comes to layouts and panel composition), this is a fantastic book, with my only caveat being I could have done without the rapey backstory for Miraclewoman (one month in the Sin Bin for that Mr. Moore!).  The book also contains lots of extras including a short story by Grant Morrison about Kid Miracleman that he pitched back during the series first run and Morrison claims that Moore sent him a threatening letter because of it telling him to "back off".  Moore of course denies this.  Anyway, he allowed it to be used with new art by Joe Quesada.  Pete Milligan and Mike Alread also provide a cute and whimsical throwback style story as well.  There is also plenty of promotional materials and looks at the art in its various stages of production all in a lovely hardback edition.  Even if Moore has disowned it due to his issues with Marvel, it's still required reading for all his fans.  After ending this and Watchmen round about the same time, Moore announced he had done all he wanted with the superhero and it was time to move on.  Sadly his self publishing endeavour failed and he had to return to superheroes with his work for Image in the 90's which in no way matched what he had done with them in the 80's sadly.  Still, Miracleman is intelligent, profound, thought-provoking and timeless.  A must buy for anyone even slightly interested in thedevelopment of the superhero genre.

Miracleman Book 2: Red King Syndrome (#5-10) NSFW

NSFW:  Warning!  Contains very graphic images of childbirth that leave nothing to the imagination!

"Is this it Gargunza?  Is this what all those years were for?" - Miracleman

OK, so this sucks.  I'm doing another Brit comics month and I was supposed to be doing The Complete Ballad Of Halo Jones as my Alan Moore comic.  But those cocksuckers in the UK postal service are obviously too busy gargling each others cum to ensure I get my post, and it's lost somewhere in limbo.  So I'm doing the second Marvel Miracleman reprint collection which I think was originally still mostly published in the UK first.  Fuck I don't know, wikipedia is not helping me.  But as it's the only Alan Moore comic I can at least tenuously link to the UK I've have to hand so it'll have to fucking do OK?  Fuck.

Hrmm, I think two months looking at Garth Ennis's stuff has had a deleterious effect on my usual prim and ladylike manner of speech.  Let's start again.

Miracleman (or Marvelman as it was originally known) was an old Silver Age British knock-off of Captain Marvel.  Miracleman, Young Miracleman and Kid Miracleman all had magic words they could say to turn from normal humans into powerful superbeings.  By the early 1980's the series hadn't been published in a long time so writing for Warrior comic, Alan Moore revived and rebooted the series as one of the first deconstructionist takes on the superhero archetype, as middle-aged schlub Mike Moran remembers his long forgotten magic word and transforms into Miracleman, gets his wife pregnant, fights the now evil Kid Miracleman and then finds out all his memories of his old adventures were simply beamed into his brain via a virtual reality machine. I looked at Book One here and here.  The first Book of Miracleman ended with him departing the govenment bunker where his past had been manufactured in the company of one Evelyn Cream a government agent who was meant to kill him, but who betrayed the UK government to team up with Miracleman for his own reasons.

Miracleman and Liz

The book begins with Liz and Mike Moran arguing.  She says that although Miracleman can't be hurt, Mike can.  Mike says it's not his fault Miracleman was done to him and if Liz wants reassurance she can talk to him and he changes into Miracleman in the next room.  We then get a look at what's happening to Johnny Bates, the teenage vessel for the evil Kid Miracleman.  He is in a vegetative state externally through the sheer effort of fighting Kid Miracleman's persuasion to get him to change.

Evelyn Cream is meeting with his ostensible boss, Sir Dennis Archer.  Cream wants Miracleman left alone and Project Zarathustra suspended immediately.  Sir Dennis asks if he realises just how powerful Miracleman is?

Evelyn Cream: "You made it an enemy.  I made it an ally.  There is a difference."

Sir Dennis: "Not at all Mr. Cream.  It has made you it's pet!"

Miracleman appears naked to Liz and they start to embrace and make love.  She realises that with his power there is no reason to be scared and yet:

Narration: "So why does she feel so vulnerable? And Afraid?"

Later Miracleman is sitting on a rock in a wooded area somewhere.  There is a boy who is hiding stuff that he will need post-nuclear war.  He spots Miracleman and asks him "Are you a pouf [UK slag for a homosexual]? Or are you a superhero?" A surprised Miracleman introduces himself as Miracleman, superhero.  The boy says he is called Jason.

