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Mister Miracle (1971) #19-25
Mister Miracle by Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber
Mister Miracle returns after a three-year absence, but so do the villains of Apokolips. In the aftermath of the New Gods saga, Mister Miracle After Kirby focuses on Scott Free s attempt to escape something no one has been able to: death.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published March 17, 2020
7 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,395 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 31, 2022
I always thought of this character as an odd kinda hero. His Own series gave some nice fun reads. Recommended
May 21, 2020
A collection of the Mister Miracle appearances following Jack Kirby's run and preceding the Crisis (and the JLA inspired v2 of the late '80s).
The Brave & The Bold (#112, 128, 138). Bob Haney's trilogy of Batman/Miracle team-ups are ... uninspiring. Certainly they do a good job of highlighting Mr. Miracle's escapes, and they also cover a nice variety of topics, but as one-offs they have no continuity of interest, and they also rob us of Scot's supporting cast, which means at the end we just get an OK story [2+/5].
Command Performance (Steve Englehart: #19-21). Englehart starts off his short run with a crappy premise: Big Barda is Damsel-in-Distressed, and Scott has to rescue her. It's anti-empowering in a way that wouldn't be repeated until Byrne had Big Barda forced to film a porn movie(!) a decade later. But, then Englehart starts making interesting additions to the mythos with Scott becoming some sort of messiah figure, and suddenly the New God furthest from the mythology is at its heart. The final issue, "Command Performance" is a magnificent take on how Scott could remain himself and still attack Apocalypse [3+/5].
Midnight of the Gods (Steve Englehart: #22). Apparently, Englehart also wrote this issue under a pseudonym, which is bizarre. In any case, it features the actual attack on Darkseid, and it again has some weakness, as Scott becomes a bit too much of a standard hero, but the final confrontation with Darkseid, and Scott's realization of his true power, is magnificent. Unfortunately, the art gets a bit sketchy in this final issue. [3+/5].
Messiah (Steve Gerber: #23-25). Gerber takes Englehart's ideas of Scott as messiah and pushes them to the extreme, with Scott buying the idea himself that he might be a third choice between Apocalypse and New Genesis. If anything, this is an even better positioning of Scott within the Fourth World framework because Gerber doesn't have to keep explaining that all the other New Gods are busy, like Englehart did. The only weakness of Gerber's run is that it's slow ... oh, and the fact that it just stops in the middle of its story [3+/5]
DC Comics Presents (Steve Englehart: #12). A disappointing return for Englehart, with Scott acting out of character and then engaging in a true Silver Age plot to act weird because of weirdness. Like the Brave and the Bold crossovers, this one is mostly pointless [2+/5].
Overall, this second volume of Mister Miracle (following Kirby's original) isn't bad, but it isn't great either. The fact that it borders on non-canon with its ignored plotline is problematic, but still this is a nice volume to have right next to the Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus and the New Gods by Gerry ConwayReturn of the New Gods. It's great that DC is finally making these lost stories available.
The Brave & The Bold (#112, 128, 138). Bob Haney's trilogy of Batman/Miracle team-ups are ... uninspiring. Certainly they do a good job of highlighting Mr. Miracle's escapes, and they also cover a nice variety of topics, but as one-offs they have no continuity of interest, and they also rob us of Scot's supporting cast, which means at the end we just get an OK story [2+/5].
Command Performance (Steve Englehart: #19-21). Englehart starts off his short run with a crappy premise: Big Barda is Damsel-in-Distressed, and Scott has to rescue her. It's anti-empowering in a way that wouldn't be repeated until Byrne had Big Barda forced to film a porn movie(!) a decade later. But, then Englehart starts making interesting additions to the mythos with Scott becoming some sort of messiah figure, and suddenly the New God furthest from the mythology is at its heart. The final issue, "Command Performance" is a magnificent take on how Scott could remain himself and still attack Apocalypse [3+/5].
Midnight of the Gods (Steve Englehart: #22). Apparently, Englehart also wrote this issue under a pseudonym, which is bizarre. In any case, it features the actual attack on Darkseid, and it again has some weakness, as Scott becomes a bit too much of a standard hero, but the final confrontation with Darkseid, and Scott's realization of his true power, is magnificent. Unfortunately, the art gets a bit sketchy in this final issue. [3+/5].
