Miracleman #16 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is actually fairly dull, despite it concluding Moore's run on the title.  Most of it is given to Miracleman's description of how he, Miraclewoman, Huey Moon, and the Warpsmiths became Earth's New Gods and took over the world.

In so doing, Moore explores an idea that many other authors have treated, when superheroes overconfidently decide that they can rule the world better than humans can.  (Mark Gruenwald's "Squadron Supreme" mini-series from 1985-6 is probably the best example of this sort of story, to my mind.)  The key to these stories is how the heroes will eventually pay for this hubris, and Moore ends his run on the series without making that clear.  We seem to have a number of spoilers in the mix, such as the program that brings back the dead in artificial bodies but keeps them locked in the basement of Olympus or the one that gives ordinary people superpowers.  It seems to be creating rivals that may one day challenge the New Gods' rule.  But, the only hint that we get that something could currently be amiss is Miracleman's confusion over the fact that Liz turned down his offer to give her superpowers.  Will this confusion become doubt, and will that doubt divide the New Gods?  I guess we'll see.

If I'm not mistaken, we've got eight issues left of the original series.  I'm excited to see where Gaiman takes us.  These last few issues, Moore has been more focused on shocking us than really telling character-based stories.  I feel like I could use a few issues where we get into Miracleman's head and hopefully Gaiman will give it to us.

** (two of five stars)

Miracleman #15 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is it, the gore-a-rama, as Kid Miracleman destroys London.  Many thoughts.

Totleben's art reminds me of a graphic depiction of Buddhist Hell that I once saw painted on a temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia, full of men roasting on spits and people burning in perpetuity.  In other words, it definitely conveys the sense that Johnny brought Hell to Earth.  While reading the story, I couldn't but help to think about how the series "Irredeemable" is  really a more detailed exploration of the themes that Moore explores here.  It actually says something about our tastes that Krause never gives us the same scale of gore in his depiction of the Plutonian's destruction of the fictional Sky City, but Totleben pulls no punches 25 years or so earlier in showing a real city destroyed.

The comparison with the Plutonian doesn't end with the awfulness of his crimes.  Miracleman is reminiscent of the pre-snapped Plutonian, since Bates' rampage occurs during a brief moment when Miracleman is off-world.  The Plutonian was in part driven insane when he fled to the Moon for some peace and quiet and a tragedy that he could've prevented happened in his absence.  It definitely raises questions about Miracleman's stability in the coming issues.  We discover in this issue that Miracleman two years down the line is forced to constantly busy himself to prevent himself from thinking of this day and we've already seen him appear more aloof (referring to himself as a god) in recent issues.  Are we just watching a slower descent into madness than the Plutonian suffered?  

Moore also gives us hints of a world shaken to its core more than the one that suffered the onslaught of the Plutonian.  Moore reveals that this announcement of the arrival of super-humans basically sweeps away the old gods, with Miracleman and Miraclewoman taking their place.  For me, the most interesting question there is how Earth could possibly come to trust them.  Maybe the answer is that Earth doesn't come to trust them; it comes to fear them, in the way that they feared the old gods, even the benevolent ones.  Here, Moore is really taking the superhero tale to the logical conclusion that mainstream comic books generally avoid:  if we really lived in a world with beings with this sort of power, it's hard to see us going about our daily lives like we did before they arrived.  How could you not believe that Miracleman or Kid Miracleman wasn't some form of god, seeing what the world saw happen in London?

Perhaps the saddest part of this issue, though, is Miracleman clutching Johnny Bates' cold body.  It's sad not only because he's forced to murder Johnny to "kill" Kid Miracleman, but Bates' pants are still wrapped around his ankles, a reminder that the last time that we saw him he was being raped.  It's here where Totleben pulls no punches, reminding us what a tragic figure young Johnny Bates is.  It's the one human moment in this entire issue, allowing us to understand the scale of the tragedy that befell London.  It also seems to be the last human moment for Miracleman, as he weeps over the obvious end of the innocence that he once enjoyed.

I'm intrigued to see where we go from here.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #14 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

When I did some research on "Miracleman" before getting the first issue, it was clear that issues #15 and #16 were going to be particularly brutal.  At first, that didn't seem to be too high of a bar.  It wasn't like the first few issues were tame exactly; after all, Miracleman spends most of issue #2 with a burnt-off face as a result of his confrontation with Kid Miracleman.  But, they all seemed within the bounds of the adult-oriented comics that an independent publisher in the 1980s would be producing.  The violence steadily increased over the next few issues, with Cream's decapitated head narrating issue #7 and Moore describing Gargunza serially raping Miraclewoman in issue #13.  The art also got more graphic, such as the scenes showing Liz giving birth in issue #9.

