By: Jack Kirby Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: September 01, 1998 Release Date: September 01, 1998
mr. miracle i love this comic i think mr. miracle is the comic character that has never reached his full potential.jack kirby may be the greatist comic illustrater ive ever seen but his dialauge is always a little rough.stan lee has a lot of detracters but i guarantee his dialauge would have made this even better.but just for potential and ideas i recommend this.
Some Love for Mister Miracle! Dating me, but: I hooked onto to Mister Miracle back in '71 or '72?. For some reason, the post office comic stand (operated by a blind man) didn't carry "New Gods" or "Forever People" on a frequent basis, but I was always able to pick up "Mister Miracle." I picked up the entire run (and other "Fourth World" titles from the drug store down the street) and I totally dug the Scott Free vibe. These titles are B&W, and that's a shame, but in a way it kinda frees Jack Kirby (and inkers Vince Colletta and Jack Royer) from the very pedestrian coloring of the 1970s. Ignore the cliched and leaden dialogue and just let the images pour over you: Then you'll understand why Kirby is The King. I had a blast reading these comics again after 30 years. Hope you will, too.
Where's the Color As a long fan of Mister Miracle comics and a fellow artist who loves the work of Jack Kirby, I find this book as an insult to a great legacy. I didn't know how important color would of meant to keeping the feel and creative mastery that only a Kirby superhero was capable of.
I don't buy the idea that the publisher of this book found it a problem to reproduce the original color. Even I have some of the original Mister Miracle comics and have created PDF files creating several of them and the color is just fine.
If you are a true Mister Miracle fan or comic book collector of any sort please be advised to skip this one and wait for a color version. Black and white takes away the true feel and excitement that I remember while reading a Mister Miracle comic at an early age.
Stay away.
Mr. Miracle Part One There are two volumes of reprints for Kirby's Mister Miracle. This is the first volume which dwells more on the New Gods saga.
The second volume in this series (Jack Kirby's Fourth World Featuring Mister Miracle) takes the series in a different direction as Kirby's Fourth World books (Forever People and New Gods) were cancelled. Mister Miracle found himself in more conventional superhero stories that had less and less to do with the Fourth World.
For the cheaper price you pay you get the art in black and white with grey tones added. The results resembles those old Warren Magazines of the 70's and Kirby's own flirtation into magazines (DC's Days of The Mob).
The story follows young Scott Free as he escapes Granny's orphanage on bleak Apokolips and goes to earth. He assumes the identity of Mister Miracle, escape artist and finds a cast of supporting characters. Similarities between this story and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens abound and are even eluded to by Kirby in the most important story in this book "Himon."
"Himon" deals with a man who goes around the planet Apokolips helping people think for themselves and overcome the brainwashing of the dictator Darkseid. This includes young Scott Free and his future wife Barda, Simon gathers a group of young charges aound him and eventually becomes a martyr for his cause (several times!!!).
The other story of note is the reprint of issue #6 which introduces "Funky Flashman" a very thinly veiled Stan Lee. At the time the story was produced Kirby had just parted ways with Marvel and with Stan Lee (his collaborator) and had felt slighted by him both financially and in creative credit. This was his way of getting it out of his system and it is one of the most biting parodies in comics. Even Roy Thomas catches a bit of the flack in this one.
Vince Colletta inks the earlier stories and is slick in his own way but I personally favor Mike Royer who pencils and letters the stories after Vince left as his strong solid lines really compliment Kirby's pencils and over all general dynamic style.
This is Kirby (as the phrase goes) unleashed and in in his prime.
Well worth it for the price.
The best corner of King Kirby's kingdom Jack Kirby was to comic books what William Shakespeare was to literature...an undisputed Titan! Not only was the quality of his artwork and visual concepts amazing, but the quantity of art he produced in his career was beyond belief (I can't remember the number of pages he drew in his lifetime offhand...but it was truly staggering) So to say that Mister Miracle was his best creation ever (my opinion of course...other Kirby fans have their own favorites)is saying alot.It was a part of a bigger storyline/universe which through the use of several interrelated and separate comic book titles(The New Gods,Forever People,Mister Miracle)a bigger story unfolded...the "Fourth world" saga.Mister Miracle was the most unique of the bunch and told the story of Scott Free...raised in a very Spartan manner to be a soldier on the dehumanizing world of "Apokolips"...but who escapes to the planet Earth.This comic book had characters and ideas that were not only unique to comics but unique to Kirby and never really surfaced anywhere else in his prolific career. Big Barda is my favorite character in all of comic history.Never was there a female character like her...Big "Zaftig" and beautiful (Wonder woman was supposed to be an Amazon but was a dried up piece of nothing compared to Barda) powerful and liberated but without ever being the "B" word.There is a really Atypical (For Kirby and for the time period) undercurrent of,well, kink to put it bluntly (see the character of "Lashina" for example)which anyone in the know will notice throughout.It lasted longer than the other titles (New Gods and Forever people) but had a dreadfully undeserved short run.When the other titles collapsed the "Fourth world,New Genesis" aspect was dropped and it became a more routine comic book adventure.This book collects the first ten books of the series.A Noble effort on D.C.s part but...the reason I give it four stars is only because of the black and white format...D.C. should have done what marvel did in reprinting Kirby's classics in graphic novel form...print it affordably in B&W but NEVER substitute the color with hideous tones of grey...it really does Kirby's artwork no justice.If you can't afford (or just dont want to mess up) the original 30 year old magazines...pick this gem up!
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