Messiah (Steve Gerber: #23-25). Gerber takes Englehart's ideas of Scott as messiah and pushes them to the extreme, with Scott buying the idea himself that he might be a third choice between Apocalypse and New Genesis. If anything, this is an even better positioning of Scott within the Fourth World framework because Gerber doesn't have to keep explaining that all the other New Gods are busy, like Englehart did. The only weakness of Gerber's run is that it's slow ... oh, and the fact that it just stops in the middle of its story [3+/5]
DC Comics Presents (Steve Englehart: #12). A disappointing return for Englehart, with Scott acting out of character and then engaging in a true Silver Age plot to act weird because of weirdness. Like the Brave and the Bold crossovers, this one is mostly pointless [2+/5].
Overall, this second volume of Mister Miracle (following Kirby's original) isn't bad, but it isn't great either. The fact that it borders on non-canon with its ignored plotline is problematic, but still this is a nice volume to have right next to the Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus and the New Gods by Gerry ConwayReturn of the New Gods. It's great that DC is finally making these lost stories available.
April 24, 2020
I really, really wanted to relive some teenage memories from the combination of Englehart and Rogers. Some decades later, the memories should not be as exciting as I recall.
The first three issues and the last one included are from team-up books (The Brave and the Bold and DC Presents) with Mister Miracle teaming up with Batman and Superman. I don't recall reading these in the past, but they are typical team-up stories from that era: spend 3-5 pages getting the two protagonists together (which could be some wild contrivance), another page or two to get them to work together, 6-8 pages actually solving the problem or confronting the villain of the minute, then a couple more to end the story and salve any hurt feelings. Bland and easily forgettable.
The bulk of the book are 4 issues of Englehart's writing (one under a pseudonym) and three from Gerber and artist Michael Golden trying to pick up the threads that Englehart had started. MM was attempting to mold himself into the role of messiah to the lower castes on Apokalips and, when that went poorly as an initial plan, he switched to setting up a similar role as spiritual guide/messiah to the unwashed masses on Earth. It appeared to be a promising start that could have led to stories of burgeoning megalomania on the part of Scott Free as his own success and a devoted following might have gone to the head of this New God. As noted in text printed under the never-used cover for issue #26, the book fell victim to the DC Implosion.
Even so, the Rogers and Golden art is still great and well worth the price (of the softcover when available).
One thing I've noticed about this incarnation of Mister Miracle is that the villains always seemed to set him up with some impossible death-trap that MM needs to escape while the villains go off to chortle about their cleverness and further their plans. I guess if your hero's schtick is an escape artist, you need to work all these death-trap scenarios rather than just have the bad guys pull out a quantum laser and shoot him.
The first three issues and the last one included are from team-up books (The Brave and the Bold and DC Presents) with Mister Miracle teaming up with Batman and Superman. I don't recall reading these in the past, but they are typical team-up stories from that era: spend 3-5 pages getting the two protagonists together (which could be some wild contrivance), another page or two to get them to work together, 6-8 pages actually solving the problem or confronting the villain of the minute, then a couple more to end the story and salve any hurt feelings. Bland and easily forgettable.
The bulk of the book are 4 issues of Englehart's writing (one under a pseudonym) and three from Gerber and artist Michael Golden trying to pick up the threads that Englehart had started. MM was attempting to mold himself into the role of messiah to the lower castes on Apokalips and, when that went poorly as an initial plan, he switched to setting up a similar role as spiritual guide/messiah to the unwashed masses on Earth. It appeared to be a promising start that could have led to stories of burgeoning megalomania on the part of Scott Free as his own success and a devoted following might have gone to the head of this New God. As noted in text printed under the never-used cover for issue #26, the book fell victim to the DC Implosion.
Even so, the Rogers and Golden art is still great and well worth the price (of the softcover when available).
