So what's the deal with this guy? Some kind of long lost relic from comics' past that Marvel got a hold of? Any /co/ recommended?
>tfw canceled
>>80734971
Miracleman started out as Marvelman, an old UK comics character "inspired" by Captain Marvel (Fawcett Comics' Cap Marvel, now called Shazam). "Inspired" meaning "tremendously ripped-off." He had everything that Billy had, from the magic word that turned him into a hero to the extended family of Kids and Juniors.
Then, in the 80s, Alan Moore reimagined him for an anthology called Warrior, giving him a new gritty, introspective, compelling story. It was later reprinted for the US as MiracleMan for legal reasons and after Moore left the strip, Neil Gaiman jumped in to continue it. But then it got tangled into a major legal quagmire involving Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, Image Comics and a bunch of other players. After a lot of back and forth Marvel finally cleared out all the legal issues and are able to reprint it, although on Moore's request they have erased his name from the book and sent all the royalties to the family of MarvelMan's original writer/artist.
Anyway, it's good stuff. Anything by Alan Moore (or as Marvel has it, "The Original Writer") and Gaiman is good.
>>80734971
>Captain Marvel was published in the UK until 1954 (Fawcett died in 53).
>Bongs Reinvent the character as marvelman, it's porpular for a long time
>It's cancelled eventually
>Grittyreboot under moore
>Character has to be renamed "miracleman" since Marvel could sue, and they wanted to publish in Murrika
>Moore leaves and cockblock morrison from taking over
>Gaiman Continues the series and has some of the rights
Series is infinished
>mcfarlane get hold on some rights
>Gaiman fights him
>mcfarlane tries to push for "man of miracles" a new reborn concept, but he still want the character
>marvel offers Gaiman help with the legal stuff, under the condition Gaiman works for them (eternals, 1602 only exist thanks to this).
>after a long time Marvel can publish Miracleman
>Lost Morrison story is published
>plans to publish new stuff
That's it, what i don't recall if the change of name was before or after the reboot.
Miracleman is an amazing series, but everyone thinks it should had been part of Vertigo and not Marvel. But is fine.
Marvelman was pretty much a Silver age Captain Marvel
Miracleman was about a guy that recall a lost life as a superhero and discover he actually is one.
Sentry and pic related are rip off of miracleman.
>>80735221
>although on Moore's request they have erased his name from the book
Why is it that Moore is such a sordid cunt about anything and everything to do with Marvel. I understand why he doesn't want anything to do with them as far as new content, but why remove your name from something that was so obviously well-received and renowned for your writing on it?
it's english comics that isn't 2000AD
so really who gives a shit
>>80735382 (You)
>>80734971
When the first Captain Marvel was created by Fawcett Comics back in 1940, he proved wildly popular and quickly became one of the best selling characters of all time. His stories were so popular they were reprinted overseas, under license, by other companies.
This upset DC comics, whose own Superman slightly pre-dates this Captain Marvel, because they at the time felt that Superman was being ripped off - that the original Captain Marvel's powers were so close to Superman's that their copyrights were being infringed. DC Comics' lawsuit eventually put Fawcett Comics (a small part of a far larger publisher) out of business in the early 1950s, and as Fawcett were no longer making Captain Marvel comics, there would be no more new stories to reprint in other territories.
In the UK, L. Miller & Son Ltd. had been publishing reprints of Fawcett's Captain Marvel stories; but as these dried up in late 1953, the company commissioned Mick Anglo to create a "new" character, Marvelman, whose powers, origins, family etc were highly similar to the now-defunct Captain Marvel, in order to be able to retain the Captain Marvel readership. L. Miller & Son published Marvelman until 1963, when waning interest led to cancellation of the title.
When a new UK publication was looking for stories to print in the early 80s, the editors chose Marvelman for a revival (on the grounds that they were fans and he might bring in some other fans as readers). Alan Moore was chosen to produce the revival as writer; eventually, Marvel Comics (who unlike DC had an actual UK-based publishing arm producing original works at that time) complained about the use of "Marvel" in the character's name and the name was changed to Miracleman. Neil Gaiman eventually (after several changes of ownership) took over writing; because of the rights structure, both he, Moore, and several other creators and companies owned part of the rights to the stories they worked on.
There's more, and it's complicated.
>>80735365
Sales for Miracleman might be higher if Marvel was able to use Moore's name as part of the advertising for Miracleman.
