Miracleman (character)

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 & Son as a United Kingdom home-grown substitute for the American character Captain Marvel, the original series ran until 1963. It was revived in 1982 in a dark, post-modern reboot by writer Alan Moore, with later contributions by Neil Gaiman.

Publication history

The Mick Anglo years

In 1953, the American company Fawcett Comics, which was the US publisher of '' Captain Marvel'', discontinued the title because of a lawsuit from DC Comics. Len Miller and his company L. Miller & Son, Ltd. had been publishing black-and-white reprints of the series, along with other Fawcett titles, in the UK. Rather than stopping, he turned to comic packager Mick Anglo for help continuing or replacing the comic. They transformed Captain Marvel into Marvelman while Miller continued his other Fawcett reprint titles and used logos and trademarks that looked significantly like Fawcett's. This added to the appearance that the Fawcett line was continuing, and that Marvelman was still Captain Marvel, in order to retain the audience.

Marvelman was similar to Captain Marvel: a young reporter named Micky Moran encounters an astrophysicist, instead of a wizard, who gives him superpowers based on atomic energy instead of magic. To transform into Marvelman, he speaks the word "Kimota", which is phonetically "atomic" backwards, rather than "Shazam". Instead of Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, Marvelman was joined by Dicky Dauntless, a teenage messenger boy who became Young Marvelman, and young Johnny Bates, who became Kid Marvelman; both of their magic words were "Marvelman".

''Captain Marvel'' #19 and ''Captain Marvel, Jr.'' #19 announced the forthcoming replacement of these heroes, and with issue number 25 of each title (both cover-dated 3 February 1954), they were retitled as ''Marvelman'' and ''Young Marvelman''. ''Marvelman Family'' was added to the lineup two years later. Among the studio artists Anglo assembled to produce the comics were Denis Gifford and Don Lawrence. ''Marvelman'' and ''Young Marvelman'' each had 346 issues (#25–370), published weekly, except for the final 36 issues, which were monthly, reprinting old stories. ''Marvelman Family'' was a monthly that usually featured Marvelman, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman together, from October 1956 to November 1959. A variety of ''Marvelman'' and ''Young Marvelman'' albums were printed annually from 1954 to 1963.

Mick Anglo's association with Len Miller ended in 1960. A disgruntled Anglo then recycled some of his Marvelman stories as ''Captain Miracle'', published under his Anglo Comics imprint, which folded in 1961. Anglo always claimed ownership of Marvelman, and although creator's rights were almost unheard of in the British comics industry of the 1950s and 1960s, at least some of Anglo's Marvelman stories do have a tiny "© Mick Anglo" in the margins, lending a measure of credibility to Anglo's claim.

At the height of their success, the British "Marvels" saw a series of Italian reprints. Gordon and Gotch, one of Australia's largest comics publishers, also published reprint editions. In Brazil, British Marvelman stories were reprinted in the same titles as Fawcett's original Captain Marvel. However, in Brazil, Marvelman became Jack Marvel.

Though the Marvelman titles were successful for a considerable time, this changed abruptly in 1959 when changes in British law allowed comics to be imported from the US.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. The black-and-white Marvelman books were unable to compete with the full color imports, forcing Miller to cancel ''Marvelman Family'', downgrade the other two titles to monthly status, and use reprinted adventures for their content. The two series survived until 1963, when Miller filed for bankruptcy. The company ceased publishing altogether in 1966.

The Alan Moore years

Marvelman (in ''Warrior'')

A new British monthly black-and-white anthology comic, ''Warrior'', was launched in March 1982. Editor/publisher Dez Skinn had decided from the beginning to revive Marvelman as one of its features, 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 (no relation to Steve) would "give his eye teeth" to write Marvelman, Skinn agreed to let him submit a pitch for the series. Skinn's first picks for artist were Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland, but again both declined, leaving Skinn to reluctantly give the assignment to Garry Leach