MISTER MIRACLE is probably my all-time favorite comic -- but only the original issues by Jack Kirby; every other writer has mangled the concept horribly -- so it's fascinating to read your take on these two issues so far coming from a different perspective.
What impresses me about Morrison's version here is that, unlike all those other writers I mention, Morrison gets the core of the original concept. MM was not a superhero, however much he may have looked like one, and the stories were not about his feats as an escape artist. The "escapes" in the original series were totally perfunctory and throwaway...and that was deliberate. The real story of Kirby's first nine issues was about this character, Scott Free, who escaped an absolutely horrific and soul-crushing childhood to become a figure of compassion and courage, and who then faced repeated threats from his past trying to drag him back down into despair. The real escape was psychological; some Kirby fans see that story as Kirby's most personal and quasi-autobiographical statement, and it definitely draws on deep wellsprings of emotion. Get a copy of the trade paperback reprinting those early stories and decide for yourself.
(Sorry, I've written articles about MM for fanzines; I get longwinded on the topic.)
I'd say Morrison has rightly grasped that the core of the character is the psychological struggle -- not the gadgets he uses to elude the villains -- and has transferred the story to a former supporting cast member in a way that feels authentic and true to the original version.
Where I fear he may have gone astray is giving this one character in the Seven Soldiers a whole complex mythos and cast that don't actually have anything to do with the Sheeda or the Harrowing. It wouldn't bother me at all, but that we know he's going to have to cram in some connection to the overarching premise in the last two issues of this mini. I'd like to see how he pulls that off without shortchanging either the Sheeda elements or his interesting new viewpoint on the Fourth World elements.
"I'd like to see how he pulls that off without shortchanging either the Sheeda elements or his interesting new viewpoint on the Fourth World elements."
It was telling that the Sheeds literally got "run over" by the Black Racer in this issue.
No idea how he'll eventually work them in, but cover/description of Issue 3 doesn't make it seem like it will be there.
Read it with #1, you say?
Thank you, good sir, that is a great idea!!
RAB - Thanks for the info...
I've noticed around the internet that fans of the Kirby New Gods material tend to really enjoy this miniseries... so it could very well be that Morrison is doing a nice job of engaging with the Kirby stuff on Mr. Miracle... the problem I have is that, as a person who's not read the prior stuff, I don't think the story is working on other levels - basically, one has to have seen the older work to really get into this new work. This doesn't mean to denigrate the understanding Morrison has of Kirby's work... I'm just saying that little impact is being felt by those not tuned into Kirby's stuff.
I will say that he's doing a decent job of locking the story into the ongoing concerns of the project (transformation, maturity, etc.), even apart from a lot of literal Sheeda stuff...
Mark - Heh... I didn't think of it that way until you mentioned that...
Brian - I live to serve.
Yeah, this issue confused the holy hell out of me. Felt like I was watching a badly scripted and directed movie with lots of neat explosions. Its a damn shame those explosions weren't expositions, because this issue severly needed it. Don't know about you, but after crossing the half way mark, this ride is slowing down a bit and it looks like some of the nuts and bolts are flying off.
"Its a damn shame those explosions weren't expositions, because this issue severly needed it."
LOL... I liked that a lot...
God, they just put out the solicitation for issue #4 now, and it sounds really neat... always pulling me back...
Still, I've been liking the second half. Bulleteer and (to a lesser extent) Frankenstein started off pretty well, and I really enjoyed the finale for Zatanna...
Though Shining Knight was the first (and as far as this reader is concerned, only) real disappointment of the 7S experience, Mister Miracle #2 was the first outright BAD issue. Muddled storytelling (and that's being kind) and unimaginative set pieces/character designs/etc, and a real lack of detail in the art's backgrounds leading it to feel genericly bad really ruined it for me.
I don't know if better art by the talented P. Ferry would have made it out-and-out good, since I actually didn't like issue 1 too much either, but it couldn't have hurt. I was kind of feeling a Shining Knight-level vibe with issue 1, but this second issue really brings the whole project down a half-notch in my eyes.
I actually _liked_ this issue-- although perhaps all the complaining about it I had heard on the internet prior to reading it led me to it with lowered expectations. I don't know a blasted thing about the New Gods, but I found the concept pretty easy to pick up.
That said, this is probably my least favorite series so far. But we'll see-- perhaps Mr. Miracle will 'escape' being the weakest series-- that is his whole thing, after all.
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