This issue is clearly a prelude of the heightened level of violence to come.  Johnny Bates is raped by a sadist in the home where he's lodged, and it forces him to release Kid Miracleman to protect himself.  I'm not a fan of rape as a plot device, but Moore at least doesn't make this one as gratuitous as Miraclewoman's.  (Just writing that sentence makes me feel dirty, in a moral-relativism kind of way.)  Moore makes it clear how Johnny's Dickensian existence over the last few issues finally pushed him over the brink.  In fact, the scene is made all the worse by the fact that Johnny seems to understand just how terrible what he's doing is; he keenly feels it as a failure on his part.  Moreover, the returned Bates' rampage through the home is a level of brutality that I'm not sure I've seen in comics; his cruel murder of the nurse reminds us that he has become evil incarnate.

On Johnny, I'll say that I'm interested to learn more about him.  Moore's thesis when it comes to him is that absolute power corrupted him absolutely.  It's a valid thesis, but I'm not sure if it explains his actions.  Losing his grip on humanity after spending so much time as Kid Miracleman is one thing.  But, why would he feel the need to murder indiscriminately, as he does here?  On some level, wouldn't the nurse be beneath his notice?  If you really view yourself as a god, why bother with the little people?  I feel like we're missing the explanation for why he decided to use his power in the way that he does, to damage humanity, since ignoring (or helping) them remained a completely valid option.  I feel like Moore is going to get there in these next issues, so it's not a complaint so much as a question.

Looking at the rest of the issue, we continue to get future Miracleman's weird narration as he dances some sort of dance, presumably in his fortress.  But, more importantly, we witness the "death" of Mike Moran in this issue.  Liz has been driven to leave Miracleman since she can't take the pressure of existing as a lesser being to her husband and daughter, and Winter, freed from her concern for her mother, departs to find the Qys and learn more about her powers.  Having lost everything connecting him to his past life, Mike hikes into the mountains and turns into Miracleman for the last time.  It's a profoundly sad moment raises all sorts of questions about whether he's now on the same path as the one that Johnny took.  But, again, it goes to this question about motivations:  what turned Johnny bad but what might keep Mike good?

Finally, we get some more insight into the mythos of this world, learning that a "firedrake" is the first person on a planet to create fire.  We meet an ancestor of Earth's firedrake here, learning that the Qys originally came to Earth to find him.  (Their crash provides the impetus for the creation of Miracleman.)  We're also reminded of the other "extraordinary" being on Earth:  "Big Ben."  He appeared briefly in issue #4, a failed post-Gargunza experiment driven insane.  It'll be interesting to see if he appears again.  We also watch Miracleman construct his subterranean lair, "Silence," a reflection of the loneliness that he feels now that he's lost his family (and, in a way, himself).  In other words, a lot of hints about the future that we've seen previously in this series are starting to come together.

*** (three of five stars)

All-New Miracleman Annual #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'll be upfront and say that I'm not sure that this annual is really worth the $4.99 price tag.

We're clearly paying for the Morrison story that they've unearthed, written in 1984 but unpublished.  It's an interesting look into (presumably) the moment that Johnny Bates crossed into villain territory, killing a Catholic priest who saw him fall to the ground the night that the Miracleman Family was purportedly killed.  I'm assuming that he did it to cover his tracks, to make sure his identity remained a secret, but Morrison doesn't really make that clear.  After all, Bates never used his powers in public after that night, so I'm not sure why he would need to be worried that someone would know that a super-human was out there somewhere.  But, as usual with Morrison, we're left to draw those conclusion on our own.

The second story features another moment where Miracleman came close to realizing that he was in a dream, after a week of fighting "death rays, evil dolphins, and amnesia vapors" resulted in no one getting seriously hurt.  It's a clever story, but it is something that we've already seen in the main title, so it's not particularly entrancing here.  That said, I'm not usually a fan of the Allreds' work, but they are the perfect people to depict the retro Miracleman Family stories.

In other words, it's a solid regular issue, but don't expect anything groundbreaking in this first annual outing.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #13 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Despite this issue dealing with inter-stellar politics, it's actually easier to digest than the last two issues.  Moore not only solidifies our understanding of the nature of the Miraclepersons, but also manages to bring some emotion back to the series.