Moore doesn't want Marvel to make more money than they already do.
What's the problem with that?
>>80735365
He hated working on Marvelman. Part of the reason it was cancelled the first time he worked on it was that his publisher was stiffing him over pay.
And I guess the second time he quit from the title for similar reasons, but I don't know. I do know the rights to that were so fucked up that nobody should have owned it outright, as they were split between creators and the various publishers.
When it was discovered that Mick Anglo had been the real rightsholder from the start, Moore said "I'm very happy for this book to get published — because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife ... The main thing is that I will feel happy to know that Mick Anglo is finally getting the recompense he so richly deserves."
>>80735365
>>80735794
Alan Moore's statement in full:
>After being initially informed by Neil’s lawyer, I had to think about it for a couple of days. I decided that while I’m very happy for this book to get published—because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife. Mick is very, very old, and his wife, I believe, is suffering from Alzheimer’s. The actual Marvelman story is such a grim and ugly one that I would probably rather that the work was published without my name on it, and that all of the money went to Mick. The decision about my name was largely based upon my history with Marvel—my desire to really have nothing to do with them, and my increasing desire to have nothing to do with the American comics industry. I mean, they’re probably are enough books out there with my name on them to keep the comics industry afloat for a little bit longer. I left a message to that effect with Neil. I’ve since heard back from the lawyer upon another issue, and he said that he was certain that would be the case—that Marvel would accede to my request. That looks like the way it will be emerging. And, Neil will be able to finish his Marvelman story because he has a completely different relationship with Marvel than I have with them—or rather, don’t have. The main thing is that I will feel happy to know that Mick Anglo is finally getting the recompense he so richly deserves. And, I will have distanced myself from a lot of the deceit and ugliness that surrounded the relaunching of Marvelman as a character.
(Mick Anglo died in 2011, aged 95, two years after this statement).
>>80735794
>"I'm very happy for this book to get published — because that means money will finally go to Marvelman’s creator, Mick Anglo, and to his wife ... The main thing is that I will feel happy to know that Mick Anglo is finally getting the recompense he so richly deserves."
Jesus Moore, all the dude did was make a knock off Captain Marvel.
>>80735874
Which ran for ten years and diverged significantly from the Captain Marvel stories.
It's like if Hellboy had been cancelled after 10 years and a series of reboots were made without anybody even telling Mignola, let alone paying him, because "he only made a grimdark superhero".
Nobody makes a popular comic in a vacuum; the fact that even twenty years after cancellation, and for another decade after that, people fought to reintroduce the character and considered it to be worth a lot of money (including Todd MacFarlane, who thought he'd bought the complete rights in the 90s and intended to use them as part of his Spawn mythos) speaks to that.
>>80735794
>>80735846
Well that's actually...very admirable of him. Wow.
One other fun fact about Miracleman is that in his initial appearance, he worked at a newspaper publisher called The Daily Bugle. This actually predated Spider-Man by a little under a decade, so if you were ever wondering if Stan Lee ripped ideas from people, the answer is yes.
>>80735846
Alan Moore, ladies and gentlemen. even when given the chance to be a genuine human being, he uses it to piss on what made him. at least not being on the cash train will give him more time for his loli comics.
>>80736250
It's funny to see posters like >>80737062 treat this as an opportunity to shit on Moore.
Crazy old Moore, huh? Craziest of the crazies, he's just that crazy.
Why, he's so crazy, he actually treats money like a tool to be used to help others, e.g.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/12/alan-moore-donates-10000-to-help-friend-bring-his-african-wife-to-the-uk
>>80737062
>who needs to read when I've got my opinions all ready to type?
>prejudice saves me a lot of time!
>>80735846
What's his beef with Marvel? From what I heard it was just about Marvel not putting his name on some book.
>>80734971
Captain Marvel-esque atomic hero that spent most of his life in a Truman Show style habitat modeled after the Golden Age to both hone his powers and keep him controlled.
He and his sidekicks eventually broke out, but some handled the transition worse than others. At best, they came to terms with it. At worst, they committed genocide before the other superheroes stopped them.
>>80735658
Moore hates marvel for how they treated Jack Kirby.
>>80736035
>(including Todd MacFarlane, who thought he'd bought the complete rights in the 90s and intended to use them as part of his Spawn mythos)
Talk about pearls before swine.