Jason is a little dubious about Miracleman's claims, so Miracleman destroys the big rock he was sat on.  Satisfied, Jason asks him if he could stop a nuclear war happening.  Miracleman says he'd doe his best.  They part and when Miracleman gets home he comes across the living room all smashed up and Liz (who is now heavily pregnant with Miracleman's kid) has been abducted.

Cream woken from a prophetic dream.

In the midst of a nightmare, Cream is wakened by a panicked phoncall from Miracleman. We briefly see Liz in a comfortable bedroom while two voices off screen scan her and note her total lack of panic at what has happened to her.  Back with Miracleman, Cream denies all knowledge of what happens.  They figure out it must be someone who knows Miraclemans secret identity.  First they phone the hospital Johnny Bates is in, but he hasn't gone anywhere. 

Then Cream phones Sir Dennis and tells him Miracleman will destroy one city an hour until he gets Liz back.  Desperately Sir Dennis says he hasn't got her, but he knows who might have her. We then return to Liz and a man called Gargunza, who was behind Project Zarathustra and he says to her, regarding Miracleman:

Gargunza: "I created him.  He is almost my son.  And shortly Mrs Moran, very shortly.. he will be my father."

The real Gargunza

Later Cream is preparing to fly to where they have been told Gargunza is hiding out.  They are going by plane as it would be to cold for Miracleman to fly Cream under his own steam.  On the plane he ponders meeting Gargunza who is holed up in South America, and finding out his secrets to use for "his own ends".

Gargunza performs various check-ups on Liz, who takes it all in her stride.  When he tells her sheis having a girl, she simply replies "I know".  Later that night Gargunza has a nightmare where the Miracle foetus stares him down, and knowing he won't be able to go back to sleep he remembers his time with Project Zarathustra.  Cue flashback.

He and his assistant, Fabian are overseeing the three Miraclemen being given false memories as dream programmes.  Then one day he turns off the "somatic inducers" and the Miraclemen keep on dreaming independantly.

We then travel into the gorgous dreamworld of the Miraclemen.  Miracleman comments that it doesn't feel real and he has felt like he is in a dream for a while now.  They are presented by a city with "Sleepytown" written up the side and they go in to investigate.  Outside Garguza notes that their subconciousness are trying to tell them things aren't real.  The Miraclemen come across three huge slumbering figures which look exactly like them to their discomfort.

Gargunza: "Their subconcious minds are trying to overload on absurdity to shock the brain into wakefulness by crossing the threshold of disbelief".

Gargunza says he anticipated this might happen and installed failsafes.  A dampner field will drain the power of their minds and allow them to rein in the warnings from their minds.  Inside their dream the Miraclemen come across vampires and start fighting them as Fabian says the dampner fields aren't working.  As the Miraclemen fight, Gargunza muses:

Gargunza: "Tell me Fabian, have you ever read Alice in Wonderland?  You have? Do you remember the Red King?  He slept and dream and no-one dared wake him.  They were afraid you see, that they were all part of his dream. And if he were to wake the whole of existence would vanish".

Fabian says that existence wouldn't end if the Miraclemen wake up.  Gargunza replies "It will for us."  And then we return to him in the present.

The Miraclemen's shared dreamworld.

He is sat with Liz as they drink coffee together.  She asks him who he is and where he comes from.  he says he is an old man, close to death and he comes from vera Cruz.  Liz expresses an interest in hearing his life story so he obliges.  He says he was around six when the Mexican government fell and US troops were sent to keep the peace, it was 1911.  When he was nine, his father died and he and his mother lived in poverty in Rio.

He joined up with a local gang and because he was small and intelligent, the head gangster Aurelio adopted him as a mascot.  One day though Aurelio tried to sexually abuse him and when Gargunza resisted he was badly beaten.  However Gargunza's intelligence and earning power had bought him the loyalty of the rest of the gang and one night he had Aurelio dragged from his bed.  Gargunza then raped his girlfriend in front of him and beat him to death with a baseball bat. He was fourteen.

By the time he was eighteen he was rich enough to keep his mother in comfort and he left for Europe and began to study science.  His reputation spread and one day he met Hitler and was offered a position in the Reich to study genetics.  In 1941 he realised the war was unwinnable for Germany and defected to England where he started working under Sir Dennis Archer.  After the death of his mother in 1947 he realised he did not want to die.

The mystery spaceship that helped start it all.