We learn that the aliens that crashed on Earth and served as the basis for the Miraclepersons were the Qys, thanks to their natural ability to change bodies (leaving them in infra- or under-space).  It actually makes a lot of sense, no matter how fantastic it sounds here.  Moreover, we learn that the birth of Winter, essentially a child of the Qys, has brought Earth into the "intelligent space" that the Qys and the Warpsmiths divide, leading to both sides agreeing to keep the planet neutral for now.  (Miraclewoman at some point suggested that the two sides have sex to resolve their differences, and I think one of the goals of the monitoring system that the two sides establish is to determine whether Earth would be a suitable place for that act to happen.)  With the conclusion of this inter-stellar summit, Mike returns home and a freaked out Liz flees for her sister's, leaving Winter to talk to Mike for the first time.

Although Moore uses some of the difficult narration from the previous two issues, he scales it back significantly so that it doesn't really get in the way of the story that he's telling (as it did in those issues).  Moreover, he addresses my complaint from last issue, that we functionally no longer have anyone capable of exhibiting emotions in this series.  Moore actually uses Liz's breakdown as a way to underline that point, showing Miracleman as increasingly removed from his humanity.  (In fact, I realized that Miracleman hasn't assumed Mike's body in a while.)  If the message still wasn't clear that Miracleman is increasingly not human, Moore has him observing a race that he created and keeps in a terranium like a distant god.  (The story closes with Mike talking about a word that this race coined for "the sorrow that is felt on realising sorrow is a thing one can no longer truly feel.")  Moore seems to be setting up a moment where Mike will decide to leave behind his humanity, and the series is easier to read now that it's clear that we're moving to this decision point.

Of note, Moore really does anticipate the Information Age in this issue.  Although in this world the communications revolution seems due to gifts from the aliens, Moore really does predict a world where distance has no meaning, similar to the Warpsmith's reality.  "No cities, concentrating jobs and lives into one crammed environment, when screens can take the office home.  No borders in the electronic state, where jokes in Aberdeen raise laughter in Japan."  Written in 1987, it's interesting to see how Moore predicts where we find ourselves now.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #11 and #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

A few weeks ago, I switched to getting "Miracleman" digitally, but it took me a few weeks to realize that "Miracleman" isn't available digitally.  As such, I'm two issues behind, so let's get to it.

Issue #11 is...odd.  I mean, this entire series is odd, so it's saying a lot when I find myself singling out an issue as "odd."  The main story itself is fine.  The two mysterious figures from the previous issue (identified as Qys in the text describing the re-worked cover in the extra pages) finally find Moran.  He manages to avoid them long enough to turn into Miracleman, but they do a number on him anyway. They read his mind and discover that he has a daughter, so one of the Qys goes to collect her.  Thankfully, Miraclewoman has snuck into the Moranses' house and knows a way to injure the Qys, saving Liz and the baby in the process.

Again, the story itself is fine.  It's a little unclear how Miraclewoman is able to seemingly kill a Qys without it resurrecting itself in a new shape, as keeps happening to Miracleman, but it's clear that Moore will likely clarify that part in the next issue.  The odd part is the framing narration.  The story is told as a flashback by Miracleman as he sits in his orbital station above Earth in 1987 and writes his mémoires.  He seems to have lost touch with his humanity by this point, seeing himself as a demi-god that can grant wishes and life.  (Underscoring that point, he calls the station "Olympus.")  The emotional detachment isn't the only odd part; when he does have emotions, they seem odd, like the revelation that he not only keeps a bust of Gargunza, but refers to him as "Father."  It seems almost like Kid Miracleman or some other villain has taken over Miracleman's body.  If not, Moore is going to have to explain at some point how Miracleman became the oddball that he is here.

Issue #12 is...odder.  Again, the story is fine.  In fact, we actually start getting somewhere, completing our understanding of Gargunza's activities.  Miraclewoman reveals via flashback that Gargunza created her and the remaining Miracleperson, Young Nastyman, as an off-the-books project.  He created her to mate with one of the four other Miraclemen, clearly to create the child that he could use as the repository of his mind (as he intended with Winter).  We learn that Gargunza repeatedly raped Miraclewoman while she was in her dream state and that he infused Young Nastyman with violent images in his dream state.  But, Young Nastyman eventually broke free, and Gargunza allowed Miraclewoman and the Miracleman Family to awaken to go after him.  Miraclewoman succeeds in defeating him and absconds.  In the meantime, Archer has discovered Gargunza's secret activities and sends the now-awakened Miracleman Family to their deaths at Dragonslayer.  (Interestingly, Moore seems to imply that Young Miracleman was in love with Miracleman, something I hope we explore later.)  In the present, the Miracles are whisked into space with the Warpsmiths, who arrive to help the surviving Qys heal his dying counterpart.

