Miracleman #1

[history79]

"Picking up on a character like Marvelman was something that really put a lot of my unproven theories to the test, because right from the start you’ve got the problem that the character is faintly ridiculous. The standards of the 1950s and early 1960s were very, very different to anything we’re familiar with today, at least in terms of English comic books. So, you’d have Marvelman meeting fairy tale characters or scientific super-villains from another planet, and this was all, apparently, completely consistent and logical. No one really bothered with consistency back then! And yet, I approached the character thinking it would be arrogant to simply say, “Well, none of these previous stories ever happened and I’m now going to tell you a completely revamped story.” There’d be no point in actually doing that story about Marvelman, because the whole thing is to stick to the original continuity. But, I thought that it could maybe be reinterpreted in such a way that would make the character a lot more credible and a lot more involving. So, I looked at those ridiculous fairy tale adventures and thought, “Well, this plainly couldn’t have happened. And yet, this is part of the Marvelman continuity. What about if this happened entirely in his mind in some way? What if there was a whole other story going on?” And, I gradually, probably leaning heavily upon Philip K. Dick, came up with the idea of these people who were kept in a dream state, with programmed dreams, for a number of years. And, I thought that would explain the odder 1950s and ‘60s stories."

- Alan Moore




10 pages of 31

Comments

[alicemacher]

I've always liked how Moore handles Liz's reactions to Miracleman's origin story: disbelief and mockery, giving way to belief and not a small amount of fear when he finally loses his temper and in doing so demonstrates his power.

Garry Leach's portrayal of Kid Miracleman is more subdued than those of subsequent artists, but it works well in establishing the character. That last panel of Chapter 3, with KM's demonic grin and crackling aura, is especially memorable.

[bradygirl_12]

1963 is usually the year innocence ends.

[beyondthefringe]

Wow. In reading a writeup of the whole saga, all I can do is once again shake my head at how Alan Moore delights in completely fucking with everything you ever thought you knew. In this case, upending everything about what was basically just a bootleg Captain Marvel... death of innocence indeed.