Miracleman is a superhero comic book series, centred on the character of the same name. Originally created by Mick Anglo and published by L. Miller & Son, Ltd. as Marvelman between 1954 and 1963, the character was revived in 1982 for a revisionist story written by Alan Moore, beginning in the pages of British anthology Warrior. From 1985 the character was renamed Miracleman, and the series was continued by American publisher Eclipse Comics until 1993. Since 2009 the rights to the character have been licensed by Marvel Comics, who have published new material.
Creation
By 1954, Hackney-based publisher L. Miller & Son, Ltd had experienced considerable success reprinting the adventures of Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., licensed from Fawcett Publications. However, legal action by DC Comics led to Fawcett cancelling the titles, cutting off Miller's source of material. Not wanting to lose two of their bestselling titles, Len Miller contacted artist Mick Anglo, whose Gower Street Studios had already created cover art for many L. Miller & Son comics. He designed the characters as the similarly powered Marvelman and Young Marvelman, with the titles renamed accordingly from their respective 25th editions. Anglo initially handled the strip himself while it was shaped before involving other artists from his studio, including Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton and Denis Gifford, who would all go on to have successful careers in the industry. The weekly comics were very successful, exceeding the sales of their predecessors, and led to several spin-offs – including a third title from October 1956, Marvelman Family, a monthly that featured Marvelman and Young Marvelman teaming up with Kid Marvelman that would run until 1959.
Sales however began to fall after the ban on importing American comics was lifted in November 1959.Chibnall, Steve. "The Sign of the Tee Pee: The Story of Thorpe & Porter," Paperback, Pulp and Comic Collector Vol. 1: "SF Crime Horror Westerns & Comics" (Wilts, UK: Zeon Publishing / Zardoz Books, 1993), pp. 16–29. Archived at Box.com. Retrieved 28 December 2020. In 1960 they had dropped to a degree where L. Miller & Son switched the title to monthly reprint titles, and Anglo ended his relationship with Miller. Marvelman and Young Marvelman were finally cancelled after the February 1963 editions – both having reached No. 370. The publisher subsequently entered bankruptcy.
Ownership
At the time of Marvelman's creation it was industry standard that British comic characters were created on a work for hire basis, with the works belonging to the publisher, The characters spent over two decades in publishing limbo based on the false premise that Anglo had sold the rights to the character in the 1980s. However, in 2009 it emerged that Anglo had actually retained the rights to the character from its initial creation in 1954.
Revival Marvelman at Quality Communications (1982–1984)
When planning Warrior, editor Dez Skinn planned a similar set of content to his work with Marvel UK, and identified the need for the comic to have a superhero strip. Having read Marvelman as a child and having encountered Mick Anglo earlier in his career, Skinn was aware of the character's status as a historic British superhero and settled on a revival for Warrior, explaining:
Skinn's first two choices to write Marvelman were Steve Parkhouse and Steve Moore. Both expressed a lack of interest, and when Moore told Skinn that his friend Alan Moore would "give his eye teeth" to write Marvelman, Skinn agreed to let him submit a pitch for the series. Alan Moore had also read Marvelman as a child before discovering DC Comics. However, as a teenager he found some of the Marvelman annuals while holidaying in Great Yarmouth, and enjoyed them more than he had expected. Also influenced by reading Harvey Kurtzman's Mad spoof "Superduperman", he was fascinated by the idea of what had happened to the fictional character in the meantime.
Some years later as a budding writer with credits for 2000AD and Doctor Who Monthly under his belt, Moore mentioned this in an interview with David Lloyd for The Society for Strip Journalists, a small press British comics industry publication. Moore provided a detailed proposal for a revival that updated the story to present times; Moore even suggested that should the idea to revive Marvelman be abortive most of it would be salvageable as "a pastiche character called Miracle Man". Skinn was impressed, and asked for a script for the first episode on spec; after this passed muster Moore was signed on as writer. Skinn's first picks for artist were Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland, but both declined. Instead Garry Leach, Warriors art director, was assigned to draw the strip. Leach's style involved heavy photo reference, and he designed Marvelman to resemble actor Paul Newman, Liz Moran after Audrey Hepburn and the adult Kid Marvelman as a mix of Jon Finch and David Bowie. He also updated the character's distinctive "MM" logo to a more modern look and settled on a lithe physique for the superhero instead of a muscular look. For his part, Alan Moore worked with Steve Moore on a chronology that would tie the Warrior strips together as part of Skinn's plan to have the heroes eventually work together as a team named "Challenger Force", with Marvelman, Moore and Leach's Warpsmith, Skinn's Big Ben and new character Firedrake among the planned members. Few of the elaborate ideas in their chronology (such as V for Vendetta being set on an alternate Earth where Marvelman had never returned, Emil Gargunza being the creator of the Fate computer and Axel Pressbutton's adventures being set far in the future of Marvelman) would come to fruition before Warrior folded.