Like the previous issue, this issue is made difficult to read a a result of Miracleman's almost incomprehensible narration.  We learn that Miraclewoman in 1987 seems to be some sort of sexual therapist, though I have to be honest that I'm not 100 percent sure of that.  The entire issue is sexually charged, and it's full of odd moments like Miraclewoman revealing that she laughed when she discovered, via video tapes, that Gargunza frequently raped her unconscious self.  As such, you not only find yourself reading about Miraclewoman shrugging off the years of horrific sexual abuse that she suffered at Gargunza's hands, but you have to keep re-reading it to make sure that you've actually understood it correctly, given the lack of clarity in the narrative.  It's disturbing to say the least.

I have to admit that I'm not 100 percent sure whether I want to keep reading the story that Moore is telling.  I believe that Gaiman is taking over the series in a few issues, but, if I have to get through the pages upon pages of turgid prose that I had to endure in these two issues, I'm not sure I can make it four issues.  Plus, I'm not really clear on the story that Moore is telling.  Originally, we were watching Mike come to grips with his secret past, but now we just seem to be meandering through a twisted version of Saturday morning cartoons.  The narrative oddness in these issues makes Miracleman seem vaguely inhuman, undermining your ability to identify with him or the story.  Even when we do stumble upon scenarios where we might be able to identify with the characters as humans, the characters' emotions make little sense, as with Miraclewoman's response to learning about her sexual abuse or Miracleman keeping a bust of Gargunza.  It's all just...odd. 

** (two of five stars)

Miracleman #10 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

We get two big revelations in the last issue of "Book Two:  The Red King Syndrome."  (I'll note that I'm still not really sure why it's called that.)  First, we discover that a Miraclewoman exists, though we're not really given any details about her, such as whether she was connected to the Gargunza experiments that created the Miraclemen.  Second, we discover that Mike's body isn't alone in the dream universe where it goes when he switches form with Miracleman.  Most intriguingly, though, it's not just Kid Miracleman's body there with him (since Johnny Bates is in the real world), but seemingly thousands of other robotic-looking entities.

Although the first revelation is intriguing, it's the second one that seems the most likely to open the door to where we're going in the next book(s).  We discover Miraclewoman's existence and get some insight into the dynamics of the dream universe because the two entities seeking Kid Miracleman last issue continue their search for "cuckoos" (the Miracle-beings) present on Earth.  Moore clearly connects them to the futuristic story that we saw in issue #2 ("Warrior" #4) since they use the term "firedrake," the name of one of Miracleman's unseen allies in that issue.  The aliens seem to use "cuckoos" and "firedrakes" synonymously though Moore doesn't make that connection clear yet.  At any rate, Moore has been hinting throughout the series that the extra-terrestrial nature of Miracleman's powers would bring aliens into his orbit (so to speak) at some point.  Beyond "Warrior" #4, we also saw stories about the Warpsmiths (like the one that appears in that issue) in issue #3 ("Warrior" #9-10) and #4 ("A1" #1).  It appears to be time.

The good news is that the alien stories are bound to be more interesting than the child-focused story, since it's hard to stay engaged in a story that Moore seems to be rushing.  It just seems obvious that something is going to happen (like fast-aging the baby), and we're simply waiting for that moment to come.  The sooner that we can bring it to resolution, the sooner that we can focus on the aliens and the nature of Miracleman.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #9 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This entire issue plays off its shock value, with Veitch's extremely graphic portrayal of Liz giving birth.  The only notable part of this sequence, from a narrative perspective, is the cruelty that Miracleman exhibits in his recollection of Gargunza, noting that he dedicated his entire life to this moment, something that he wouldn't see (thanks to Miracleman killing him).  It's not like a sociopath like Gargunza deserves any sympathy, but it's interesting that Miracleman's response to the birth of his child is such hatred.  Separately, we witness two alien-seeming entities entering Johnny Bates mind to determine if Kid Miracleman is alive in there, though he manages to evade them.  But, it's really just hard to get around the shock value of Veitch's art, and I honestly think that it just overwhelms the issue.  I'm intrigued to see where Moore goes from here, now that Gargunza has been defeated.

