Exclusive Preview: ALL-NEW MIRACLEMAN ANNUAL #1

ALL-NEW MIRACLEMAN ANNUAL #1

(W) Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan (A) Joe Quesada, Mike Allred (CA) Gabriele Dell'Otto

• Joe Quesada illustrates Grant Morrison's lost Miracleman story, a disturbing confrontation prior to the Battle of London

• Peter Milligan and Mike Allred reunite for a new Miracleman classic!

• Plus bonus material!

Parental Advisory

Item Code: OCT140868 In Shops: 12/31/2014 SRP: $4.99

Nice, I'll definitely be picking this up.

Already got it on preorder.

This was an Alan Moore creation right?

Wow, is it just me or has Quesada's style changed A LOT? I wonder if he draws on his own time a lot, even though he rarely draws professionally anymore

Not really... It's complicated, to say the least. Miracleman (Marvelman originally) was created by Mick Anglo as a replacement for Captain Marvel in the British market back in the 50's (this tied into the DC lawsuit against Fawcett). He kind of went away for awhile in the 60's, but came back in the 80's under (yup) Alan Moore while working on Warrior. Moore took the character in a crazy (and darker) direction, and when the character was brought over to the states by Eclipse, the name was changed to Miracleman. Other writers ended up working on the title (including Neil Gaiman) until Eclipse went bankrupt.

After this, there was a long stretch of time where the character got tied up in tons of crazy legal battles over rights issues. Basically, it boiled down to a lot of people claiming they had the rights to the character (including Todd McFarlane) who simply did not. In the end, Marvel purchased the rights to the character from the original creator, who still had them the whole time. Kind of like at the end of Wizard of Oz, when you find out that Dorothy had the ability to go home the entire time.

There's more to it than that, but that's the nuts and bolts of the situation.

Put simpler, no, Alan Moore did not create Miracleman but wrote the most well known stories.

@dagmar_merrill said:

The character is a clone of a clone: DC's Superman -> Fawcett's Captain Marvel/Shazam -> UK-based L.Miller & Son's Marvelman/Miracleman. It's some sort of double irony DC eventually bought the rights to Miracleman and is now reprinting the comics that should not have been in the first place (when they had sued Fawcett to stop publishing Captain Marvel).

And it gets even funnier when you think of Alan Moore's involvement and the fact he is not credited in these reprints. Without Moore reviving the character and series in the 1980s the book wouldn't even popular nowadays. DC always seems to find a way to screw Alan Moore in one way or another.

EDIT: I'm so stupid and got this all wrong! Of course it's Marvel reprinting Miracleman these days.

Wait, what? Marvel is reprinting Miracleman, not DC. DC has had no connection to Miracleman.

@meatwadf: Of course it's Marvel. Every time I think of Captain Marvel my mind is messing up everything, however, I should know Marvel is reprinting this (not DC). My bad! --- Why is Marvel not crediting Alan Moore?

lol I was waaaay confused there.

Marvel (like every publisher, it seems) had a falling out with Moore years ago. IIRC, it was kind of a bs situation, and was more Moore being an ass about things after Marvel tried to repair some burned bridges. Of course, that's my faded memory, so it's worth looking up.

I almost want to buy this issue just because of the Morrison writing and that gorgeous Quesada art. But I haven't read any of the prior stories so I probably won't get it.

Marvel gave him the option on whether he wanted to be credited or not.

He opted out.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-alan-moore-has-become-650954

Same.

@jaken7 said:

Thanks.

How many people would just forget about their principles for a second when it comes to money? One doesn't need to fully agree with everything he is saying, at least he's being honest to his ideals.

There will only be a handful of new comics out on New Year's Eve so there won't be many other options. ;)

Sold sold sold!!!

You'd both be fine having not read any other miracle man beforehand.

Oh yeah? Says who?!

To add to what has already been said

Alan Moore revived the 1950s character, reinvented him, and somewhat retconed the original history.

So contemporary Marvelman is very much his vision, but yeah strictly speaking he didn't create the character.