Scan barcode
A review by drtlovesbooks
A Dream of Flying by Mick Anglo, Paul Neary, Don Lawrence, Alan Davis, Garry Leach, Steve Dillon, The Original Writer
4.0
If you bear in mind that this was one of Moore's earliest works, it's interesting to see how he's exploring the superhero genre in this series. He's well-aware of the saccharine tone of most comic books up until this point, and how they created weird, nonsensical elements to keep kids entertained. He takes that concept and tries to ground it in scientific realism.
In Miracleman, who was originally Marvelman, Moore is resurrecting an old British superhero and reinventing him for the (then) modern age. It's very interesting, though, that Miracleman nee Marvelman is basically the story of Shazam if a sci-fi writer had started the series in the 1980's and was required to explain all the original Shazam storylines in a way that made some kind of sense. Shazam, by the way, is actually named "Captain Marvel", and it's not just a name which Moore's character shares with that comics legend. This is Shazam, the magical hero, as created for the atomic age - quite literally, as Miracleman changes into his alter-ego by reciting his "magic word", Kimota (which is "atomic" backwards), just as Captain Marvel changed by calling out "Shazam!", the name of the wizard who gave him his power. This is one of several sci-fi "grounding" elements that take Marvelman from the realm of magic into the realm of realism (well, "realism" as it applies to a superhero comic book about a super-powerful being).
Along with the pseudo-scientific background Moore gives his character to replace the magical origin of Miracleman (and Captain Marvel), Moore also grounds this character fairly firmly in reality in other ways as well. His alter-ego is a down-on-his-luck middle-aged freelance reporter (which seems like a reference to Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, a star reporter in his own right) who definitely has feet of clay. He's married to an illustrator who, very early on, accidentally cuckolds her husband with his super-powered alter-ego. There are also discussions of their feelings about each other that articulate the reality of relationships, rather than the simplified and idealized versions of relationships that populate kids' comics.
In other words, this is the origin of Moore grounding his comic book characters in the real world and giving adults a comic book enjoy. It's definitely worth a read if you know some comic book history.
In Miracleman, who was originally Marvelman, Moore is resurrecting an old British superhero and reinventing him for the (then) modern age. It's very interesting, though, that Miracleman nee Marvelman is basically the story of Shazam if a sci-fi writer had started the series in the 1980's and was required to explain all the original Shazam storylines in a way that made some kind of sense. Shazam, by the way, is actually named "Captain Marvel", and it's not just a name which Moore's character shares with that comics legend. This is Shazam, the magical hero, as created for the atomic age - quite literally, as Miracleman changes into his alter-ego by reciting his "magic word", Kimota (which is "atomic" backwards), just as Captain Marvel changed by calling out "Shazam!", the name of the wizard who gave him his power. This is one of several sci-fi "grounding" elements that take Marvelman from the realm of magic into the realm of realism (well, "realism" as it applies to a superhero comic book about a super-powerful being).
Along with the pseudo-scientific background Moore gives his character to replace the magical origin of Miracleman (and Captain Marvel), Moore also grounds this character fairly firmly in reality in other ways as well. His alter-ego is a down-on-his-luck middle-aged freelance reporter (which seems like a reference to Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, a star reporter in his own right) who definitely has feet of clay. He's married to an illustrator who, very early on, accidentally cuckolds her husband with his super-powered alter-ego. There are also discussions of their feelings about each other that articulate the reality of relationships, rather than the simplified and idealized versions of relationships that populate kids' comics.
In other words, this is the origin of Moore grounding his comic book characters in the real world and giving adults a comic book enjoy. It's definitely worth a read if you know some comic book history.