** (two of five stars)

Miracleman #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

For the fact that Miracleman unexpectedly kills Gargunza in this issue, I have to say that it didn't have that strong of an impact on me.

It's not to say that it's a bad issue.  Moore handles it all pretty beautifully.  He shows that Mike isn't as helpless as he thinks that he is, realizing that he can de-activate Miracledog (heh) by speaking his activation word.  He also shows an increasingly brutal Miracleman, making you wonder if the concerns that the government had about the project weren't well founded.  If human life stops having any real meaning to him and he starts thinking of himself like a god (as he does when he brings Gargunza into orbit), then we've pretty clearly got a problem.  My only real complaint is that Gargunza was a little too much the stereotypical super-villain in not only giving Cream and Mike a fighting chance, but also in underestimating Moran figuring out the way to de-activate Miracledog, since no one is more familiar with that transition than he is.  Conversely, though, Gargunza pays the price for this arrogance with is life, something most of other super-villains manage to avoid.

Looking to future issues, we're definitely heading into new territory.  Two of the major characters of this arc -- Cream and Gargunza -- are gone, and you've got to wonder where we're going.  We know that a confrontation with Kid Miracleman is coming, so I wonder what events will lead us there.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Gargunza continues his super-villain narration of Miracleman's origins in this issue, though Moore puts some effort into making it seem more natural than such speeches usually are.  At first, it conforms to the standard trope, with Gargunza wanting Liz to be aware of his brilliance and his arrogance blinding him to the possible consequences of revealing the information that he does.  However, Moore changes up the usual dynamic since Gargunza really does seem to be in complete control.  For example, he reveals that he's installed a post-hypnotic suggestion in Miracleman that de-powers him, obliquely referring to an incident in 1961 that led him to create such an eventuality.  Moreover, he mentions two other members of the Miracleman Family - Rebbeck and Lear - that he created, though we're not given any other details about them.  These revelations remind us how much information he still has, beyond what we (and Liz and Mike) already know.  It seems unlikely that anything that he tells Liz could really be used against him later.

In terms of the larger plot, Moore really asks us to embrace the story that he's telling at face value.  He uses the alien nature of the technology that Gargunza used to create the Miracleman Family as a defense against getting too detailed about the process itself.  He's telling us that we shouldn't be looking for more practical explanations, because the technology is beyond our human capacity to understand.  The only place where I found this assertion difficult to accept was Gargunza's explanation for why he needed to use Liz and Mike's baby to achieve his goal of immortality.  First, he claims that he couldn't have his own super-human body, because he's too old.  I get that, even if I'm not sure that it would survive careful scrutiny.  Then, he claims that he couldn't just imprint himself on Mike's brain, because Miracleman already had a brain implant.  I had a hard time following that line of logic, but Moore seems to be arguing that Gargunza could actually imprint himself onto Mike, but it wouldn't work in terms of controlling Miracleman, since he already had a "mature and powerful personality."  I can more or less accept that.  However, Gargunza then seems to connect the brain implant to the powers themselves, since he says that Liz and Mike's baby won't need to have one in order to have powers.  The easiest answer would be that he meant that the baby wouldn't need to switch bodies to have her powers, so she wouldn't need any sort of brain implant to facilitate the transfer of her consciousness from one body to another.  As such, Gargunza could then presumably graft himself on such a young and less powerful personality.  But, again, I'm doing all the work here making these various connections.  Moore isn't asking you to think too carefully about these issues; we're just supposed to take Gargunza at his word.  I'm more or less OK with that, but I can't say that it isn't at times distracting.

However, Moore does answer one of my main questions, namely how Gargunza knew the Miracleman Family's identities but the government didn't.  Here, he claims that Archer essentially stayed an arm's length from his work, allowing him to do what he needed to do to create the weapon that Archer wanted.  Gargunza describes it as a sort of deal with the Devil where he was the Devil and Archer didn't really ask too many questions.  I'm not sure that I buy it, but I'm glad that Moore at least addresses it.

