Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham: The Silver Age #5-#7

I realized I only had three issues left of "Miracleman," so I decided to prioritize them as a break in making my way through my backlog.

Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Silver Age #5:  This issue is a slog.  Gaiman forces Buckingham into employing densely paneled pages so we can get through the mounds of dialogue and exposition that propel Dicky and Meta-Maid's search for Dicky's identity.

After leaving Jason in the Himalays to go find a person he left at camp (clearly a romantic interest of some sort), Meta-Maid convinces Deadlock to take her and Dicky on his mega-bike back to England.  They stop in several cities along the way, and, when Dicky comments on some sort of social ill he witnesses, such as kids living on garbage heaps in India or a man with skin cancers in Budapest, Meta-Maid explains their plight as an honor or privilege.  It sets up a binary where either children really do apply to live on the garbage heaps or Miracleman's Utopia isn't really one.  Dicky clearly believes the latter is true.

Upon finally arriving in England, Dicky and Meta-Maid search the British Museum for information about orphanages or the Spookshow (the government agency behind Gargunza's project) but find nothing.  A librarian recommends they go to the Memorial Museum, and Meta-Maid enters it alone when they discover it's located at the foot of Olympus.  She tracks down the remaining Spookshow records to a town in Yorkshire, the one where the man and his nephew from issue #4 run the church dedicated to Miracelman.  There, they work with an archivist, Professor Porter, to go through the records on microfilm.  (Interestingly, Porter refers to Bates as "little rascal," which seems like a pretty mild way to refer to the Butcher of London.)  Eventually, Meta-Maid recognizes the name "Joyful House," which Dicky muttered in a dream on the train to the town.

At Joyful House, clearly the abandoned orphanage where he lived, memories overwhelm Dicky, and he collapses.

Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Silver Age #6:  Unsurprisingly, Joyful House wasn't really all that joyful.

An eight-year-old Dicky arrives at the orphanage in 1949 clutching his mother's photo and a vinyl recording of Ruddigore, a Gilbert and Sullivan opera he attended with his mother before she died.  Dicky's father died in the war, a member of a Polish RAF squadron.  When Mrs. Maul — Joyful House's Miss Hannigan — tells Dicky that she can't pronounce his name, he adopts the name Dicky Dauntless.

Mrs. Maul takes the photo and record, the last vestiges of his previous life.  He's forced to bathe, and they burn his clothes, leaving him with the same "grey ill-fitting second-hand clothes" the rest of the kids wear.  When Dicky turns 12, he discovers that Mr. Maul pimps out the boys to various wealthy men, and Buckingham does an amazing job showing the melting ice-cream cone that signifies the end of each "encounter."

It changes for Dicky in 1952, at the age of 14 years old, when Gargunza appears.  He shows Dicky comic books, and Dicky confesses that he wants to fly one day.  Later, Mrs. Maul sends Dicky to get some fish and chips, where he's chloroform-ed and enters Gargunza's experiment.  (We're never told why Gargunza selected Dauntless, though it seems like he was going through all the orphanage's boys and Dicky fit the bill.  Buckingham certainly makes him the definition of a strapping English lad here.)

In the present, Dicky awakens, his memory restored.  Meta-Maid lays him on the bed and asks if she can kiss him; they kiss, and Dicky confesses it's the first time he's kissed a girl and the first time anyone asked him if it was OK.  (Oof.)  Later, she asks his real name, and Dicky says that it's Dicky Dauntless, the name he gave himself, "the only one that matters."  Then, Dicky announces he's ready to face Miracleman and transforms into Young Miracleman.

Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Silver Age #7:  For how long Gaiman has vamped, we finally get somewhere here.

Dicky takes over the world's television broadcasts to invite Miracleman to meet him in Petra.  Once Miracleman arrives, Dicky tells him that Meta-Maid is broadcasting their discussion lest he murder Dicky.  He then more or less orders Miracleman to lay out the futures he sees for him, which Miracleman does, reluctantly:  1) accept Miracelman's world ("embrace the miracle") and join the Pantheon; 2) go the same route as Caxton and give up his power; or 3) die.

Dicky then challenges Miracelman for the fourth option that he claims Miracleman's body language is screaming as his preferred option, which Miracelman does:  he reveals they've "retro-engineered" the Gargunza machine, so Dicky could live forever in their 1950s world.  Dicky asks if it's all Miracelman has.  When Miracelman doesn't respond, he tells him that this world sucks (a world that's jarring to see him use).  With Buckingham showing him as a beautiful young man, Dicky tells Miracleman that he's going to be his adversary:  "If this is Eden, I'm going to be the serpent."

In Sydney, a few weeks later, Dicky meditates under a tree while Meta-Maid spreads the world about him.  Eventually, more and more people gather around him, while, inside his head, a voice speaking in dark word bubbles — clearly Johnny, as seen in issue #3 — tells Dicky that he can't avoid him forever and to let him out.  Then, we're told the story will continue in the "Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Dark Age."  Dun-dun-DUN!

