3 out of 5

I guess this is supposed to be the first ‘holy shit’ arc, as MM goes nutso and explodes a couple people, but instead I just found the transition rather sudden, and the following purposefully graphic birth sequence… purposefully graphic.  I’m sure I’m reading this with too critical of an eye because it’s been unavailable for so long, but I am cognizant of this being early Moore work.  Now the writer had obviously contributed impressive stuff to 2000 AD by this point, but I suppose Marvelman – and V for Vendetta, out at the same time – were his first stabs at something a bit more serious (Halo Jones had a strong storyline but still had a kitschy 2000 AD feel to it).  I’ll be interested when I reread V if I find that the writer’s youth is also apparent in that text.  …Because the themes we’re starting to explore here, about the corruption of power, and fine line between good and evil – as well as the commonly muddy logic that motivates our actions – are strongly explored in Moore’s later works, generally in what I’d consider a smoother fashion than what I’m reading here.  But it’s still interesting to see the author becoming comfortable with (presumably) giving art guidance to create themes not only within a serial but over several of them, and, of course, his wishy-washy playing with hero lore… something that interestingly flip-flopped around to a more loving mindset when ABC comics would happen.

But our star rating here is also taking into account the way these books are presented.  Thankfully the cost per issue has stabilized at 4.99, and you do get an impressive amount of backmatter for that tag, but… sometimes it seems questionable.  Like when the majority of the comic isn’t Miracleman by Alan Moore but is instead art pages and reprints.  The editors figured out how to sequence this stuff and pack 40 pages per month, and I get that that might mean it doesn’t always divide up evenly, but there’s really the sense that they’re doling this out as sloooowly as possible, because they know we’ll pay for it.  The design is professional and classy, don’t get me wrong, but very consistently over half the book are “extras,” and – I’m pretty sure I offered this same critcism in the first arc’s review – just a half page interview or something would make me feel like these are actually extras.  I know some of us love seeing pencil roughs, but I don’t need to see the whole issue.  A couple pages to show the process is fine.  Yup.

This arc also sees Rick Veitch come on for a couple books, of whom I’ve never been quite a fan.  He broaches the line between comic art and realism such that his characters always seem like they’re posing; not naturalistic.  In his instance, though, it is interesting to see how much more fluid the art looks at the penciled stage.  And X-Men Draco-era haters will be interested to see Chuck Austen – Beckum, at that point – on art for a couple books, notably when things start to get creepy and weird with Marveldog and exploding people.  He has an appealingly solid art style which I think worked well with Moore’s art directions.

‘The Red King Syndrome’ is a reference to a story told by Miracleman’s creator, the evil professor Gargunza, about the Red King from Alice in Wonderland – which references both Gargy’s original experiments with keeping Miracleman in a deep sleep during early experiments as well as Moran’s eventual awakening – twice over, as the prof’s plans to steal MM’s baby so as to prolong his own life set our ‘hero’ on his murderous rampage.  As mentioned, the shift in tone comes abruptly (even taking into account Johnny Bates’ role in the previous arc to introduce darker themes) and the disposal of creepy man Evelyn Cream seems to be written with more impact than was due the character.  Now that Moore has dropped the curtain on how bananas things can potentially get, hopefully next arc’s climb toward the series’ infamous conclusion will be a smoother one.