Putting aside the details, as Moore seems to be exhorting us to do, the most interesting part of this issue is that Gargunza is finally Miracleman's enemy.  Previously, he had only been his enemy in the dreams that he created for Mike to have.  Now, they're enemies in real life.  In this way, Moore brings the story full circle.  We seem to be moving off the issues related to Mike's past and onto problems affecting his present.  Moore didn't rush this process, and, as a result, it feels like an organic progression of events.  He's asking us to forgive the original sin of this book - a convoluted 1950s origin story - and enjoy the existential dilemmas that Mike and Miracleman must confront.  Although it might be difficult to do at times, as it was for me here, Moore seems poised to reward that effort, so I'm willing to do a better job making it.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

To be honest, this issue isn't all that remarkable.  It's essentially all about Dr. Gargunza.  We discover his violent origins, and Moore doesn't do anything to humanize him in the telling.  He explains him, but Moore clearly doesn't subscribe to the theory that every villain is a hero that society persecuted too early.  Gargunza made his choices, and they reflect the power-hungry villain that he is.

Moore also tells a story from the 1960s, as Gargunza struggles to keep the Miracleman Family dreaming when Micky's subconscious tries to alert him that he's dreaming.  The dreaming story is clever, particular through its use of symbolism to show Micky's rebelling subconscious (e.g., the Miracleman Family fighting vampires in the dream world, when they're really fighting Gargunza's power-dampening devices in the real world).

In terms of the ongoing story, we get confirmation that Gargunza clearly knows the Miracleman Family's identities.  He specifically mentions Moran's name, and Hypnos (the villain that Gargunza uses in the dream world to try to keep them dreaming) also uses Dicky Dauntless' name.  If Gargunza knew their identities, it remains unclear to me why the government -- as we've established in other issues -- didn't.

Also, I was surprised when "Warrior" #16 wasn't as violent as I expected, since I heard that Moore's last issue ended with an orgy of violence.  But, after some online research, I realized that the "Warrior" issues that we're currently reading were in turn reprinted in first few issues of the original "Miracleman" run.  If I'm not mistaken, next issue corresponds to the old "Miracleman" #6 (and "Warrior" #19-#21).  Then, we're through the "Warrior" period, and the old "Miracleman" #7 will appear in the present "Miracleman" #8.  Confusing, but I think I get it.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, I have questions after this issue.  I don't understand how no one in the government knew the Miraclemen's identities.  After all, Project Zarathustra chose them specifically because their fathers had been in the R.A.F.  So, why wouldn't Arch know their identities if he knew their fathers' identities?  It's actual consistent with last issue, where the government didn't know Johnny Bates' name and therefore couldn't block his rise to power.  But, it still doesn't make sense to me that the government didn't know their names in the first place, since, again, they were sons of deceased R.A.F. soldiers.  Someone had to know their identities.  Moreover, if we buy that no one in the government knew their identities, how did Gargunza discover Mick's?  Moving off the identity issue, why would Miracleman's son be Gargunza's father?  Is he implying some sort of time swap?  Or, is he going to use the super-powered child to give himself powers, using the term "father" loosely?  Separately, what creature does Gargunza use to kill the leopard?  Is it somehow part of Project Zarathustra?  Either way, I'm guessing that we're going to see it fight Miracleman when he arrives on scene to save Liz.

In terms of answers, we do get one here, namely Cream's motivations.  He tells Arch that he turned against the government for power, and I buy that, since Moore has him essentially establish himself as Miracleman's agent in this issue.  But, other than that, this issue just raises more questions.  Most of them are purposefully questions, keeping us engaged in the mystery surrounding Miracleman and his origins.  It's only the identity question that's a drain, since it's a question only because of a lack of clarity on Moore's part.  In other words, we're not waiting for some sort of reveal; instead, I'm going to have to re-read past issues to see if I missed something.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is really brilliant.  It's still somewhat confusing, so I'm only giving it four stars, but Moore brings to fruition the story that he's been building in the previous issues, that the unbelievable origin of Miracleman was unbelievable exactly because it wasn't real.

Moore somewhat unexpectedly divulges the secret history of Miracleman here, and it's as crazy as you'd expect it to be.  Apparently, the British government was able to use technology discovered from an alien "visitor" to do two things that created Miracleman and his "sons."  First, the government could now replicate a human being from a single cell with an altered D.N.A. structure, giving it super-powers.  Mick, Young Miracleman, and Kid Miracleman were chosen as the cell donors, since they were the orphaned children of R.A.F. soldiers.  Second, it could connect the cell donor (Mick) with the replicated being (Miracleman).  Allegedly, Mick's consciousness would be transferred to Miracleman's body while Mick's body would trade spaces with Miracleman's in "infra-space," all by uttering the magic word, "Kimota."  The government intended to use the Miraclemen as its version of the atomic bombs that the U.S., China, and Russia had or would soon have.  To explain the powers that the Miraclemen had, the government had them "dreaming" for eight years, embedding the memories of "Guntag Borghelm" and the like.  This part of the programming was run by none other than Dr. Emil Gargunza.