One night he was summoned to the site of a poison gas leak, which turned out to be a cover story for the landing of an alien spacecraft.  He and a few others entered it and could hardly comprehend what they were seeing.  Further into the ship they discovered the alien body that Gargunza spent a long time puzzling over.

It was the same being but had two bodies fused together, it was one mind but with two bodies.  Garguza theorised that the ship had crashed after the alien had suddenly and catstrophically had both bodies occupy the same space at the same time.  Gargunza believed he could create humans who could switch bodies in the same way and experimented on three orphans, he also makes a passing mention of two who came later, "Rebbeck and Lear".

When they had been physically altered, he went to work on a way of controlling them via their minds.  He hit on using the superhero narrative after seeing a comic one day (and that comic is shown to be Captain Marvel) and used technology created using what they had found in the alien spacecraft.

The Miracle family are created.

Liz asks why he did all this  Gargunza says he wants to live for ever.  He thought about wiping Miracleman's mind and transferring his conciousness into him, but that wouldn't have worked.  A baby on the other hand, that had inherited Miracleman's abilities naturally, well that would be a different matter altogether.  And finally Liz is shaken by what he is implying.

We return to the flashback the night in 1961 when the Miracle family started to wake up. The dampner fields overload and the Miraclemen start creating their own dreamworld.  Miracleman is still uneasy, saying something is wrong and nothing feels real.  His mind is creating absurdities upon absurdities in an attempt to wake himself up.

Miracleman: "No!  This is wrong!  Don't you see?  We're being seduced.  They're trying to stop us thinking!"

His subconcious projection is so powerful it even changes the logo on his real life costume.  Gargunza desperately looks for a way to reassert control as Fabian says Miracleman is moving.  Gargunza finally hits on having them wake up inside the simulation with all the crazy stuff as just being all a dream.  This appears to work, although Miracleman's costume logo is still changed. 

Gargunza reasserts control... maybe.

Back in the present, Liz is accosted by Cream who tells her that her husband is coming for her.  Miracleman comes raging through the compound destroying everything in his path.  He tells Gargunza that he is going to kill him.  Gargunza laughs and says the word "Abraxas" which turns Miracleman back into Mike Moran.  Mike says his magic word but nothing happens.  Gargunza has activated a mental failsafe that will keep Mike from transforming into Miracleman for another hour.  Then he places his dog on the ground and says "Steppenwolf" which transforms the dog into a huge, vicious "Miracledog!"

Cream arrives on the scene with Liz.  Liz and Mike hug and Gargunza says Mike and Cream have three minutes to make their getaway before he sets Miracledog on them.  He says now Liz is pregnant, Mike has outlived his usefulness.  Cream and Mike leave, but soon Mike collapses in despair saying he is too fat and old to run.

Miracledog.  Not a very friendly guy.

Cream says that inside Mike is a God who must be protected.  He gives Mike his gun then leaves him to try and draw Miracledog away and buy Mike some time.  He remembers his nightmare and realises the "whiteness" he reached for was not the "the hot whiteness of steel.  Or of sanctity.  It is the whiteness of bone.  It is death."  Miracledog catches up with him and cuts his head clean off, thus ending Cream's involvement in the story.

Miracledog then catchs up with Mike and when Mike points his gun at it, snaps the gun up taking two of Mike's fingers with it.  Mike tries to figure out how to defeat an opponent whose magic word it can't even say.  Then he realises that the magic word could be said by someone else besides Gargunza.  He tries  it and Miracledog changes back into a harmless animal.  Mike beats it's brains out with a rock then sits and waits.

Gargunza's men are out looking for Mike and Cream's bodies.  They find Cream and Miracledog, but then Mike transforms back into Miracleman and kills all of them.  He then speeds back to Gargunza's compounds and smashes his way down to where Gargunza is.  Before Gargunza can say the counterword, Miracleman grabs him by the throat.  Then he flies him up above the Earth.

Miracleman: "Can you see the planet?  How big it is?  Can you see the scale I live on?  Gargunza, can you see how small you have always been?"

He kisses Gargunza farewell, then hurls him back down towards the Earth.  Gargunza burns up in the atmosphere and only a small amount of bone makes it back down to the surface.

Sucks yo be you now, Gargunza.

(I've got a feeling that this was the point Miracleman ceased being published in Warrior, as the rest of the book is made up of much longer chapters, which makes me think this was when the strip went over to US publisher Eclipse in full.)

