Mister Miracle #1

[history79]

"I wanted to write about the Trump era, but I didn’t want to write, “Fascism sucks” or “Trump sucks.” That doesn’t get you anywhere. You’re taking your Twitter feed and putting it in panels. What I wanted to do is capture the emotion of the period, and the anxiety, the way Alan Moore captured the anxiety of the ‘80s or Kirby captured the anxiety of the ‘70s or even Lee captured the optimism of the ‘60s; to capture the feeling, more than the politics. That’s what interests me. That’s how you make something that’s just not a polemic. After page four, the whole thing goes into a 9-panel grid, and it’s to give you a sense of that claustrophobia. To give you a sense of what it is to be trapped, not only in the themes and the words, but in the actual panel structure. He’s trapped behind those bars we had in Omega Men, and how does he break out?"

- Tom King

Comments

[blueprintstyles]

Loved this issue, I hope "Darkseid is" is used in the movies at some point.

[arthur_wynne]

I want to read this. It's both beautiful and intriguing. I don't know if it captures the mood of the decade, but it's certainly very moody, in the best possible way.

[tigerkaya]

Oh how love Tom Kings jabs at the current Marvel crew and there petty bullshit temper tantrum on politics.

[starwolf_oakley]

It was worse in 2006. I'm not sure how "George W. Bush is a bad president" led to "Tony Stark is a fascist with an interest in superhero conscription, while Steve Rogers is an old school government-is-bad anarchist," but there you go.

[tigerkaya]

Don't talk to me about 2006 I was there at the beginning with Disassembled!

Now I have writers at a company channeling all their political B.S. by rewriting a character's moral compass to let out their temper tantrum over Trumps presidency.

Oh and apparently if I dislike the current legacy characters Marvel thinks people like me are sexist and racist and that the creators from the 60's that put their hear and soul into creating comics were white guys that considered comics a hobby.

True story on that last part on Alonso's blog.

[healyg]

Those first two pages you posted are really good at bringing out a creepy, anxious mood. I should probably pick this up.

[spider_man6]

I love how this is good Tom King stuff, but it also pulls from so many characters in his element - Orion, Barda, Highfather, Darkseid, and Oberon.
King is going to revolutionize with this book.

[thatnickguy]

I'm starting to wonder if Tom King is impervious to a bad book.

[ekrolo2]

His Batman is pretty awful. The plots tend to spin against the way they drive and he cannot for some unfathomable reason, write anyone as an actual human being.

Seriously, reading his Batman is like if a Terminator tried to write people as a part time job and he doesn't understand humanity at all. It's all so wonky and trite.

[aperturedreams]

A lot of people really like his Batman. There are some flaws and there's nothing wrong with disliking it but I'd hardly say that it being awful is the common consensus.

[ekrolo2]

I never said it was the consensus, I just can't stand how he writes this part of DC. His Batman reads like Skynet trying and failing to emulate how actual human beings talk with his tendency to repeat things over and over just making it sound all the more wonky and awkward.

The first arc is a perfect example of all things I loathe about people writing Batman. How "he's the greatest hero because he's human like us!" but then he one shots Solomon Grundy with a basic martial arts move the SUPERMAN level fighters couldn't defeat. In a story that's about Batman's relevance in Gotham with Supes level protectors, that's some fucking bullshit right there.

The second has by far one of the stupidest things ever with Batman snapping his spine back into place before and then proceding to fight a shit load of combatants.

The follow up Bane arc was okay I guess and I like the Catwoman two parter but his main arcs are all awkwardly or down right contradictory in their intent and execution, his dialogue is either stilted or hilariously convinced it's some deep shit when it's not and the artists don't do it any favors. Seriously, I've seen inert fucking bricks that have more kinetic energy in them then Janin or especially Finch and when you've got stiff art delivering some spectacularly stilted dialogue, thing's aren't gonna work.

Morrison, Tomasi and Snyder certainly have their issues and low points but even their worst stuff was never as boring or eye rolling as the worst IE most of King's work on Batman.

[lego_joker]

Just curious - what d'you consider good Batman stories? I've been struggling to get into any post-2011 Batman writer, really.

[thatnickguy]

I haven't read it, so I'll have to take your word on that. Seems a lot of people like it, though. I'm mostly basing my opinion on the above, as well as Vision and Omega Men.

[strejdaking]

I only see very few tiny bits here and there, but what is up with Bruce calling Selina Cat? Am I only one who finds it just... weird?

[beeyo]

...and she calls him Bat. And in a flashback it's revealed that they've always called each other those names, in this continuity anyway.
I love the Tom King Batman book, but yes, it is very weird. It comes off as them being politely formal to each other instead them calling each other cute nicknames, as I'm assuming it is intended.

[strejdaking]

Do they ever call each other by their names?

[beeyo]

When he proposes, I think. And when they're in bed together when Bruce is telling his story.

[walkingthroughforest]

Vehemently disagree. King's Batman run has been fantastic in my opinion. The initial Bane arc wasn't very strong, but outside of that, the quality of his work has been impeccable.

Batman #23 "The Brave and The Mold" was probably one of the single best Batman titles published this decade.

[wizardru]

I came here expecting to be dismissive of this; the idea of Scott Free attempting suicide seemed a direct affront to the character's central idea: i.e. he survived Apokolips and never gave up, no matter how much they tried to break him, and his optimism even converted someone sent to kill him into his wife.

But this...well, it's really, REALLY good. That sequence with Glorious Godfrey is amazing.

I like that the artist remembered that Barda is bigger than Scott and also what Kirby referred to as 'zaftig'. :)

[arthur_wynne]

Well, yes, but this isn't a suicide attempt as such... it's explicitly an attempt to cheat death and escape the inescapable. Not despair or surrender, but an optimism and drive that, in anyone other than a New God, would be completely insane.

That's why I love it so much. These sorts of conceptual stories are exactly what the New Gods are great for, but almost nobody can write them - even Kirby himself didn't always hit the mark IMO.

[tigerkaya]

I've been waiting for a good New Gods comic for a long time glad to see Tom King is not using the New 52 versions.

[leoboiko]

I don't read DC and I don't know who are these people but at this rate they can announce Tom King's Barney the purple dinosaur and I'll read it.