Not surprisingly, Moore leaves us with more questions than answers.  Although the hypnotic-suggestion part of the story makes sense, I've still unclear on the nature of Miracleman.  For example, theoretically, he should have Mick's consciousness.  However, in this issue, we see him refer to "Moran" as if he's a different person.  So, although Mick and Miracleman seem to share memories, they may not actually share a consciousness.  Maybe they did at the start, but I don't think that they do now.  Second, I'm not sure what's real and what's not real when it comes to Mick's history (though, to be fair, nor does he at this point).  Were his adventures as Miracleman all imaginary?  Or, did he start living his real life -- including as Miracleman -- again once the programming was complete?  After all, they had to send them on a real mission to the atomic bomb that was supposed to kill them, at the very least.  Also, when Kid Miracleman appeared alive, wouldn't the government have known?  Wasn't he going by his original name?

Beyond Miracleman's origin, we also have questions in the present.  Why did Cream turn against the government?  It couldn't just be because it was doing something evil in not telling Mick the truth; Cream doesn't exactly seem like a stalwart of truth and justice.  Also, if Miracleman is the father of Mick's child, then is it really Mick's, since they have different bodies?  Moreover, is Liz right to worry that it's going to be "different?"

Even with the questions, it's pretty extraordinary to read the events as they unfold here.  I'm just increasingly glad I decided to dive into this series.

**** (four of five stars)

Miracleman #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Alan Moore's work on this series isn't as polished as his later work on titles like "V is for Vendetta" or "Watchmen."  But, you can see him wrestle with some of the same philosophical themes that have dominated his career here.

First, Moore tackles three different aspects of the typical superhero mythos here:

- Miracleman being the father of the baby that Mike couldn't provide Liz gets to the heart of the question of whether they're two actual people.  But, it's Mike's lament over competing with the idealized version of man that Miracleman represents that got to me.  He notes that his actual relationship with Liz is plagued by fights over household chores whereas Miracleman is able to give her pure love.  In that way, Moore plays with the duality that most characters face when it comes to balancing their costumed and civilian identity by taking it to an illustrative extreme.  However, it also goes to the metaphoric role that superheroes play for the reader.  Usually, most superheroes face challenges that serve as a proxy for challenges that the average person faces; somehow, Miracleman fighting Kid Miracleman is akin to a bullied teenager confronting his bully, etc.  But, Mike reminds us here that said parallel isn't necessarily perfect, that we're still maybe expecting too much of ourselves.  After all, we can't all be Miracleman; even Mike can't.

- Moreover, Moore raises all sorts of questions not only about the philosophy of superheroes, but the physics of them.  How does somebody with a dancer's build throw a boulder into the sky?  Why does that same somebody not get hammered into the ground when that boulder lands on his head, even if his invulnerability means that it doesn't hurt him?

- Finally, we don't get the usual suspension of disbelief here when it comes to the bad guys being unable to ferret out the good guy's identity.  Mike has no Spider-Sense to warn him not to change into Spider-Man if someone's watching.  As such, Mr. Cream is able to quickly ascertain that Miracleman is one of the press people who was at the Larksmere event, since the criminals are all in custody and it was a closed event.  It's pretty easy for him to get to the survivor and put together a description of Miracleman's secret identity.  By making it so easy, Moore adds a level of realism that even this series' violence can't achieve.

Second, he keeps you guessing.  I didn't see Johnny accidentally turning himself into his younger self and then revealing that he never wanted to stay Kid Miracleman all that time.  It's remarkably sad, particularly as we see Johnny committed to an institution and doomed to spend months with the Kid Miracleman persona raging at him inside his head.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Moore book without some sort of government conspiracy and here we learn not only that the British government was behind the creation of the Miracleman family in the first place but they were actually the ones to engineer the bomb that theoretically killed them.  Moore improves on the original story in this way, making it seem less random that an "astrophysicist" somehow gave him powers.

I don't know much at this point, but I know that it's not going to end well for Mike.

*** (three of five stars)

Miracleman #1 and #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Reading "Miracleman" is like reading "Lord of the Rings" after you've already read "Dragonlance:"  it's great until you realize that it's actually the template for all the stories that you've already read and then it's amazing.