One thing I've noticed about this incarnation of Mister Miracle is that the villains always seemed to set him up with some impossible death-trap that MM needs to escape while the villains go off to chortle about their cleverness and further their plans. I guess if your hero's schtick is an escape artist, you need to work all these death-trap scenarios rather than just have the bad guys pull out a quantum laser and shoot him.
April 6, 2021
Ultimately an unsuccessful attempt to follow Jack Kirby by playing up MM's "Messiah" mission.
July 25, 2022
This was a weird Deluxe edition for DC to put out. It is the run of Mister Miracle after Kirby and it features Englehart and then Gerber's attempt at trying to craft a workable mythos for this interesting but flawed character. We also get three Brave and Bold stories with Batman (written by the worst writer ever Bob Haney) and one Mister Miracle/Superman team up from DC presents written again by Englehart.
Let's start with Mister Miracle and why he is so flawed. The KEY reason is - his powers are so poorly defined. Is he a God? Human? Super-human? Does the Mother Box do everything for him? Does he have no powers? This collection tries to answer that but it is a classic example of the character getting changed every time a new writer takes over for him (more on that in a bit). He is a God one issue and a human the next.
The second is - the premise is so weak. I love the idea of an escape artist hero (The Escapist did it best) but when you have his tricks taking up half an issue (as it does at times) and you know he has sci fi gadgets to help him escape there are zero stakes. In fact it becomes stupid that Oberon (his assistant) and Barda (his wife) keep worrying each time. They know he has lasers and flying disks and other stuff that can easily get him out of a box he is trapped in. The second last issue has this HUGE escape and he later explain his ability to teleport helped him phase out so he wasn't harmed by the steel coffin falling. Like I said zero stakes.
Third is - his goal/backdrop is never defined. YES we have a couple of great side characters (Oberon and Barda) we have some okay villains (Darkseid's lackeys and others introduced specifically in Kirby's Mister Miracle) but where is his base of operation? Metropolis? Vegas? New Genesis? Apokolips? Different writers have different ideas and it is never settled. And is his goal to stop Darkseid? Englehart thinks so? Gerber thinks it is to settle down on Earth and be a Messiah. Not very hero like (Gerber always did try to write non-hero tales with super-heroes).
The thing is - I love the idea of him as a character. The costume, his origin story, his relationship with his wife Barda. But he needed a consistent writer/artist to do him justice and give him that "classic" run that would allow others to build on it. And, as I said, this doesn't happen because Englehart leaves and Gerber is too artsy fartsy to write anything that lasts.
So let's start off with the best part of this collection Englehart and Marshall Rogers. I could go on and on how much Rogers on his Batman run was one of my fav artists ever. Sadly - he further he got away from that and without Terry Austin's clean inks to highlight his angular style his art got worse and worse. Rogers starts off amazing in this volume but then (very sadly) Vince Colletta the world's most over powering inker (i.e. he ignores the pencils and inks in his style) takes over on inking and ruins Roger's magic. Englehart also starts off strong-ish (although him making Scott godlike was a misstep IMO) but then abruptly leaves.
Then Gerber comes in with Michael Golden (some great art by Golden) and the stories are interesting but more philosophical. And he says "No Mister Miracle is a MAN" and undos everything Engelhart set up. He was also building towards something interesting (Mister Miracle was trying to counter the anti life equation by reminding humans of their individuality - and becoming a Messiah figure). It was interesting (Gerber is an amazing writer) but it also abruptly ends when the comic was cancelled so it never went anywhere.
The Brave and Bold issues are fun because we see Mister Miracle interact with Batman but Haney is a horrible writer and his stories make zero sense in terms of logic and plot. The DC presents comic (the last one in this volume) was fun with Mister Miracle saving Superman but we are back to the old Mister Miracle being a showman - no messiah, no god, just a showman who is never in any danger because he has sci fi tech to save him. I see that as his pattern. He is either a human with sci fi tech or a writer focuses on him as a symbol and we get a philosophy tale (see: Tom King's mini series).
Overall - even though it was a weird volume and made me sad because of all the wasted potential - I am happy to have it all collected. I do love the character and we get to see the hints of what he could become IF he ever got a writer and an artist who would stick around long enough to give him a premise that would stick around longer than 5 issues.