Back with Liz, her contractions start.  She struggles outside to seek help to find the place wrecked.  Then Miracleman appears angelically in front of her.  She gets a bit hysterical but he holds her and says it's "all gone away".  She doesn't want to have her baby where they are now, so Miracleman puts her in a nearby truck and then flies her inside it to find a quiet place she can give birth.

There is a brief interlude with two strange humanoid characters who gain entrance to the facility where Johnny Bates is being treated.  They enter his mind as try and talk to him about his "Change-self".  When Johnny refuses to respond they withdraw and Kid Miracleman pops up wondering "what they hell were they?"

There is now an extensive birth scene rendered in extremely graphic detail with a series of beautiful and life affirming captions.  It's not easily summed up and is really the emotional heart of the entire book, so here are some images from it to give you some idea how lovely it is.

Behold!  Miraclebaby!

Finally with their daughter safely delivered, Liz says over and over, "is she alright?".  To which Miracleman responds "Yes. Yes she's all right."  And just as they breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the fact their world is finally safe and sane, their newborn baby girl says "Ma-ma".

The action then cuts back to the strange humanoids who are keeping an eye on all the beings like Mike/Miracleman who can change, whether alive or dead.  Their speech is odd and hard to follow and very elliptical, but one thing they do reveal, that there is a Miraclewoman out there as well.

Returning to the new family, they are back at the Moran home.  Liz is unable to keep up Miraclebaby's need for sustenance.  Miracleman changes back into Mike and is still missing two fingers, overwhelmed by all the stress he has been under he passes out.

We then cut to Johnny Bates, inside his head, Kid Miracleman has managed to trick Johnny into coming out of his vegative state that had trapped them both.  He knows Johnny won't say the magic word and free him easily, but that it's more likely to happen if Johnny is concious and mixing with the other kids in the group home.

Kid Miracleman plots....

Back with the Morans, Liz is feeding the baby formula to keep up with her hunger.  Liz confesses that when she was pregnant, the baby, who she names "Winter" kept her stress down and made her calm.  But now she's given birth she feels like she doesn't matter and she is depressed.  Then oddly her mood changes and she feels happy again.  As this conversation was being shown from Winter's perspective, the implication is that she used her powers to make her mum happy again.

We then return to the odd humans, they are in a doctor's office, the receptionist speaks to the female doctor and says they have asked for her using the wrong name, "Lear" and seem to be foreign.  Then the receptionist, still speaking to the female doctor over the phone says "Kim who?" and the side of the building shatters as Miraclewoman says the magic word "Kimota" and makes a quick getaway.

Miraclewoman.

Back with the Morans, Liz has started feeding Winter solid food to satisfy her.  When Mike queries this, Liz says something told her it was the right thing to do - "mother's instinct". Mike goes to check on the baby and is overhwelmed by love for her.

Mike: "How can anything so wonderfully complex be made so small, so flawless in every details.  Her perfect little fingers.  Her perfect little eyes.  Her perfect little ears.  Her perfect little mouth... with it's... perfect... little... teeth".

The book concludes with the mysterious couple in South America inspecting the body of Miracledog.  Their next target is Mike who they are detirmined not to allow to escape them like Miraclewoman did.  They travel back to England in a burst of light.

The mystery humanoids... aliens perhaps?

And that concludes Book Two of Miracleman.  After the impact the first Book had at the time, added into the fact this book was being put out during the final period of Warrior magazine and then transferred over to US publisher Eclipse, this middle book suffers a little from feeling like it's acting mainly to tie off loose ends from Book One (Evelyn Cream and Gargunza) while setting up plotlines for the epic events of Book Three (the introduction of Miraclewoman, Johnny Bates coming out of his fugue state, the odd humanoid aliens, Winter's fast development and powers).  However it's still a fantastic read in it's own right, the birth sequence alone is some of the finest, most heartfelt writing I have ever read by Alan Moore and showing the birth in all it's unsanitised detail keeps the premise of Miracleman as a superhero book grounded in gritty reality alive. This reprint package as a whole is just as lavish as the previous one, there are two extra stories, a short fun little one starring Young Miracleman trying to impress a lady, and a fourth wall breaking framing sequence for some reprints after the Eclipse publishing offices got flooded. Add in all the covers, promo art, as well as other artistic treats, all bound together in hardback and you have a fantastic package any lover of comics must have in their collection.
 

