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spelingexpirt13's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure why I continue to read this, probably because it is on my pull list for my gf and I read all the comics that come into the flat but by god I hate this. Volume 2 was actually pretty decent which is probably why this volume angers me so much. I despise every single character.
ivan_tw's review against another edition
5.0
Holy hell, Moore knows how to close off a saga; the storyline starts off exponentially more widescreen and epic than the last, and just grows from there. John Totelben's art is light years beyond Chuck Bekham's scribbles, and though I still miss Alan Davis and Garry Leach's dark, vicious shadows of the first book, Totelben's work on Marvelman's Ragnarok in issue 15 is impressively shocking and appalling. Moore is in full flower again, a story that posits superheroes as literal gods and takes an unsurprising dig at organized religion as a result...when gods walk the earth, how can society not end up fascist? Mind-blowingly well-written, crushingly depressing, beautiful and horrific in equal turns, Marvelman's final act really shows how forward-thinking Moore was, and how ripples of this work are still felt today, in comics, movies, and literature. We are robbed at a very base level that this masterwork isn't available for all to read, taken together it has to be one of the great trilogies of our lifetime.
verkisto's review against another edition
4.0
(This review is for all three volumes written by Alan Moore. Potential spoilers may follow.)
I first read Miracleman long after I had read Watchmen, and around the time when I decided to read more of Alan Moore's work. Given that Miracleman is basically Watchmen v0.1, I wound up reading the works out of order, but I liked them enough that when the series was finally getting reprinted last year, I started buying them up to re-read them all together. Since The Golden Age finally saw print last month, I decided to sit down and make my way through the series again.
Ultimately, Watchmen is Moore's magnum opus. It takes the ideas that he started examining in Miracleman and Swamp Thing and forms them into a complex analysis of comic book heroes, comic books, and politics, all while telling an engaging, compelling story. It's just a shame that it was the first of Moore's works I read, since all the other stories he's told using these ideas pale in comparison to it.
Miracleman was Moore's first attempt at deconstructing the superhero mythos, and there's no denying that he did a great job with it. When a hero comes along with abilities that make him god-like, it's logical that they would become like gods. Moore takes another version of Superman and does just that with him. When someone with that kind of power exists, and sees ways to improve the world, why wouldn't he do it? Why wouldn't he step in and say "This is how we're going to do things, because if we don't, I have the power to make it happen regardless"? Once the heroes are public, and their strengths are common knowledge, how would one avoid that kind of conclusion?
The opposite side of that coin is someone with that kind of power without any kind of moral compass, which Moore also addresses with the character of Kid Miracleman. That character is one who has internalized his suffering, blaming others for his own pain, so when he has the opportunity to take his revenge, he does so, without remorse, regret, or concern over anyone who gets in his way. Since there are only a handful of others who can survive against such a superhuman onslaught, several innocents are killed in that revenge. Moore doesn't shy away from showing the horrors of such an act, but neither does he shy away from showing the aftermath of it. Some story arcs would approach that story, end it, and then move on. Look at how The Avengers ended, with widespread destruction and (presumably) thousands of deaths. It's all ignored to focus on the victory of the heroes. And it's not at all realistic. Moore attempts to make it realistic, and he succeeds.
The origin story for the Miracleman Family is a little ridiculous, which can be forgiven, since Moore was working within the confines of the original origins of the characters and attempting to create a new mythos while keeping the existing canon in place (see also how he did the same to Swamp Thing). The explanation he creates makes about as much sense as it can, given those constraints, and it makes as much sense as other superhero origin stories.
As good as Moore's run on Miracleman was (and continues to be), it's simply not as good as Watchmen. Considering, though, that Miracleman is still a four-star story when compared to the five-star story of Watchmen, Miracleman is still a story worth reading and examining. I just wish I had read them in the proper order so I could have experienced Moore's development over the course of all his works.
I first read Miracleman long after I had read Watchmen, and around the time when I decided to read more of Alan Moore's work. Given that Miracleman is basically Watchmen v0.1, I wound up reading the works out of order, but I liked them enough that when the series was finally getting reprinted last year, I started buying them up to re-read them all together. Since The Golden Age finally saw print last month, I decided to sit down and make my way through the series again.
Ultimately, Watchmen is Moore's magnum opus. It takes the ideas that he started examining in Miracleman and Swamp Thing and forms them into a complex analysis of comic book heroes, comic books, and politics, all while telling an engaging, compelling story. It's just a shame that it was the first of Moore's works I read, since all the other stories he's told using these ideas pale in comparison to it.
Miracleman was Moore's first attempt at deconstructing the superhero mythos, and there's no denying that he did a great job with it. When a hero comes along with abilities that make him god-like, it's logical that they would become like gods. Moore takes another version of Superman and does just that with him. When someone with that kind of power exists, and sees ways to improve the world, why wouldn't he do it? Why wouldn't he step in and say "This is how we're going to do things, because if we don't, I have the power to make it happen regardless"? Once the heroes are public, and their strengths are common knowledge, how would one avoid that kind of conclusion?
The opposite side of that coin is someone with that kind of power without any kind of moral compass, which Moore also addresses with the character of Kid Miracleman. That character is one who has internalized his suffering, blaming others for his own pain, so when he has the opportunity to take his revenge, he does so, without remorse, regret, or concern over anyone who gets in his way. Since there are only a handful of others who can survive against such a superhuman onslaught, several innocents are killed in that revenge. Moore doesn't shy away from showing the horrors of such an act, but neither does he shy away from showing the aftermath of it. Some story arcs would approach that story, end it, and then move on. Look at how The Avengers ended, with widespread destruction and (presumably) thousands of deaths. It's all ignored to focus on the victory of the heroes. And it's not at all realistic. Moore attempts to make it realistic, and he succeeds.