Let's start with Mister Miracle and why he is so flawed. The KEY reason is - his powers are so poorly defined. Is he a God? Human? Super-human? Does the Mother Box do everything for him? Does he have no powers? This collection tries to answer that but it is a classic example of the character getting changed every time a new writer takes over for him (more on that in a bit). He is a God one issue and a human the next.
The second is - the premise is so weak. I love the idea of an escape artist hero (The Escapist did it best) but when you have his tricks taking up half an issue (as it does at times) and you know he has sci fi gadgets to help him escape there are zero stakes. In fact it becomes stupid that Oberon (his assistant) and Barda (his wife) keep worrying each time. They know he has lasers and flying disks and other stuff that can easily get him out of a box he is trapped in. The second last issue has this HUGE escape and he later explain his ability to teleport helped him phase out so he wasn't harmed by the steel coffin falling. Like I said zero stakes.
Third is - his goal/backdrop is never defined. YES we have a couple of great side characters (Oberon and Barda) we have some okay villains (Darkseid's lackeys and others introduced specifically in Kirby's Mister Miracle) but where is his base of operation? Metropolis? Vegas? New Genesis? Apokolips? Different writers have different ideas and it is never settled. And is his goal to stop Darkseid? Englehart thinks so? Gerber thinks it is to settle down on Earth and be a Messiah. Not very hero like (Gerber always did try to write non-hero tales with super-heroes).
The thing is - I love the idea of him as a character. The costume, his origin story, his relationship with his wife Barda. But he needed a consistent writer/artist to do him justice and give him that "classic" run that would allow others to build on it. And, as I said, this doesn't happen because Englehart leaves and Gerber is too artsy fartsy to write anything that lasts.
So let's start off with the best part of this collection Englehart and Marshall Rogers. I could go on and on how much Rogers on his Batman run was one of my fav artists ever. Sadly - he further he got away from that and without Terry Austin's clean inks to highlight his angular style his art got worse and worse. Rogers starts off amazing in this volume but then (very sadly) Vince Colletta the world's most over powering inker (i.e. he ignores the pencils and inks in his style) takes over on inking and ruins Roger's magic. Englehart also starts off strong-ish (although him making Scott godlike was a misstep IMO) but then abruptly leaves.
Then Gerber comes in with Michael Golden (some great art by Golden) and the stories are interesting but more philosophical. And he says "No Mister Miracle is a MAN" and undos everything Engelhart set up. He was also building towards something interesting (Mister Miracle was trying to counter the anti life equation by reminding humans of their individuality - and becoming a Messiah figure). It was interesting (Gerber is an amazing writer) but it also abruptly ends when the comic was cancelled so it never went anywhere.
The Brave and Bold issues are fun because we see Mister Miracle interact with Batman but Haney is a horrible writer and his stories make zero sense in terms of logic and plot. The DC presents comic (the last one in this volume) was fun with Mister Miracle saving Superman but we are back to the old Mister Miracle being a showman - no messiah, no god, just a showman who is never in any danger because he has sci fi tech to save him. I see that as his pattern. He is either a human with sci fi tech or a writer focuses on him as a symbol and we get a philosophy tale (see: Tom King's mini series).
Overall - even though it was a weird volume and made me sad because of all the wasted potential - I am happy to have it all collected. I do love the character and we get to see the hints of what he could become IF he ever got a writer and an artist who would stick around long enough to give him a premise that would stick around longer than 5 issues.
August 11, 2020
Mister Miracle published by DC Comics in 2020, covers the issues of Mister Miracle from 19-25, as well as Brave and the Bold 112, 128, 138, and DC Presents issue 13. The Brave and the Bold stories are all by Bob Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo. DC Presents was written by Englehart and drawn by Rich Buckler.