Final Thoughts:  Despite (or because of) this series' wordiness, I think it would've benefitted from a few more issues.  Gaiman hints at certain things at various points but never fleshes out the thought.  For example, I'm still uncertain if Dicky was attracted to Jason, and we never really get a good sense of when Meta-Maid started falling for Dicky.  After all, she joins him essentially because she's bored with the party she's attending, and it seems a lot to ask of her to abandon her partying ways (to which she alludes at the end of issue #7).

Continuing on the theme, Gaiman draws explicit parallels between Johnny and Dicky here, as Dicky suffered the same sexual abuse that led to Johnny release Kid Miracelman on his rapists in "Miracleman" #14.  But I'm not sure how far Gaiman is going to take that.  The implication at the end of issue #7 is that Dicky is going to become the villain like Johnny was.  But I have to hold out hope Gaiman doesn't go that route, as it seems more like Dicky to find a way to process that trauma and oppose Miracelman's authoritarianism on his own.

Even with these questions, I'm a lot happier with this series than I was.  Something about the Qys and Warpsmiths never really sat well with me, so I'm happy to have Gaiman focus more on the humans and their struggles.  Given the accusations against Gaiman, I find it hard to believe that we're ever going to see "Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Dark Age," but we'll see.

Seven-Month-Old Comics!: The March 6 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars #44:  So much talking.

I mean, I get it.  After all, Admiral Ackbar, Princess Leia, General Madine, and Mon Mothma have a pretty interesting discussion about balancing the Rebellion's need to show they'll bring back justice to the Galaxy against the its need to punish treason to maintain discipline in the ranks.  Leia suggests a compromise:  a secret military tribunal comprised of Ackbar, Medine, and Mothma.  I don't really get how that helps her drive for transparency, though, given the implication they won't announce the verdict against Lando if he's found guilty.

Anyway, Lando appears almost suicidal in his conversation with Lobot, admitting that he's going to let them hang him for treason because he's committed so many crimes.  To his mind, the best crime he's committed is committing treason to save Lobot, so he might as well get his just desserts for that one.  But Lobot tells Lando that he's delusional if he thinks the Rebellion is just going to embrace him (Lobot) after Lando's death.  As such, he convinces Lando to call in Salli Georgio, as we saw in "Star Wars:  Revelations" #1.

Again, I get all the need for a lot of dialogue to let these events develop.  The problem is that I was already pretty tired of reading by the time we start the trial, which is the main event, after all.  

The good news is that Georgio is as great as she was in "Star Wars:  Revelations" #1.  First, she obviously has some ulterior motive for getting her droid to plug into the Rebellion's audio system to record the trial.  (It clearly isn't just that she doesn't like taking notes.)  Second, she's correct when she tells Lando the Rebellion has him dead to rights, so she has to convince the tribunal — somehow — that they don't care about the truth.  She hasn't figured out that part, so she's stalling, though Lando isn't wrong when he says her attempt to blame his actions on the Jedi Mind Trick (again) probably isn't going to work so well with this crowd.  

But Georgio gets her distraction when a group of Silverhawk-esque mercenaries break into the facility where Mothma is located (she's tele-participating in the trial) and kidnap her.  Or, as Georgia says, "Yep.  That'll work."

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how great Lando looks in a beard — woof! — I didn't resurrect pet peeve #1 by pointing out that nothing in this issue has to do with Darth Vader or Han Solo, who both feature prominently on the cover.  With the scene set, I'm looking forward to seeing where Lando's trial goes.

Void Rivals #7:  And away we go.

Ten years ago, Darak worked as an "edgewalker," using a robotic exoskeleton to move crates for reasons that Kirkman doesn't explain.  Darak's foreman tells him and his colleagues to hustle, since the "bleeding edge" (of Agorria and the Wasteland) has so little gravity that any mistake could send them hurling off the Ring.  When a stack of crates falls onto one of Darak's colleagues, he springs into action, saving his colleague but sending himself into the Wastelands.  

In the present day, Handroid calculates Darak and Solila's trek across the Wasteland will take three months and notes they only have four to six weeks' worth of supplies.  However, Darak informs Handroid and Solila that he's been to the Wastelands before and saw something (what, we don't know, because we didn't see it when he looked upon the Wasteland earlier in the issue) that makes him believe they only need to last half that time.

Elsewhere, Zalilak appears, Darkseid-esque, in a room bathed in dark red light.  He informs the room's occupant, a young Zertonian studying a tablet, that an Agorrian has corrupted a Zertonian warrior and headed into the Wasteland.  Zalilak says the Zertonian is the only one brave enough to go after them, which the Zertonian questions.  The Zertonian wonders what could cause the panic in Zalilak's voice but then informs Zalilak that he's also read the sacred tests and guesses stopping the pair has something to do with preventing Goliant's coming.  