Miracleman: Book 1 - A Dream Of Flying (#1-4) PART TWO

"Out of the dark he is coming..." - Narration

The story so far:  It's the early 80's, shabby middle aged bloke Mike Moran has been haunted by dreams of flying towards a grey shape that explodes and consumes him in fire.  After being taken hostage by terrorists while covering a protest at a nuclear plant he sees the word "Atomic" backwards through a window.  He says the word "Kimota" and turns into the superhuman Miracleman.  He returns to his/Mikes wife Liz and after filling her in on his rather silly history they sleep together. Next day he is called up by Johnny Bates who was Kid Miracleman, now the owner of a large multinational company. Back as Mike, he and Liz go to meet Johnny.  Turns out Johnny hasn't lost his powers and is also completely corrupted and evil.  He and Miracleman fight, but Johnny is stronger, before he can finish Miracleman off, he accidentally says Miracleman's name, which is the magic word that triggers his transformation.  He turns back into sixteen year old Johnny Bates and seems to have lost his power to return back into his superpowered self.  Miracleman and Liz leave him virtually catatonic, while elsehwere in London, the authorities have unleashed the ultimate sanction to deal with Miracleman, a black man with sapphires for teeth called Evelyn Cream.  And now, back to the story.

We next find Mike and Liz out on an excursion to the moors to do some tests on his powers.  It seems Liz initiated this idea making her an early example of one of Moore's proactive females.  Mike seems a little uncertain about all this but changes into Miracleman nontheless. It seems two months have passed since his battle with Kid Miracleman, his face is still burned but has healed substantionally. Liz grabs some comics from the car boot.

Miracleman: "Comics?"

Liz: "Mmm, Amercian comics.  I thought if we wer going to investigate your power, I'd better do some research work."
She lists off some of the powers she's compiled.  Flight, super-strength and near invulnerability get an affirmative.  When she starts listing things like superbreath though, Miracleman looks adorably confused.

Kid Miracleman trapped in Johnny's head

Back with Johnny Bates, he's in some sort of fugue state being examined by doctors and inside his head he's being yelled at by Kid Miracleman, who swears revenge on Miracleman.

Kid Miracleman: "He just better hope I never get out of here.  He better hope I stay in here forever."

Liz and Miracleman are still on the moors. Miracleman picks up  huge boulder and lets it smash down onto his head.  Liz posits the idea that he has a forcefield that stops him being driven into the ground by the weight.  She thinks his power might be all in his mind.

We then move onto Evelyn Cream and I am not going to lie, I do find him a somewhat worrying character.  Not because he is black, but because he is black and so comprehensively "othered" by his sapphire teeth, white suit and dark glasses.  It feels like making him black as well was to increase his "exoticism" and that makes me uncomfortable.  But also, he is kind of a bad ass character too.  He's charming, intelligent and fiercely cultured, he quickly discovers Mike is Miracleman.  He has him at his mercy but decides to betray his governmental masters to help Miracleman find out the secrets of his past.  So he's a fascinating character even as he is also an contradictory one.

Evelyn Cream

Anyway, he's already narrowed down the list of possible Miracleman suspects to pressmen at the Larksmere terrorist incident.  He visits the hospital where one of the terrorists is being treated after mulling over the fact that the transformation might be accompanied by extreme heat and light.  So as only one of the terrorists had burns, he's the one to go and interview.  Once inside the hospital he shows fake ID and goes to see him.

Back with Mike and Liz, Liz thinks Mike and Miracleman are two different people.  The switch takes place when the magic word is said, which is why Miracleman didn't age and Kid Miracleman did.  Mike isn't sure as they share the same mind, although Miracleman is cleverer than him.  As they drive off, Liz drops a bombshell.

Mike's inferiority complex on display

Liz: "I've missed my last two periods and I'm going to have a baby and it isn't yours, it's Miracleman's."

Mike: ".............what did you just say?"

Poor Mike, this really starts the beginning of his disillusionment with how his "normal" self can't measure up to Miracleman's perfection.  Miracleman being so potent he got Liz pregnant after one night together, when he's never been able to give Liz kids.

Back with Cream, he is in with Steve, who is still deafened so Cream interviews him via written questions on a pad.  Steve describes Mike and Cream marks him on his list of possible suspects then he shows Steve the following message:

Cream's Pad: "Oh.. and remember how I promised not to kill you?"

Steve: "Yeah?"

Cream's Pad: "I was lying Steve."

It's an Arnie quip, before Arnie quipped it!  Anyway, Cream suffocates Steve and then leaves.