The origin story for the Miracleman Family is a little ridiculous, which can be forgiven, since Moore was working within the confines of the original origins of the characters and attempting to create a new mythos while keeping the existing canon in place (see also how he did the same to Swamp Thing). The explanation he creates makes about as much sense as it can, given those constraints, and it makes as much sense as other superhero origin stories.
As good as Moore's run on Miracleman was (and continues to be), it's simply not as good as Watchmen. Considering, though, that Miracleman is still a four-star story when compared to the five-star story of Watchmen, Miracleman is still a story worth reading and examining. I just wish I had read them in the proper order so I could have experienced Moore's development over the course of all his works.
fercatodic's review against another edition
4.0
Ya sé de dónde Moore sacó sus ideas del Dr. Manhattan.
neven's review against another edition
5.0
A spectacular book - it's a real shame it's no longer available.
I'm not sure if it would be super popular as a reprint. I absolutely loved it, but the purple prose and the way-way-larger-than-life themes might put off audiences looking for action or easy hooks. This is vintage Moore poetry instead, a wonderful exploration of how far he can go and what you think he'd never do.
I'm not sure if it would be super popular as a reprint. I absolutely loved it, but the purple prose and the way-way-larger-than-life themes might put off audiences looking for action or easy hooks. This is vintage Moore poetry instead, a wonderful exploration of how far he can go and what you think he'd never do.
thecommonswings's review against another edition
4.0
So let’s talk Zenith. Grant Morrison takes a wealth of existing and newly created pastiches of British superheroes, and weaves into it a story about pandimensional gods (borrowed from Lovecraft). Even when the “good” superheroes eventually win over the newly perverted “bad” superheroes, leaving a world of devastation and violence and horror that is only hinted at, we cycle all the way back to the idea that these supposedly “good” superheroes rebuild the world in their own, monstrous image all the while lording over humanity because they are now far beyond them
So yeah. I am now convinced Zenith is really Morrison’s own take on Miracleman and... do you know what? It’s actually better. The pacing - which goes to pieces here as if Moore is determined to get to the big climax, with big plotty bits just swept up in third person descriptions - certainly is an improvement. Sexual assault - again! Here it is! TWICE! - is only used as a threat by Masterman and implied in the clone storyline. The nihilistic destruction and perversion of once heroic characters - oh it’s there, but Morrison and Yeowell pull back from showing too much because it would tip the book over into absurdity - which I think is very much the case with Totleben’s masterful but very gratuitous take on Kid Miracleman’s destruction of London. I think the ambiguity of Miracleman’s new world is done better here, but even that’s slightly ameliorated by the fact Moore obviously felt the need to revisit it a bit at the end of Promethea
It’s still a brilliant and important work of art, but Moore feels penned in a bit in terms of his storytelling and can’t decide which side of the fence he falls onto with Marvelman’s eventual fate (not read the continuation by Gaiman yet but it feels wholly unnecessary already) and his culpability in the events of Bates’ rage across the capital. It feels rushed which is so frustrating because with a handful of extra pages to stretch it out the plots would breathe better and hopefully the moral quandary at the end better explored. Otherwise it’s just frustrating and almost brilliant but...
So yeah. I am now convinced Zenith is really Morrison’s own take on Miracleman and... do you know what? It’s actually better. The pacing - which goes to pieces here as if Moore is determined to get to the big climax, with big plotty bits just swept up in third person descriptions - certainly is an improvement. Sexual assault - again! Here it is! TWICE! - is only used as a threat by Masterman and implied in the clone storyline. The nihilistic destruction and perversion of once heroic characters - oh it’s there, but Morrison and Yeowell pull back from showing too much because it would tip the book over into absurdity - which I think is very much the case with Totleben’s masterful but very gratuitous take on Kid Miracleman’s destruction of London. I think the ambiguity of Miracleman’s new world is done better here, but even that’s slightly ameliorated by the fact Moore obviously felt the need to revisit it a bit at the end of Promethea
It’s still a brilliant and important work of art, but Moore feels penned in a bit in terms of his storytelling and can’t decide which side of the fence he falls onto with Marvelman’s eventual fate (not read the continuation by Gaiman yet but it feels wholly unnecessary already) and his culpability in the events of Bates’ rage across the capital. It feels rushed which is so frustrating because with a handful of extra pages to stretch it out the plots would breathe better and hopefully the moral quandary at the end better explored. Otherwise it’s just frustrating and almost brilliant but...
rustyblue's review
2.0
Book 3 2
Book 2 4
Book 1 4
The definition of Purple prose.
What a shame, absolutely loved the book one/two. Then Moore decided to go up his own ass. Would of been one of my favourites, he if could just control himself.
Book 2 4
Book 1 4
The definition of Purple prose.
What a shame, absolutely loved the book one/two. Then Moore decided to go up his own ass. Would of been one of my favourites, he if could just control himself.
drtlovesbooks's review
3.0
I like that Moore takes the story of a superhero and tries to think through what some likely consequences of that would be for the world. This book collects together the rest of Moore's run on this title. Again, I was a little displeased by how much of the volume of this book is made up of "behind the scenes" pencils and whatnot. If it was purely in my control, all three collected books of Moore's Miracleman books would be collated into a single book without all the extra pages of "And here's how this page looked almost identical in two different ways before it was put to final print" stuff. I'm sure there are folks out there who would enjoy and appreciate all of that, but I'm not one of them.