This collected volume of stories featuring Mister Miracle was long overdo in my opinion. In many ways the creative team behind what is still my favorite run of Batman in Detective Comics from issue 469-476 Engelhart and Rogers outdo themselves here with their too short run on Mister Miracle. I feel like Engelhart fully got what Jack Kirby was doing with his character but with better dialogue and that wonderfully expressive Marshall Rogers artwork. Their run 19-22 tells a brief foray into Scott Free’s journey into what is next for him. He is not Darkseid’s son Prion bent on making war but the son of the New Gods ruler, Izaya. After a couple of incidents Scott has an encounter with something that puts him on a path to self-fulfillment that we really never get to see as the run ends. Steve Gerber and Michael Golden come on and tell a short arc from 23-25 that is nearly as good as the previous teams. Golden’s art work is some of the best of his career here and Gerber carries on Engelhart’s story as best as he can. Sadly the series is cancelled in the DC implosion of the late 70’s.
We are also treated to all of Mister Miracle’s appearances in Brave and the Bold. These stories are all written by Bob Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo. Haney does not have a very good handle on the character nor his abilities or lack of them. Aparo’s artwork on the other hand is great. He was an overlooked artist of Batman for much of his tenure drawing the character. He was a solid artist and inker in his own right. His style resembled the Neil Adams inspired run on Batman. These are good stories as long as you can deal with the poor understanding Haney had of the character.
The DC Presents story on the other hand is a nice ending for Engelhart on the character with nice art by Rich Buckler. He is able to kind of give the character an end to this era’s run.
The book itself is gorgeous and the colors really pop. Younger readers should pick this up simply to enjoy the lovely artwork of Rogers and Golden.
This collected volume of stories featuring Mister Miracle was long overdo in my opinion. In many ways the creative team behind what is still my favorite run of Batman in Detective Comics from issue 469-476 Engelhart and Rogers outdo themselves here with their too short run on Mister Miracle. I feel like Engelhart fully got what Jack Kirby was doing with his character but with better dialogue and that wonderfully expressive Marshall Rogers artwork. Their run 19-22 tells a brief foray into Scott Free’s journey into what is next for him. He is not Darkseid’s son Prion bent on making war but the son of the New Gods ruler, Izaya. After a couple of incidents Scott has an encounter with something that puts him on a path to self-fulfillment that we really never get to see as the run ends. Steve Gerber and Michael Golden come on and tell a short arc from 23-25 that is nearly as good as the previous teams. Golden’s art work is some of the best of his career here and Gerber carries on Engelhart’s story as best as he can. Sadly the series is cancelled in the DC implosion of the late 70’s.
We are also treated to all of Mister Miracle’s appearances in Brave and the Bold. These stories are all written by Bob Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo. Haney does not have a very good handle on the character nor his abilities or lack of them. Aparo’s artwork on the other hand is great. He was an overlooked artist of Batman for much of his tenure drawing the character. He was a solid artist and inker in his own right. His style resembled the Neil Adams inspired run on Batman. These are good stories as long as you can deal with the poor understanding Haney had of the character.
The DC Presents story on the other hand is a nice ending for Engelhart on the character with nice art by Rich Buckler. He is able to kind of give the character an end to this era’s run.
The book itself is gorgeous and the colors really pop. Younger readers should pick this up simply to enjoy the lovely artwork of Rogers and Golden.
April 11, 2020
Steves Engelhart and Gerber were two of Marvel's biggest writers before they decamped to DC. Engelhart wrote a pretty good run on Justice League of America whereas Gerber didnt make much of an impact from what I can remember. The two of them penned DC's short lived revival of Mister Miracle, one of Jack Kirby's Fourth World creations.
Paired with this Batman collaborator, Marshall Rogers, Engelhart starts off the book with Miracle's wife Big Barda kidnapped by Granny Goodness and her henchmen, setting up the quest of the book. By the time Gerber takes up the reins, Rogers had been replaced by Michael Golden, another artist in Rogers's experimental style. Mister Miracle decides he wants to be a secular messiah and renounces both New Genesis and Apokolips, returning to Earth.
Gerber, who created Howard the Duck, was well known for his rather esoteric style, which shows here. More philosophical than heroic, he upends the cast of the book, only for the title to be cancelled to make room for the DC Explosion.
It has been said that Jenette Kahn, DC's publisher, had seen the sales reports of Mister Miracle and companion series The New Gods from Kirby's run and had decided sales weren't so bad. Nevertheless, neither title caught fire without Kirby. The New Gods, their revival series being collected by DC soon, at least had their series finished off in an anthology comic, but I would have loved to have seen what Gerber planned to do going forward.
