I’m going to give casual fans a break. Casual readers who don’t read comics annoy me, but I’m getting old enough to understand many don’t know where to start when collecting comics. If you loved comic book films like Watchmen, V For Vendetta, From Hell, and the animated version of Batman: The Killing Joke, then you are already an entry-level comic book fan of iconic writer Alan Moore. So, you may absolutely love the Miracleman Omnibus. I highly recommend it.
- Miracleman Omnibus (October 2022)
- Published by Marvel Comics
- Writer: The Original Writer, Mick Anglo, Cat Yronwode, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan
- Artists: Alan Davis, Garry Leach, Kevin Nowlan, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Chuck Austen, John Ridgway, Don Lawrence, Steve Dillon, Paul Neary, Rick Bryant, Joe Quesada, and Mike Allred
Alan Moore
Alan Moore is an English writer and novelist known for revitalizing and modernizing the comic book industry in the early 1980s. He wasn’t the only one, of course, but he was one of the most well-known.
Moore is almost 70 now, a recluse, and kind of curmudgeonly. After weathering bad contracts and deals with corporate comic book companies, he refuses to allow his name to appear on new editions of his old works. Moore is credited as “The Original Writer” in the new omnibus edition of Miracleman by Marvel.
In 1982, when Moore was 27, he wrote Miracleman for a British publication, causing a paradigm shift in the comic book landscape. His characters showed the horrifying ramifications of superheroes existing in the real world. So, comics have never been the same since. Antiheroes probably only exist partially because of Moore’s early work.
Miracleman Omnibus is $100. Yes, it is a steep price, but I highly recommend that you get it..
First Appearance of Miracleman
Marvelman #25 (1954), Fawcett comics; Moore Era of Miracleman starts in Warrior #1 (March 1982), Quality Communications.
Miracleman Omnibus Required Reading (If You Like)
Every important issue of the 1980s version of Miracleman is included in Miracleman Omnibus. It’s about 40 issues spanning from 1982 to 2014.
Brief Bio and History – Miracleman Omnibus
It took over 30 years for the Miracle Omnibus to get printed.
It’s a very long story, but it was due to decades-spanning corporate lawsuits. Miracleman was known as Marvelman in the 1950s and 1960s before the original publisher shut its doors.
In the 1960s, Atlas Comics became Marvel Comics. In the 1980s, when the publishers of Marvelman tried to publish the series in the United States, they changed the name to Miracleman to avoid legal conflicts.
The legal wrangling even involved Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane. Both creators have claimed to own Miracleman for many years. But that is the aggressively abbreviated version of these events.
Marvel Comics now owns the exclusive rights to Miracleman.
Miracleman Omnibus – The Review
Miracleman Omnibus collects the 1980s saga of Miracleman by a young Alan Moore. It’s the story of a middle-aged and unambitious reporter named Michael Moran.
Moran is having recurring nightmares about flying, vague codewords, and people dying in atomic flashes and explosions. His wife worries about his deteriorating mental state, non-ambitious life, and their future.
As Moran goes to report on a demonstration against atomic energy, the crowd is taken captive by terrorists. Moran, gripped by fear and adrenaline, remembers a vague codeword and transforms into Miracleman. He is now half his age and as strong as Superman.
Miracleman saves the day and returns to his incredulous wife. Moore has deftly crafted a narrative where Moran had amnesia for almost 20 years, which is when the last adventures of Marvelman were published in the 1960s. It was a much simpler time, where good and evil were black and white, and superheroes saved cats from trees.
Moran’s true powers are reawakened in the 1980s. It is an era of moral decay and societal indifference. It is a time and place where you could always have the last word if you wielded enough power.
Believe me, I am not spoiling the story. I barely described the start of it. The first issue is a fake-out, a nod to the previous history of the character, which I glossed over.
Changing the World
Miracleman slowly realizes his omnipotence. Miracleman goes on to save the world from itself on his own terms without asking society’s permission.
The story is not perfect. Moore’s writing is overly florid and descriptive at times. I love the artwork, but many critics have said that it is mediocre.
But it is a landmark storyline that showed how terrifying a superhuman could be in the real world.
Have you ever considered that Superman must control every aspect of his physiology to pass as a human? He could crush your bones to dust. He could knock down a building by sneezing. Why would Superman want to be human on a planet where power is everything?
Even if Superman wanted to save the world, he might have to do it in a way that humanity would not agree with or appreciate. An anthill can’t stop you from stepping on it to make way for your picnic.
That is my interpretation of the characters in Miracleman Omnibus, and I think you should read it for yourself to experience it. It can’t be overemphasized that while such ideas in comics and pop culture are taken for granted very much today, these concepts were mind-blowing and unheard of in the early 1980s.
Be aware that this comic features a lot of violence and violent imagery.
Miracleman Omnibus – Buy It?
Yes! Buy it now.
This 808-page hardcover features the entire Miracleman saga. Buy it on Kindle for $35 now. You can also buy the hardcover for $64, but Amazon’s supply of the physical book is low.
I recommend that you buy this omnibus to read and buy some of the individual issues as comic book collectible investments.
There is an aggressively faithful fanbase of Miracleman collectors who pay top dollar for old issues and old issues with variant covers.
Miracleman #1 has a collectibles market value of $125.
You can get several old Miracleman issues in the $10 to $70 range. And many are rather cheap. There were only 24 issues in the original Alan Moore run.
It probably won’t happen this decade (never say never), but Marvel could introduce a TV or cinematic version of Miracleman. So, these back issue prices could skyrocket in value.
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