Captain Miracle is a fictional British Silver Age

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

. The character was originally created by

Mick Anglo Michael Anglo (born Maurice Anglowitz, 19 June 1916 – 31 October 2011)Holland, Steve, "Who's Who in British Comics", ''Comics World'' No. 43, Aceville Publications Ltd (September–October 1995) was a British comic book writer, editor and arti ...

for his own Anglo Features imprint, using material planned for

Marvelman Miracleman (Michael ("Micky" / "Mike") Moran), originally known as Marvelman, is a fictional superhero appearing in comic books first published by L. Miller & Son, Ltd. Created in 1954 by writer-artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & So ...

- itself a reworking of Fawcett Publications' Captain Marvel. The character first appeared in ''Captain Miracle'' #1, published in October 1960.

Publication history

The character was devised to make use of extant material after publishers L. Miller & Son decided to switch their ''Marvelman'' and ''Young Marvelman'' comics to reprint status in 1960. As a result Anglo set up his own Anglo Features label to make further use of completed material produced by Gower Studios. The name Captain Miracle had previously been considered for Marvelman during that character's creation in 1954. The character was redesigned with short sleeves, gloves and bare legs, and the "MM" logo was replaced by a simple arrow. The 28-page monthly comic also included other strips either from Gower Studios' inventory or imported from American publishers, such as Western-themed strips based on Belle Starr and Daniel Boone. Neither Anglo Features nor Captain Miracle were a success, and the title ended after 9 monthly issues in June 1961 when Anglo folded the imprint and instead returned Gower Studios to work for hire with Thorpe & Porter. Anglo would revisit the template again while devising ''Super Hombre'' for Spanish publisher Editorial Ferma, which was subsequently imported and published by Thorpe & Porter as ''

Miracle Man The Miracle Man (Joshua Ayers) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as one of the first enemies of the Fantastic Four. He was originally depicted ...

''. In 1989, the character made a guest appearance in Grant Morrison's '' 2000AD'' strip ''

Zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction (plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The zenith is the "highest" ...

'' as one of a large number of multiversal superheroes battling the

Lloigor Lloigor is the name of a fictional deity and a fictional race in the Cthulhu Mythos. The entity first appeared in August Derleth and Mark Schorer's short story "The Lair of the Star Spawn" (1932), and has been used in subsequent fictional works by o ...

. Described by one character as one of "the most powerful crime-fighters on any alternative", Captain Miracle is accidentally left behind on a doomed parallel Earth along with fellow powerhouse Ace Hart. Both are possessed by the Lloigor but are eventually destroyed by their erstwhile allies during an attempt to destroy Zenith's Earth, with Captain Miracle being overwhelmed after punching Tanya of The Amazing Three in the face hard enough to decapitate her.

Fictional character biography

Due to the character's origins as a redrawn, relettered version of Marvelman much of the premise and content is very similar to both that title and thus Captain Marvel. Reporter Micky Moran became ''Daily Clarion'' editorial assistant, and transformed into the superhero when he called "El Karim!" (in place of "Kimota!"). Due to some of the material originally featuring Young Marvelman, Captain Miracle also had Miracle Junior, who also featured in solo strips in the comic. Miracle Junior's civilian identity was messenger boy Tod Allen. Another ally was Lola Karbel, an officer of the Amalgamated Interplanetary Police, who featured in stories set in 2065.

Powers and abilities

Captain Miracle retained the powers of his predecessors, having super-strength, invulnerability and flight capability. He could also travel backwards or forwards in time by rapidly orbiting Earth. Whereas Marvelman's powers were loosely given to him by science, Captain Miracle's were attributed to "Eastern magic".

References

{{UK-comics-stub British comic strips 1960 comics debuts 1961 comics endings Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1960 Magazines disestablished in 1961 Superhero comics