The art by both Rogers and Golden is brilliant, highly stylized and distinctive in the rather staid DC world of the mid 1970s. Why they don't get top billing along with the writers is a mystery to me.
Rounding out the book are two appearances in Brave and Bold with Batman and a spot in the Superman team up book DC Comics Presents. The B&B stories by regular team Bob Haney and Jim Aparo are wild and zany, with Batman actually using a shotgun against some crooks. The DCCP story, even though written by Engelhart, is seriously lame although the art by Rich Buckler is pretty good.
All in all this is a nice collection from DC's Bronze Age.
Paired with this Batman collaborator, Marshall Rogers, Engelhart starts off the book with Miracle's wife Big Barda kidnapped by Granny Goodness and her henchmen, setting up the quest of the book. By the time Gerber takes up the reins, Rogers had been replaced by Michael Golden, another artist in Rogers's experimental style. Mister Miracle decides he wants to be a secular messiah and renounces both New Genesis and Apokolips, returning to Earth.
Gerber, who created Howard the Duck, was well known for his rather esoteric style, which shows here. More philosophical than heroic, he upends the cast of the book, only for the title to be cancelled to make room for the DC Explosion.
It has been said that Jenette Kahn, DC's publisher, had seen the sales reports of Mister Miracle and companion series The New Gods from Kirby's run and had decided sales weren't so bad. Nevertheless, neither title caught fire without Kirby. The New Gods, their revival series being collected by DC soon, at least had their series finished off in an anthology comic, but I would have loved to have seen what Gerber planned to do going forward.
The art by both Rogers and Golden is brilliant, highly stylized and distinctive in the rather staid DC world of the mid 1970s. Why they don't get top billing along with the writers is a mystery to me.
Rounding out the book are two appearances in Brave and Bold with Batman and a spot in the Superman team up book DC Comics Presents. The B&B stories by regular team Bob Haney and Jim Aparo are wild and zany, with Batman actually using a shotgun against some crooks. The DCCP story, even though written by Engelhart, is seriously lame although the art by Rich Buckler is pretty good.
All in all this is a nice collection from DC's Bronze Age.
May 15, 2021
It's neat to have all these little Mister Miracle appearances collected together! They're not great stories, but they can be fun. And the art can be fantastic at times, too! After Jack Kirby leaves DC Comics you have writers like Englehart trying to find a new way to use his toys, and now here comes a big storyline all about Scott Free becoming a Jesus Christ figure trying to be the messiah that toes the line between New Genesis, Apokalips, and the humans of Earth. There are so many creators here that its a confusing mess most times, Scott's characterization is never consistent. Sometimes he's using different tools to escape! Sometimes he's a violent man looking for blood! Sometimes he's shooting lasers out of his hands to battle!
There's a big thing here of trying to divorce Scott from the Mother Box, which played the essential role of helping him do his escapes. Instead he starts to get his own powers which gives him a bit more personal agency but also takes the fun out of it! The Mother Box, its purpose and lore and nanomachines, are a wonder of science-fiction that made his stories so interesting. Scott Free, trying to escape and live his life away from the conflicts of Apokalips. Now he's moved in a bigger fantasy direction of cosmic purpose and religious devotion, which can be really cool but doesn't have the same charm. Characters like Big Bard take a back seat while Scott fights his battles alone to save her and she loses anything that makes her special either.
Also DC basically crumbles and implodes as this series is being published so the whole thing has this one big cliffhanger plot hook that is dropped entirely and never resolved. So it's not even a satisfying read on its own! It's purely a collectors item that I'm glad was put together but is only really worth reading if you're really into Kirby's Fourth World saga and want to see how it was followed up on by other creators.
