Miracleman #2

[history79]

"Because we tried to set it in as realistic a world as were capable of, we found that every aspects of the character’s life presented us with new questions. If superheroes were real, then what would their relationships with their loved ones be like—especially in the case of a character like Marvelman, who is literally two completely separate people? Would there be psychological ramifications of constantly being the junior partner—constantly being the Billy Batson, who has to say the magic word and turn into the invulnerable superhero, in order to achieve anything? That could get to you after a while. We started to think about those ramifications. We also thought about what the political ramifications of some of these things would be. What would the government’s part be in all this? Where did this extraordinary technology come from in the first place to actually give someone another body at the utterance of a magic word? So, the whole Marvelman continuity kind of spread out from there. And, very early on, we started thinking about why Marvelman has been out of the picture all these years. What happens to his former sidekicks?"

- Alan Moore




10 pages of 31

Comments

[alicemacher]

Ah, Cream. Such a fascinating anti-villain. If I remember correctly, the book never did explain what was up with his teeth.

[captainbellman]

It feels almost unnecessarily cynical that the answer to those questions as posed by Moore all lead into existential/quasi-fascist dystopian horror.

[agharta75]

Moore slipped up here - Johnny said "Miracleman" twice and didn't change back. Or does he have to say "_Kid_ Miracleman"?

[lordultimus]

Mike specifically notes this - he theorizes that his powers burnt out somehow.

[wizardru]

It's also kind of implied later that Johnny (not-KM) consciously decides not to transform. Until things get...bad.

[lego_joker]

Given the nature of the Miracle-family's powers, it's probably an "All in your head" kind of thing. Like, if Johnny says "Miracleman" offhandedly or is specifically thinking about someone else as he says it, it won't do anything, but as soon as he remembers "Oh shit, isn't this supposed to depower me?"... well, mind becomes matter.

[agharta75]

For some reason that page didn't come through when I first saw it. :-(