Mister Miracle: My Main Man

Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle 1971

My big excitement came at the end of last week. I finally picked up Mister Miracle #1 from April 1971 in great condition without having to pay a fortune! Whoot! I also picked up some other missing issues from the series, all in near mint condition. I love all the Mister Miracle comics and am a bit of a Mister Miracle fanboy (see his Wikipedia entry). To me, the covers are some of the most exciting DC did during the 1970s because they usually feature Mister Miracle in a death-trap situation that looks hopeless. But we know better!

There were three series. In the first series starting in 1971 and lasting 25 issues, Jack Kirby did the stories and art through issue 18. I love Kirby's writing and art style. To me, Kirby is Mister Miracle for this series. I'm working on completing this set. It can get pricey.

The second series is a 28 issue run starting in 1989. This series features Mr. Miracle and Big Barda having married and trying to live a normal life in suburbia. The take is more humorous than the first series, reflecting the humor of the concurrently running Justice League series, during which the character Mr. Miracle is revitalized and then given his own title again. The writing is crisp and fun, but for me Ian Gibson's artwork really makes the humor in the stories pop for the first five issues.

Ian Gibson's Mister Miracle 1989

 I first saw Gibson's art when reading Judge Dredd comics in early 1980s. I always thought he had a devilish style. Just look at his page from Mister Miracle to the left. I have the entire run of the second series. It's great fun and worth reading. I just wish Gibson had stayed with it more than the first five issues!

The third series is a 7-issue run from 1996. I have this but haven't read it yet, so no comments.

Well, I didn't expect to write this much on Mister Miracle or stay up this late. But I just wanted to share a little bit about a comic series folks might not know too much about. Like I mentioned, collecting the first series can be pricey, so patience is a must. The second series usually can be had very reasonably. Same for the third series.