There's a big thing here of trying to divorce Scott from the Mother Box, which played the essential role of helping him do his escapes. Instead he starts to get his own powers which gives him a bit more personal agency but also takes the fun out of it! The Mother Box, its purpose and lore and nanomachines, are a wonder of science-fiction that made his stories so interesting. Scott Free, trying to escape and live his life away from the conflicts of Apokalips. Now he's moved in a bigger fantasy direction of cosmic purpose and religious devotion, which can be really cool but doesn't have the same charm. Characters like Big Bard take a back seat while Scott fights his battles alone to save her and she loses anything that makes her special either.
Also DC basically crumbles and implodes as this series is being published so the whole thing has this one big cliffhanger plot hook that is dropped entirely and never resolved. So it's not even a satisfying read on its own! It's purely a collectors item that I'm glad was put together but is only really worth reading if you're really into Kirby's Fourth World saga and want to see how it was followed up on by other creators.
June 14, 2022
Mister Miracle’s return is a collection of ideas from too many people that never feel completed. The book is almost perfectly split in three sections, each written by a different person.
Starting with brave and the bold, written by Bob Haney, these are some of the worst Batman stories I’ve ever read. Hands down awful. The plots make no sense, the dialogue is stale, and it drags. Jim Aparo on art is the only thing that kept me pushing through this section.
Next is the return of the solo run, written by Steve Englehart and art by Marshall Rogers. Englehart starts a few interesting ideas but in the course of his 4 issues, doesn’t feel like he accomplishes much. While not bad, it just kinda exists. Rogers art fits well with the Fourth World aesthetic so points for that. Englehart also has a MM vs Superman issue at the end of the book that just is ehhhh. It’s not terribly written but it’s super unnecessary and pretty dumb.
Finally we have the last 3 issues of the og Mister Miracle run, written by Steve Gerber and art by Michael Golden. Out of all the writers, I enjoyed Gerbers take on MM the most. The idea of Scott wanting to denounce both New Genesis and Apokolips and become a messiah for the people is a really interesting idea that I think was cut off too early. While not perfectly paced, I felt myself bummed out that the story was canceled right as it finally picked up. Golden’s art, while not bad, doesn’t fit as well for me with the title.
Starting with brave and the bold, written by Bob Haney, these are some of the worst Batman stories I’ve ever read. Hands down awful. The plots make no sense, the dialogue is stale, and it drags. Jim Aparo on art is the only thing that kept me pushing through this section.
Next is the return of the solo run, written by Steve Englehart and art by Marshall Rogers. Englehart starts a few interesting ideas but in the course of his 4 issues, doesn’t feel like he accomplishes much. While not bad, it just kinda exists. Rogers art fits well with the Fourth World aesthetic so points for that. Englehart also has a MM vs Superman issue at the end of the book that just is ehhhh. It’s not terribly written but it’s super unnecessary and pretty dumb.
Finally we have the last 3 issues of the og Mister Miracle run, written by Steve Gerber and art by Michael Golden. Out of all the writers, I enjoyed Gerbers take on MM the most. The idea of Scott wanting to denounce both New Genesis and Apokolips and become a messiah for the people is a really interesting idea that I think was cut off too early. While not perfectly paced, I felt myself bummed out that the story was canceled right as it finally picked up. Golden’s art, while not bad, doesn’t fit as well for me with the title.
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December 15, 2020These are the first Mister Miracle stories following Jack Kirby’s original run. The four team-up issues (three with Batman, one with Superman) are disposable. They’re standard for the time and not especially well-plotted. The Superman issue sees Scott uncharacteristically competitive, which betrays his character growth in the main title.
The core seven Mister Miracle issues are pretty good though. Written by Englehart and Gerber, they take Scott, Barda, and Oberon from Earth to New Genesis to Apokolips and back again. The storytelling is solid, and I especially like issue 23 where Scott falls though another reality and confronts his true nature. I would like to see more writers explore the Ethos concept.
As a whole, this collection isn’t essential, but worth seeking out for Fourth World fans (it's a nice a companion to New Gods by Gerry Conway).
The core seven Mister Miracle issues are pretty good though. Written by Englehart and Gerber, they take Scott, Barda, and Oberon from Earth to New Genesis to Apokolips and back again. The storytelling is solid, and I especially like issue 23 where Scott falls though another reality and confronts his true nature. I would like to see more writers explore the Ethos concept.
