It’s a Christmas miracle, man!
Out today at your better comic book stores, or even my own, it’s the long awaited continuation of Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckinham’s Miracleman, with part 3 of “The Silver Age!” Picking up from where #24 of the original Miracleman series left off way back in 1993, we see where Dickie Dauntless (AKA Young Marvelman) takes off to after his rather explosive departure at the end of the previous installment. I’ve been waiting nearly 30 years for this, and I can tell you, it doesn’t disappoint.
No, it’s not a Huge Event Story, but we learn about some new folks who live in this seeming utopia, learn a little more about the world of this comic, and…well, something possibly threatening on the horizon? We’ll see how stuff plays out in ALL THE FOLLOWING NEW ISSUES THAT WILL COME OUT ON A REGULAR AND TIMELY BASIS, THEY’D BETTER.
Nice that at least the regular cover has the “Legacy Numbering” of “25” on there, in case you just wanted to jump back on now and start throwing the new installments into your Official Miracleman Comic Storage Box with your original Eclipse Comics run. Personally I picked up one of the variant covers, the rather striking Young Miracleman one pictured above by David Aja.
It was also an interesting choice that Buckingham redrew the first two parts of the Silver Age story so that when the new stuff picked up in #3, his current art style wouldn’t clash with his original 1990s art style in the earlier installments. I mean, that’s way erring on the side of caution as the art in the older issues holds up quite well in my opinion, but good on everyone involved for allowing Buckingham to “update” the books to his current standards. The back pages of this issue show his original 30-year-old drawings for this “new” story in tiny thumbnails, which makes me wish I could see them full-sized.
But there you go…Miracleman is finally coming out again, and here’s hoping Gaiman and Buckingham get to complete their story before Marvel starts doing whatever they’re planning on doing with the property (under the name “Marvelman,” presumably) in their own regular superhero universe and diluting things. Unless it’s the Neil ‘n’ Mark MM that’s going to turn up there…boy, that’d be weird. What if the planned progression of stories doesn’t just go from “The Silver Age” to “The Dark Age,” but concludes in “The Marvel Age?” Egads.
I hope Stan Lee pops up in it for no reason and yells “Excelsior, true believers! I’m one hundred today! Face front!”
MM was one of the titles I collected in the early 90s when I discovered Gaiman and have a few issues and the trade paperbacks. Good stuff. Had put them in the ‘get rid of’ pile, however… so maybe I’ll re-read and collect these new issues before deciding whether or not to let go of them.
Anyway, I was just in a comic shop here in NYC and saw the specialty storage boxes … are these new? I’d never seen them before and then you mention them in the post. Neat idea!
Per interviews with various people the third issue of the Silver Age was actually written and drawn at the time, waiting in someone’s desk drawer for Eclipse to sort out their late payment issues until they eventually went under.
I’m so excited to read this when I get home. And as much as I like Buckingham’s work from the 90s, I’m glad he redrew the first few chapters of this arc. His storytelling has gotten so much better over the years, and some of the original art looks a little dated (those photostatted patterns in the background). The entire six issues will look more coherent together, too.
“What if the planned progression of stories doesn’t just go from “The Silver Age” to “The Dark Age,” but concludes in “The Marvel Age?” Egads.”
Egads doesn’t begin to cover how I would feel if that happened. Let’s cross our fingers and hope Marvel has more sense than that.
I’ll be curious how many oldsters show up to buy this. I’m thinking about it, but my 30 year old memory of the original issues was that Gaiman’s MM was pretty boring compared to Moore’s.
Which is more rare – a new issue of Miracleman or a comic that credits the letterer on the cover?
Ok, the former, but still…
“1993”
Jesus! 30 years to finish a story! “Who’s writing this comic book? James Joyce?”
SS — Or Don Simpson?
(For those not in the know, the Megaton Man creator is doing his own spin on the 1963 Annual on his Facebook page.)
“1963 Annual”
I heard that here, actually! Too bad it’s not an official sequel.