I'm combining the review of the these two issues not only because I read them in quick succession, but also because it's hard to disconnect them.  Micky Moran is scarcely able to process the re-discovery of his powers and past in issue #1 before he has to confront the reality of those powers and his present in issue #2.

This story provides us with a number of tropes that come to define the modern comic-book but also help make the story itself deeper:

1) Micky's wife Liz serves as the stand-in for the reader in "Warrior" #2 (the second half of the first issue), laughing at the 1950s nature of Miracleman.  ("Can't you see it?  An 'astro physicist' pops up and tells you the 'key harmonic of the universe'...which just happens to turn you into a muscle-man in a blue leotard?")  Moore uses her scorn to tease out the fact that Micky doesn't see those experiences in the same way.  To Micky, that innocence was real, making its loss all the more profound when he discovers that Kid Miracleman has become evil.  In that way, Marvel makes the right call letting us experience the 1950s comics for ourselves.  At first, I questioned how someone from that era could read these comics and find themselves entertained in the same way that I'm entertained by the deeper work that Fraction does on "Hawkeye," for example.  But, that's exactly the point.  It's that gap in sophistication that reminds you that we are dealing with a different age.  If people in the 1950s bought these stories as entertainment, it reflects a world that they thought existed, even if it didn't in reality.  As such, Micky, as a product of that time, also felt that way.  If Moore hadn't used Liz as a stand-in for a reader, I don't think that we would've gained the appreciation for how the 1950s stories set up the 1980s stories that we do here.

2) Moore inserts a story set three years ahead of the present story into the middle of the arc.  We learn that Kid Miracleman is now a villain in "Warrior"#3 (the first third of issue #2), but "Warrior" #4 skips to show us the trajectory of the stories to come.  We learn that something happens to Liz, though it's unclear if she dies or if she leaves Micky.  We also learn that Micky assembled allies, like Firedrake and Warpsmith.  However, this information doesn't spoil the story; it only leaves us wanting more.  

3) Moore also hints at a number of mysteries that are unlikely to be resolved any time soon, keeping the reader engaged.  For example, why doesn't anyone remember Miracleman and his sidekicks?  Micky suggests that "they" might've kept it quiet because of their deaths, but who are "they?"  We also don't know why Miracleman never aged, but Kid Miracleman did.  Is it because Micky didn't spend all his time as Miracleman, implying that he would've aged (though possibly more slowly) if he did?  Moreover, why was reverting to one's normal self seen as something that Miracleman and Young Miracleman would've needed to enforce in Kid Miracleman?  Why not just stay as a superhero?  Moore seems to be arguing that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but it's not like it was all that difficult for Micky to turn into Miracleman.  Did reverting to human form frequently really forestall that corruption?  By creating a longer arc for the stories that he's telling, Moore moves us from the one-and-done standard story.

4) We also get some really gritty realism, in both the art and the story.  The image of Miracleman with half a burnt face as a result of Kid Miracleman's attack is grim, as is the images of Kid Miracleman murdering his assistant.  Several reviewers have hinted at the violence to come and I have to admit that my mind is blown at the idea that this series gets any more violent than it already is.  But, Moore also has Dr. Gargunza hide an atomic bomb in the ship's remains.  Miracleman at one point mentions to Liz that Gargunza was never really evil; in fact, he says that it felt like they were playing a game.  But, Gargunza crosses that line and ups the ante.  It reminds me of the comment that Riddler made in "Secret Origins Special" #1, where he asks, "What happened to us?  The Joker is killing people, for God's sake?"  (Why Dr. Gargunza started killing people is another mystery that I'd like to see solved.)  Micky's innocent world ended on the day when the atomic bomb killed Young Miracleman and left him comatose; it's only now that he's seeing that.  Talk about a grim reality.

The anticipation of whatever is coming that other reviewers have hinted is coming helps fuel my interest in this book.  Looking at the books themselves, though, it's really a marvel that Moore's stories hold up so well.  We only have a few rough patches.  For example, Micky isn't presented as all that smart of a guy, so Moore really pushes the envelope when it comes to getting us to believe that he would've been able to deduce so quickly that Johnny stayed as Kid Miracleman or that he managed to carve a fortress on the ocean floor.  Also, the script can get a little wobbly, such as when Warpsmith makes Miracleman recite their plan to let the reader know what it is.  But, those are minor complaints.  I'd imagine that you knew that you were reading something special in 1982 when you picked up "Warrior" #1.  Now, you know that for certain, given the echoes of this book that you see throughout the other issues in your pull list.

**** (four of five stars)