Alas poor Steve...

We return to the Moran's house over breakfast after Miracleman has been out enjoying the freedom of flight.  Mike is sulky and uncommunicative and has been since Liz told him about the baby two months ago (which does beg the question what Cream has been up to in the four months he was called in as the "ultimate sanction"). He apologises saying Miracleman is just so much better than he is.

Mike: "His emotions are so pure. When he loves you it's so gigantic. His love is so strong and direct and clean."

He apologises to Liz saying he'll sort it out then heads to the paper he works freelance for to try and hustle up some work.  His editor is complaining that the government has slapped a "D-Notice" (a gagging order) on stories about the battle between Miracleman and Johnny back in february. The editor then says he has no work for Mike and a somewhat sad Mike leaves the office.

In the lift he gets in is a woman with a baby and Cream hid behind a newspaper.  The woman hands Mike her baby while she gets something out of her bag, then Cream whispers in his ear:

Cream: "How are you going to change to Miracleman without roasting that innocent little baby the way you roasted that terrorist."

His trap sprung, Cream shoots Mike at point blank range and everything for Mike goes dark.

Cream takes down Mike with ease.

The next chapter has an interesting structure.  Each page has a strip running across the middle in with silhouetted figures talking about current events, this being the government "Spookshow" behind Miracleman's creation. The chapter begins with Miracleman transformed and being attacked ineffectively by soldiers, then flashes back to Mike and Cream. So I'll discuss that bit first.

Cream has Mike tied up and gagged.  He only shot him with tranquiliser bullets.  Cream then lays some facts upon him.  First that he was created in 1954 as part of a project  called Zarathustra, carried out by the Spookshow.  In 1963 they decided to terminate the experminent with an A-bomb and they have also hired Cream to kill him.  Mike thinks it can't be true about his origins, but doubt starts to creep into his mind.  Cream says they should work together so that Mike can find the truth and Cream can gain some valuable information.  He unties Mike and removes his gag.  Mike transforms and Cream can only say "remarkable."

Keeps his cool in the presence of an angel.

The Spookshow realise that Cream has sold them out, "he must know what the Zarathustra secret is worth".  One man wonders why the Zarathustra bunker is still operational.  Dennis Archer admits he kept the project open, hoping to recoup some of the massive cost. He also  admits that the last line of defence protecting the bunker is another super-powered individual.

Finally the chapter shows Miracleman walking slowly and deliberately towards the bunker's front door, swatting away every attempt to stop him like you would swat a fly.  He finally makes it to the entrance only to be confronted with a muscular man in a tight suit and tie, wearing a bowler hat and wielding an umbrella.  He calls Miracleman "a bolshevik blighter" and in voice over Sir Dennis Archer says his name is "Big Ben".

The somewhat lame, Big Ben

The next chapter starts with Evelyn Cream talking to himself, he has a lot to say so here is a truncated quote that gives you a flavour of what he's driving at:

Cream: "Educated at Rugby, trained at Sandhurst.  You read the untranslated novels of Colette and own an original Hockney. Good God sir you are practically white.... and yet you follow this white Loa.  This Miracleman who leaves a trail of dead and fish-eyed fellows in his wake. Can it be that you have gone native Cream? Mr. Cream do you at last believe in Ju-ju? Great Grandfather, pass me down the gris-gris and the pointing bone, for I have at this late stage opted to become another crazy n*****"

Now I can tell you that final word was not censored in the original comics, and while I understand Marvel's reasons for doing so it's still a shame.  Miracleman is so heavenly and Godlike that even a man as cultured as Cream feels primitive by comparison.  His self lacerating monologue speaks to a man who fears that under the surface of his "practically white" identity lurks a confused idea of a tribal past that Miracleman is forcing him to confront by his very perfection.  The use of the word "nigger" at the end is like a verbal gunshot, pulling us up short and making realise just how disconcerting being around Miracleman can be if it can reduce a proud black man to someone who'll use racial epithets about himself.

Back to Big Ben, and I do believe he was another Warrior character whose use in Miracleman was forced on Moore by the editor.  Which probably explains why he is so laughable and pathetic.  To Moore's credit he ties him into Project Zarathustra seamlessly so you'd never know he was an unwanted element.  He attacks Miracleman over and over, under the mental impression Miracleman is a Russian agent, while Miracleman just stands there.