The first 6-page episode appeared in the first issue of Warrior (dated March 1982) which also included a four-page article on the character's history penned by Skinn.; the character was not named on the cover or the index, with his identity only being confirmed on the final page of the story. For the fourth issue, branded as the Warrior Summer Special, the story suddenly jumped forward three years in a story that hinted at the future plans for the combined universe. The strip returned to telling Marvelman's 1982 rebirth from Warrior #5; however, Leach's meticulous style was causing delays. Moore would later claim Leach was too slow, while Skinn would blame Moore's overdetailed panel descriptions. Leach for his part noted that while the scripts were incredibly detailed he would simply ignore details he felt were extraneous, and felt Moore was always open to suggestions; for example it was Leach's idea that Kid Marvelman would retain his business suit during his confrontation with Marvelman as he felt this better fitted the tone of the story than the character's fifties costume. Artist Mick Austin provided painted covers of the character for two issues, the first of which would later receive an Eagle Award.
Nevertheless, Leach's workload as art director for the magazine and artist on Marvelman proved too great. Moore suggested Alan Davis as a replacement, with whom he had a productive relationship on Marvel UK's Captain Britain strip and in 2000ADs D.R. & Quinch. Skinn recalled he had baulked at the idea of having the two most prominent superhero strips in the country sharing creative teams but relented, and the first 'book' ("A Dream of Flying") concluded after 10 chapters in Warrior #11. Warrior meanwhile had attracted good notices, including major recognition at the Eagle Awards, but was struggling with sales and heavily subsidised by Skinn's comic shop business to keep going, while the creative teams began quibbling about the division of spoils and the potentially constrictive Challenger Force concept. Moore and Leach would shortly collaborate again on Warpsmith for Warrior. Warrior #12 featured a dialogue-free Young Marvelman story set in flashback, written by Moore and drawn by John Ridgway before Book Two began in #13. Warrior #17 saw Ridgway again take art duties for a double-length flashback strip tying into the main narrative, this time featuring all three members of the Marvelman Family.
Marvelman Special Part of Skinn's informal agreement with Anglo was the potential to earn royalties from reprints of vintage material; this combined with the positive reception to Marvelman in particular led to the publication of the fateful Marvelman Special in 1984. Moore and Davis provided wrapping sequences that framed the strips as an epilogue to Book One, featuring a pair of unnamed cleaners tidying the Project Zarathustra bunker while watching some of the video cassettes held there - the revival having retconned the characters' older adventures as dreams induced by Emil Gargunza. This conceit allowed reprints of material from Marvelman, Young Marvelman and Marvelman Family to be printed without disrupting continuity, as well as a Big Ben strip previously created by Skinn (who was credited under the pseudonym Edgar Henry) and artist Ian Gibson, the character having appeared as a guest in the Marvelman strip.
After Warrior #21, Marvelman disappeared from the title partway through the second 'book' "The Red King Syndrome". Skinn would publicly blame this on Marvel Comics taking legal action over the titling of the Marvelman Special. However the truth was that Moore and Davis had fallen out and due to the ownership structure of the property it could not be continued without the approval of both. Regardless, what Moore saw as Marvel's bullying tactics and the unfair principle of the American company trying to object to the name of a character created before they had switched to their current identity would greatly contribute to his decision to refuse to work for Marvel again. At this stage, that Anglo retained ownership of the Marvelman characters was unknown, and it was instead believed by all involved that the rights were split between Moore, Leach, Davis and Quality Communications the strip was unable to continue without approval from all parties. A young Grant Morrison, having recently begun working on Warrior strip The Liberators, was eager to take over but this was vetoed by Moore. the black-and-white unmodified Warrior strips with the original Marvelman-related names have not been collected. Warrior ended after 26 issues with no further appearances from Marvelman; the title had been running at a loss since it began publication, with Skinn estimating it had cost him in the region of $40,000 across its life.
Miracleman at Eclipse Comics (1985–1993) Following the demise of Warrior, and after unsuccessful negotiations with DC and Marvel, Skinn struck a deal with the Schanes brothers at Pacific Comics of San Diego in 1984 to continue the story - unaware at the time that he did not have the rights to do so. Most of Pacific's assets were taken over by Guerneville-based rival Eclipse Comics after being won at a foreclosure auction by co-owner Dean Mullaney, including the Marvelman deal. Initially the title was advertised and promoted as Marvelman. However to avoid any further legal action the title was retitled Miracleman, with the characters renamed accordingly; previewing the series in Amazing Heroes, Eclipse editor-in-chief Cat Yronwode suggested she had considered a write-in campaign to name the hero. The renaming seems to have taken place independently from "Miracleman" having been among the working names for the character considered by Anglo and Miller, and its use for a further derivative of Marvelman created by Anglo and publishing in 1965 as Miracle Man. It was in fact suggested by Moore as an alternate name during his original Warrior proposal should Skinn had ultimately decided on a fresh work instead of resurrecting Marvelman, and he had used it for an analogue of the character briefly featured in his work on Marvel UK's Captain Britain strip. The new title was announced in May 1985, shortly before publication.
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