Artist Mark Buckingham talks to Wizard about Miracleman and, among other things, what it still means to comic fans:
And as the legal battle rages, the legend of Miracleman continues to grow the longer the series remains out of print. “I did my first ever San Diego convention this year, and it was a real shock for me on the first day when I did my signing at the DC booth that every other person who came to see me was coming with collections of Miracleman,” says Buckingham. “It came as a shock and continues to surprise me, the extent that Miracleman plays such a pivotal role in a lot of people’s lives. It did mark quite an important part in comics history.”
But after all this trauma and all these years, does Buckingham still want to return to Miracleman? “Definitely. From a personal point of view, it remains a great sadness for me that that work was only half completed,” says Buckingham. “It’s my unfinished symphony. It’s the thing that I really want to get a chance to finish someday. And I know Neil wants to as well.” Unfortunately for comic fans, it may be a long time before a judge discovers the magic word that can resurrect Miracleman for one last flight.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I’ve never read a single panel of this thing, but damned if I’m not salivating at the thought of someday getting the chance. Miracleman / Marvelman / Kimotaguy / whatever has risen to the level of comic book nerd folklore, one of the bedtime stories adult fans tell their kids as they tuck them in at night, snuggled in their Ambush Bug jammies, stuffed Darth Maul in hand.
I can only hope the thing will actually hold up to all the hype, when I finally crack open my brand-new rebinding of this material when I’m 76 year old.
Heck, with all the wacky fits, starts, plot twists etc. featuring big guns like Gaiman and Moore and McFarlane, someone like Rich Johnston or Gerard Jones could probably write a novel-length treatise on the subject. Might make for a better read than the thing itself!
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 pm
It still holds up pretty well, but to really understand its impact, it has to be put into context. And its context is, what were you reading in 1982? If the answer is a load of crap by hacks like Gerry Conway, imagine what the hell seeing Alan Moore at the top of his game must have been like.
Plus, Mark Buckingham - so much better now than he was then (and he was good then). I’d love to see what he’d do with those scripts now.
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I was reading Miracleman every time it managed to come out (and people complain about late books nowadays… pfft). And I pulled out those musty, priceless issues again last weekend and damn if it still wasn’t one of the top 3 stories I’ve ever read in this medium. Primate, there was a novel length treatise on the subject, it was called Kimota! by George Khoury and published by Two Morrows.
Mark, I was always amazed at Buckingham’s flexibility in those days - the differences in styles between the Mors issue and Winter’s Story? Or the Bates followers story? Amazing stuff, the whole damn series… ok, the Chuck Austin (Beckum) stuff had me thinking that at least the story is brilliant, but seriously, the story MORE than makes up for it.