Hot on the heels of the Miracleman tease in Marvel Comics' Timeless #1, the cult-favorite British hero is getting his most famous stories collected in one massive omnibus.
Scheduled to go on sale in September, Marvel Comics' Miracleman Omnibus will collect the '80s reboot by Alan Moore and various artists, as well as the first two Miracleman stories in the Marvel Comics era by Grant Morrison, Joe Quesada, Mike Allred, and Peter Milligan.
Here are the complete contents:
- material from Warrior (1982) #1-18, #20-21
- Miracleman (1985) #1, #3, #6-16
- Marvelman Special (1984) #1
- material from A1 (1989) #1
- All-New Miracleman Annual (2014) #1
Who is Miracleman?
Originally conceived as a UK equivalent to Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel (later acquired by DC and re-named Shazam!), Miracleman (then known as Marvelman) is a mild-mannered reporter named Michael Moran who can transform into a superhero when he utters the words 'Kimota!' In 1982, Alan Moore and Garry Leach revamped the hero for the anthology magazine Warrior and became a veritable overnight success.
Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham took over the series in the late '80s, with massive plans that included an 18-issue run and a spin-off series subtitled Triumphant. After only a few issues, plans fell apart and entered a publishing limbo that kept new issues (as well as reprints of the older material) from being published for much of the '90s and '00s.
After a few aborted attempts at relaunching the franchise, Marvel acquired the rights to Miracleman and began reprinting the '80s stories in their original serialized format. A continuation of that series, with new stories by Gaiman and Buckingham, has been in the works for over a decade.
Marvel is also teasing Miracleman's introduction into the Marvel Universe. Whether that and Gaiman and Buckingham's planned stories are one and the same remains to be seen.
What makes Miracleman Omnibus unique?
Although Marvel has reprinted the stories in Miracleman Omnibus before, according to Marvel this massive reprint contains "original artwork and rare features" as well.
Former Miracleman artist Alan Davis is returning to the character to draw the as-yet-unrevealed cover for Miracleman Omnibus. Marvel will also be publishing two variant cover editions of Miracleman Omnibus exclusive to comic shops, with re-used art by Garry Leach and Kevin Nowlan.
Ahead of Miracleman becoming more a part of the Marvel U, check out the best Marvel stories of all time.