As a whole, this collection isn’t essential, but worth seeking out for Fourth World fans (it's a nice a companion to New Gods by Gerry Conway).
September 5, 2021
This could just as easily have included Bob Haney in the list of authors on the cover/in the title, because it includes 3 of his Brave & the Bold stories (more than Gerber's contribution); and frankly, this should have included the artists' names, in that all three of them (Jim Aparo, Marshall Rogers, and Michael Golden) are super-star artists in their own rights.
Would have given this 5 stars, but the horrible inking by Colletta and Geila muddles the art on several stories, and for lack of direction in the writing itself.
Would have given this 5 stars, but the horrible inking by Colletta and Geila muddles the art on several stories, and for lack of direction in the writing itself.
September 26, 2020
I bought this book thinking it was a new collection of Mister Mircle stories... it's not, it's a collection of stories from the 70s.
Very very heavy of the period and wasn't enjoyable for me even from a historical point of view.
The art is good and the writing is of that times style, and done well, but I didn't enjoy this and after a few issues deep, I stopped.
I'm working on selling it now.
If your a huge fan of 70s era books you'll like this...
As for more modern readers, skip it.
Very very heavy of the period and wasn't enjoyable for me even from a historical point of view.
The art is good and the writing is of that times style, and done well, but I didn't enjoy this and after a few issues deep, I stopped.
I'm working on selling it now.
If your a huge fan of 70s era books you'll like this...
As for more modern readers, skip it.
August 26, 2023
The stories contained within this book are okay but nothing earth shattering. We do get lovely art from Michael Golden. His Barda is a very delicate take on the character. There is also artwork by Marshall Rogers. These are the two main reasons to read this book. The storyline by Steve Gerber, of Howard the Duck fame, is ended abruptly by the DC Implosion. Recommended if you are into Kirby's New Gods.
October 2, 2020
The Steve Englehart issues weren't bad. The amazing art by Marshall Rogers really helped. Unfortunately, just as their run was getting interesting, they were replaced by Steve Gerber and Michael Golden. Golden's art wasn't too bad, but Gerber took the book into a really weird direction and basically ruined what Englehart had set up.
February 22, 2021
The Haney stories feel like they were added solely to bridge the gap. Englehart and Rogers do a pretty good run (if Barda gets the short end). The real highlight was Steve Gerber and Michael Golden, who inject the weirdness needed for this property, and helps set up a return to Earth.
August 14, 2022
A similarly unsuccessful attempt to revisit and expand on Kirby's Fourth World as Return of the New Gods was. That comic existed, I assume, to cash in on its superficial similarities to Star Wars in the wake of that movie's stratospheric success. I'm not sure why they also brought back the less similar Mister Miracle around the same time, but although I'm happy to see more of him (he was my favorite part of Kirby's unfinished opus) it takes most of this abbreviated 7 issue run for the writers to figure out their angle on the material, and then it just ends. Better writing overall than RotNG, but worse artwork, so call it a draw.
C-
C-
July 24, 2023
This was just okay. I liked to read the adventures continuing from Jack Kirby's original run, but some of the actual stories were just kinda meh. It's worth reading as part of a Fourth World readthrough, and clearly good enough to get four stars from me, but I don't have much else to say about it.
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October 29, 2024I couldn’t rate it because these issues felt pointless. It didn’t continue the ideas Kirby had laid out. Actually, it retconned MM. there was a couple ideas introduced in the first issue but either never played out or fizzled away. Big disappointment.
July 26, 2023
An attempt at a revival. Two short and unfinished. Ferber and Englehart are good. The Art by Rogers and Golden is mostly exceptional.
October 24, 2025
important entry into the mythology of mister miracle.
July 30, 2022
This is the few issues and appearances that occurred after The King left the title he created. First, some Brave and the Bold appearances, then Englehart and Rogers for a few issues, followed by Gerber and Golden.
October 15, 2024
I had the first four issues (MM 19 - 22) of this as a kid, as well as one of the B&B issues, and always wondered what happened later. Not much good unfortunately, and then it was unceremoniously canceled by DC as Gerber was unfolding his story.
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