While the San Diego Comic-Con used to be the Christmas of the Geek Calendar, it’s becoming uncomfortably clear that Comic Books themselves have lost control of the institution.
As the major motion picture studios increase their reliance on the disposable income and slavish devotion of most genre communities, the comics themselves get pushed out of the famous Hall H and further into the background, trampled by legions of fourteen-year-olds longing to know what Robert Pattinson smells like after he wakes up at one o’ clock in the afternoon.
Sadly, that means that they missed the arguable high point of the con. Marvelman, one of the greatest lost heroes in any medium, is coming home. It’s a shame that many fans didn’t understand the full impact of Marvel Comics’ purchase of the character.
The History of Marvelman
Marvelman began like so many heroes of the Golden Age of Comics – as a cynical clone of a previously established superhero. More specifically, he was a clone of a clone, created after Fawcett Publications lost a landmark copyright case concerning their popular Captain Marvel character. DC Comics believed that Captain Marvel was too similar to their legendary Superman, and in 1953, Fawcett was forced to cease publication of their Captain Marvel family of titles.
This left British publisher Len Miller & Son, Ltd. with a huge problem. They had been making quite a lot of money republishing the Fawcett Captain Marvel books, and with Superman monopolizing the American Ubermench market, had nothing to replace him.
Faced with a glaring hole in his publishing schedule, Miller paid Mick Anglo to write and draw a British copy of Captain Marvel for immediate publication. In 1954, the first issue of Anglo’s Marvelman hit the stands, replacing what would have been the 25th issue of the Captain Marvel reprints.
The rush to fill the hole left by Captain Marvel meant that Marvelman was in most ways a direct copy of the cancelled hero. Like Captain Marvel’s alter ego Billy Batson, Micky “Marvelman” Moran was a reporter, who gained extraordinary powers after uttering a magic word (“Kimota”, replacing Captain Marvel’s legendary “Shazam”.) There was a single drastic change, however; Marvelman’s powers were scientific (“Kimota” is “Atomic”, spelled backwards and sideways) rather than magic, foreshadowing the Marvel Comics led explosion of science-based superhero origins.
The stories were a success, continuing until 1963, printing over three hundred issues of two different titles – Marvelman and Young Marvelman – by virtue of the British weekly publishing schedule.
The End of Marvelman
Marvelman remained out of print until 1982, when writer Alan Moore and artists Garry Leach and Alan Davis brought the character back in the pages of Warrior a pulp anthology title.
The comic landscape had changed drastically since Anglo ceased creating original Marvelman in the early sixties, namely the rise to power of Marvel Comics. Marvel was now the industry leader, buoyed by the success of their Spider-Man and X-Men families. This meant that Marvelman was a no go for American publication – Marvel Comics owned the trademark to the word “Marvel” for publication.
Thus, Miracleman was born.
Alan Moore and Miracleman
Alan Moore was a year away from unleashing Watchmen and Swamp Thing on the world, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t already contemplating the death of the Superhero. His Miracleman stories are what makes the character notable, and would unknowingly keep the character tied up in a complicated legal battle.
Moore grew up with the original Marvelman stories, so his Micky Moran grew up with him. When readers saw Moran again, he was every inch a bitter adult, unhappily married and unable to remember the word that used to give him powers. As he finally awakens the terrifying might of Miracleman, Moore is able to explore how the idea of power changes through adolescence and adulthood.
Micky Moran was created to be a stand in for the reader, an adolescent with the power of a mighty, fully-formed adult under his skin. The Miracleman comics show how the pressure of an adult life in the real world perverts the innocence of youthful vigor.
Although it didn’t receive the mainstream attention it deserved when it was released, Alan Moore’s Miracleman are remarkable, timeless comics. After the original issues of Warrior gained a large cult following, American publisher Eclipse began reprinting the stories for continental audiences. Once they had maxed out the Warrior reprints (issues 1-6 of the Eclipse Miracleman series) they commissioned Moore to write brand new material. Along with artists Chuck Austen, Rick Veitch and John Totleben (the latter two future Moore collaborators on Swamp Thing), Moore was able to finish his epic tale in an easily attainable package.
The Importance of Marvelman
Superhero comics are becoming increasingly metatextual. Many “event” stories are increasingly relying on some thematic comment about the genre itself rather than a self-contained story.
Within that context, the character of Marvelman/Miracleman is not important. As previously stated, he’s uninteresting in concept, merely another invulnerable Ubermench tied up in power fantasy trappings.
There is one important thing about the character: the Alan Moore stories. They are the window through which readers understand the overarching story of an entire genre, as comic books continue to thrive on stories that deconstruct the very tenets on which they were built. That started with Marvelman, and many critically acclaimed works dovetail from its tradition.
Furthermore, these stories have been tied up in a complicated rights battle, and thus inaccessible to the current generations of fans, who have grown up devouring the stories Marvelman gave birth to.
Read about The Complicated Legal History of Marvelman, and find out whether or not anyone will ever be able to walk into a bookstore and buy the stories again.
Michael Davidson - I am a freelance writer, specializing in critical examinations of films, comic books, and television. After graduating with a degree in ...