As such, he agrees to hunt the pair but ponders what Zalilak will do if he turns against him once his task is complete.  Zalilak is unconcerned, noting that their last confrontation was unpleasant and that the Zertonian seems happy in this room. 

After Zalilak alludes to the Zertonian's "current state,"  we discover that this conversation is happening inside the Zertonian's mind as his body is a Vader-esque rump filled with cybernetic implants.  Zalilak orders Guilan to free Proximus, and Guilan begs for Zerta's mercy as he does so.  After Proximus leaves for the hunt, Guilan falls to his knees, and Zalilak states that Proximus is simply a man, though the deadliest one of them.  

The issue ends with the creepy religious sisters we saw in previous issues meeting with their leader who informs them that Solila is on her calling's path and her destination approaches.

All in all, it's a pretty slow issue, as Kirkman is clearly just setting up the upcoming arc's events.  I'm OK with that, but it doesn't make this issue the most thrilling read.

Seven-Month-Old Comics!: The February 28 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Duke #3:  Ah, the Baroness.

Before this issue, we were essentially watching boys playing with their toys.  It was fun, but it was also sort of ridiculous, the idea that Duke was going to play spy on Burkhart's behalf.  I mean, he isn't exactly the spy sort of guy, as Hawk mentions in issue #1.  

The Baroness, on the other hand — well, she's an entirely different kettle of fish.  Duke reviews her history here, which interestingly enough seems to surprise her.  It isn't really a shock that she was a rich kid who got bored and started engaging in black ops for an Eastern European intelligence agency to keep herself amused.  But Duke alludes to something made her go from spy to terrorist and exposits that they still don't what it was.

The Baroness doesn't reveal her cards, though.  Instead, she notes that she left the situation and observes, not incorrectly, that Duke remains committed to his system, even though it's locked him in the same prison as her.  Duke insists that he let himself be captured so he could make his case to the Powers That Be, but he doesn't seem so confident about it when he repeats it for the Baroness.

Before they can continue the discussion, Major Bludd and his Blood Hounds arrive.  Working for Destro, he's been tasked with killing Duke and finding Burkhart's device.  (Destro used Burkhart's tracker to reverse engineer where Duke was, leading Bludd to the Pit.)  Before Bludd can kill a defiant Duke, the Baroness shoots him between the eyes.  Looking at a stunned Duke, she notes the bounty on his head that Bludd mentioned.

All in all, the Baronness injects some much needed energy into this title, distracting me from the nagging questions about how this story and "Transformers" fit in the Energon Universe timeline.

Dungeons & Dragons:  Saturday Morning Adventures II #2:  This issue is interesting because Booher really addresses for the first time that the kids, notably Bobby, are aging.  

Jarlaxle learns that Bobby didn't run from the party; a pirate named Captain Wrathun captured him, for reasons that Booher doesn't reveal.  Jarlaxle hires Minsc and Boo (!) as mercenaries, and the party sets sail across the Trackless Sea for the island of Gundarlun, where Wrathun and the Hanged Man Crew have their hideout.  Sheila confides in Diana that she's struggling with the fact that Bobby is getting older, and Diana tells her that they need to assure Bobby that they'll be here for him as he does.

A dragon turtle takes out their boat, and the party (minus Jarlaxle) find themselves on Gundarlun just in time to find Bobby swearing fealty to the Hanged Man Crew, after Wrathun correctly surmised he wanted to be the warrior Sheila didn't want him to become.  Dun-dun-DUN!

Undiscovered Country #28:  Holy shit, I didn't see that coming.

In a flashback, Dr. Kellogg, Bounty's founder, tells his son, one of the Nephilim, that the other Zones have become dangerous, some of them evil.  He's at the end of his life, so he boards the train to destroy the bridge to Aurora and begs his son to keep up the lie that Bounty is feeding the other Zones so the Nephilim have something in which they believe.  But he also warns him that outsiders will come one day and he'll need to keep his family safe.

In the present, Chang gets Janet to shake off her grief, asserting that Aurora created and cured Sky to build up tension and then grant release, hopefully creating the scenario for the AEA and PAPZ to channel their newly excess energy into war with each other.  Janet realizes he's right, that the United States would then ride into the situation on a white horse, given the goodwill it created in curing Sky, which is why her and Chang's analogues in Zone History ordered the invasion of the United States.  She and Chang recommit to taking out Aurora.

As Ace and Valentina have sex for the first time, the locusts attack, and the team heads off the bridge.  Snyder and Soule are clever here:  I was wondering how the team was going to survive, and then we then see a naked Ace (whose hog is huge, per Chang) flying Buzz, with the rest of the crew hanging off Buzz.  Pavel uses his flaming arm to kill some of the locusts, and, for reasons that aren't totally clear, the locusts decide now to attack the Nephilim.  The crew makes its way back to Bounty only for the Nephilim's leader to blame the team for the locusts' attack and rip Chang in half to save his family!  

I'm assuming Chang survives here but, man, that had to hurt.