So, I just read Moore/Gaiman Miracleman run (I refuse to feel bad about torrenting it, since I would buy it in a nanosecond if the legal stuff ever gets worked out and they get around to reprinting it) and I just felt like I had to open up a thread about it. I know that there are at least some of you guys floating around out here who have read it.
Wow. I knew the reputation, I knew it was supposed to be great. I know it's two of the masters of the medium (and, in my opinion, THE two masters of the medium), but even with the expectations, this thing absolutely blew me away. It's instantly my second favorite comic run of all time (behind only Sandman).
This is the first time I've truly connected with a Moore comic. That's not to say I don't appreciate his other work. I own V For Vendetta, and loved Watchmen, but he's always appealed to me more as a master craftsman than anything else, if that makes sense. Promethea is the best example. What he did with the comic form was technically brilliant, but I wouldn't say I loved it. Miracleman, though, worked in every way possible. It's the absolute perfect superhero story, and it is so very, very Alan Moore. It starts off as a normal enough superhero story, and then just gets progressively more weird and unique and awesome. It manages to build a more interesting and unique universe of alien races in about 6 issues than X-Men has done in 30 years. It's filled with interesting characters (Gargunza, Cream, the Firedrake). More than anything else, the final showdown is just epic. Kid Miracleman is one of the most terrifying villians of all time because Moore lets him do real, graphic, stomach-churning damage. This isn't Superman being weakened by Kryptonite, or fist-fighting with some mindless brute. This is Gods battling over the fate of earth, and people get hurt. Though I probably shouldn't have been, I was surprised by just how dark Moore went in issue, allowing KM to be a psychopathic serial killer writ large. Really, an unbelievable climax, and it's not like the capper in issue #16 was a slouch either.
What is perhaps even more amazing than Moore's run is that Gaiman picks up and writes a story that is exactly in line with where Moore left off, and is yet so distinctly a Gaiman story, all Gods and Stories. I loved that he used a childrens book to explore the mythology. I loved the Warhol/Gargunza story (which features some amazing artwork and page layouts). Gaiman is the perfect author to explore the lives of people in this brave new world of new gods, and it works like gangbusters.
Anyway, I've blabbed on enough. Just had to share some thoughts on a comic that really blew me away.
