Perhaps the biggest announcement to come from NYCC 13 so far has come from Saturday’s Cup O’Joe panel, where Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada announced that Marvel will be restoring and publishing the long out-of-print Miracleman in January of 2014.
The reprints will begin with Alan Moore’s issues with art from Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Beckum, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben, but what makes this announcement even more exciting is that this will be followed by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham’s issues, culminating in the never before published conclusion of said run.
Here’s what Marvel are saying on the matter:
“The wait is over,” says Editor In Chief Axel Alonso. “Marvel will finally be bringing these timeless, ground-breaking stories to a whole new generation of reader.”
“We’ve been working with the Miracleman artists to obtain original artwork or photostats in every instance possible, and then applying the same painstaking restoration methods and rigorous quality standards that are utilized on the Marvel Masterworks line. The Marvel Special Projects team have even been developing some new techniques specifically for this project. These Miraclemanissues will receive the most advanced restoration possible to ensure the most authentic reading experience,” says SVP of Marvel Publishing David Gabriel. “The art is crisp, clear, and looks as good – if not better than the day it was published! Also, the stories are being completely relettered to meet today’s standards.”
Making these stories available to an entirely new generation is one thing, but following the original groundbreaking run, the epic more than 30 years in the making will reach it’s cataclysmic conclusion! You heard correctly – Marvel will also be publishing all-new Miracleman stories from legendary creators Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham! Long left unfinished, Gaiman and Buckingham’s famous storyline will ultimately see the light of day!
“The tragedy of Miracleman was that we published two issues, wrote three and a half – and then it all stopped,” Gaiman said, in an interview with Marvel.com. “And Miracleman #25 has been sitting in the darkness – nobody has seen it. It was drawn, it was written, it was lettered over 20 years ago.”
“I love the idea that I will get to finish this story,” added Gaiman.
“That Neil and Bucky can finally finish the story they started, is a great relief to still-gasping fans — myself among them,” says Alonso.
Re-presented in serialized form, each issue of MIRACLEMAN features additional content including new art, interviews with the creators as well as new covers from some of the industry’s most legendary artists! Look for MIRACLEMAN #1 in print and digital this January!
It’s been four years since Marvel first announced that it had acquired the rights to Mick Anglo’s creation, and some have speculated that the complex legal history behind the ownership of the character (ably detailed in Padraig O’Mealoid’s Poisoned Chalice series over on The Beat) has been part of the delay in anything happening since. It’s worth noting that as yet there’s been no mention of Alan Moore’s involvement in this endeavour, although past history involving Moore’s older works would suggest that this is because he’s simply not involved. Also of note is the reversion from Marvelman – as the character was heralded when Marvel first acquired the rights – back to Miracleman, the name Moore and Gaiman’s take is most synonymous with.
Originally published in the 80s and previously only available to those with either the diligence and finances to hunt down the individual issues, or to those with morally questionable attitudes towards comics piracy, Miracleman remains a high-point in the young careers of two of the medium’s most acclaimed writers, and Marvel making it available for all to read can only be a good thing for comics fans everywhere.
