It's been 22 years since Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman, American Gods and Neverwhere, steered the flagship series Miracleman until it was discontinued due to financial issues. After a long hiatus, we're finally getting to see the series to completion.
Miracleman — then known as Marvelman — was the British equivalent of the red-blooded Captain Marvel, was created by Mick Angle in 1954 for the now-defunct L. Miller & Son, Ltd. Marvelman ended his first run in 1963 and was then picked back up in 1982 by Alan Moore, who gave his story a darker, postmodern twist in the Warrior anthology series. It is now published by Eclipse, and this incarnation of Miracleman was renamed in 1985 to avoid any copyright issues with Marvel Comics.
Moore eventually named Gaiman as his successor for the series, who took over the franchise in the late '80s/early '90s at issue 17. Moore had bequeathed the character with unlimited powers and the role as a deified ruler in a Utopian society in the last issue he helmed, which left Gaiman with some interesting narrative choices. In an interview with Vulture, Gaiman recounted the route he decided to take:
"The idea of, We're in utopia, let's see what that's actually like for the people in the story. You can take the camera off Miracleman. He's a god, so what becomes interesting are stories like, here are five people going up a pyramid to see him and ask him for things. How does a utopia work in terms of love? In terms of family?... Everybody loves a good dystopia. Utopias are so much harder. Then there's the idea of, Okay, let's go ahead 300 years, let's follow the story and let's see what happens in a slow fall from grace that takes us from the golden age to the silver age to the dark age."
Unfortunately, Gaiman never got the chance to see this narrative plan play out: due to budget cuts (which, in turn, became a financial crisis); after a series of irregular paychecks, Eclipse told Gaiman shortly before the printing of issue 25, which was never released. The last issue of Miracleman came out in 1993; Eclipse officially went bankrupt and closed its doors in 1994.
Gaiman's lucky break occurred shortly after, when the artwork for the unprinted Miracleman #25 was sent back to him and fellow collaborator/arist Mark Buckingham, thereby preventing the artwork or story from being lost to time. After a number of years, the franchise was finally acquired by Marvel, thus giving Gaiman a chance to finish the tale he once started.
The continuation will feature the first eight issues of Gaiman's Miracleman completely remastered, followed by original issues.
"It's one of those things where the weirdest part of this for me is knowing that I've had the last issue in my head since the beginning," said Gaiman. "I could write the last page of it now. What's so strange is the idea that, in the next few years, it will be done and I will be one step further toward the grave."
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