Miracleman: "I wish I knew who he was.  I wish he'd stop hitting me."

"Foolish human."

Finally Miracleman gets bored and with a contemptous slap sends Big Ben crashing through the trees into the ground.  Evelyn Cream then puts some dynamite on the door to blow it open, but, in a gorgeously drawn panel, Miracleman looks at him with a mixture of amusement and pity and rips the door right off with one hand.  They enter the bunker.

The penultimate chapter - "Zarathustra" - is absolutely jammed packed with text so some serious summarising is going on here.  In another interesting structural move, this chapter is mostly narrated after the fact by Sir Dennis Archer.  He found the carnage outside the bunker "horrifying" and that Big Ben was still alive though somewhat frozen up.

Digital recorders showed that Miracleman and Cream entered the bunker and looked around, where they would have noticed the skeletons of the "superhuman" (it's two skeletons fused together, obviously Young Miracleman) and the "visitor" which is a non-human skeleton, as well as part of the Visitor's ship.  They then started studying the tapes and spent forty-five minutes watching them until at 03:56 Miraclemen went suddenly berserk.

Miracleman SMASH!

The tapes show doctors using information gleaned from the Visitor's ship to create a superhuman from a single cell.  Two identical "infra-spatial" trigger devices are implanted so that when the "replicate" is displaced into "infra-space" it remains connected to the human subject.  When the trigger is activated the human and the replicate switch places, the trigger being a keyword.

The tape goes onto say that the superhumans were the UK's attempt to make nuclear bombs obsolete and it shows Kid Miracleman performing some feats of power and speed. The three test subjects were chosen because they were children of deceased airforce personel.  Dennis then reports that they overwound the tape and came onto the creation of Big Ben. He was not as powerful as the Miraclemen as Project Zarathustra's originator had disappeared taking his findings with him, so they were working with incomplete data.  Hence Big Ben's instability which came about due to their limited understanding of the para-reality programming.

The Miraclemen's REAL origins.

Miracleman and Cream then rewound the tape to the section all about para-reality programming. The Miraclemen were fed their Silver Age adventures via a virtual reality style computer set-up.

Tape: "...and the creatures have lain dreaming for the past eight years.  Their entire existence a computer designed fantasy.  In order to explain the finer details of this all-important mind programming, here is the controller and originator of the Zarathustra Project Doctor Emil Gargunza."

Gargunza: "... we have completely programmed the minds of these near-divine creatures. Providing them in the process with an utterly manufactured identity which is ours to manipulate at will. To whit:  the identity of a children's comic book character."

This revelation does not go down well.

It was at this point that Miracleman went berserk, Gargunza being his repeated nemesis in the the adventures he had that he thought were for real. It seems Cream managed to calm him down and they both left, leaving a clean-up crew to move in.  This includes to psychiatrists who gently take away Big Ben who has had a complete breakdown and is lost in his fantasy world. The story ends with the same lines it started with about some trucks being empty and some not.

There is a short epilogue chapter which shows two working class men cleaning up in the bunker.  I believe there has been some censorship here as well, when they put a tape on originally it showed an insulting Chinese "Fu Manchu" sterotype, but has been changed to show Steed of the Avengers and the word balloon altered accordingly.  Again I understand why it was done, it's just I believe work that was of it's time should be presented warts and all.  There is also a short story which shows Miracleman in the future working with Warpsmith an alien who was given a couple of stories in Warrior also included in this book but never caught on by himself.  He goes on to play a much bigger role in Book 3 though.  I assume "The Yesterday Gambit" as it's called is non-canon now as I think it contradicts the later Miracleman strips, but I could be wrong.

Warpsmith and Miracleman.

The main event of this book though are the ten chapters from the first - "A Dream Of Flying" to the last "Zarathustra".  It's no exaggeration to say they went off in the comic culture like a bomb.  Warrior had a pretty small circulation, I believe roughly twenty-thousand copies on average were sold per issue, with a quarter of that in the USA.  In the same way that it was said only one hundred people saw The Velvet Underground live but they all went on to form bands, so too did it seem Marvelman as it was then known had an influence that far outstripped the low sales of the comic it was in.  Realistic treatments of "silly" superheroes became fashionable, and in a more direct sense, Marvelman led to Swamp Thing which led to Watchmen which of course was even more influential. Book One ends with the character and his history revamped and totally deconstructed.  What was now interesting would be how Moore would go about reconstructing the character he'd so lovingly pulled apart...