Marvel Comics dropped a bomb on the Internet Monday when they announced the return of Miracleman. The publisher announced that Miracleman will return with updated coloring and high resolution finishes. In addition to a modernization of the existing art, Marvel has announced that the final unpublished issue will be coming to a local comics store near you next year. Neil Gaiman will also be writing new content to finish the story. In an exclusive interview with Marvel.com Gaiman said:
“A comic that started over 30 years ago, that hasn’t been seen for over 20 years, is still regarded as one of the strangest, most groundbreaking, most remarkable super-hero comic’s there’s been.”
Miracleman, also known as Marvelman, is widely regarded as one of the best super-hero comics of all time. The character originated in 1953 but it is the work from 1982 through the 90’s that captured the comic world’s imagination and wonder. Storytellers Alan Moore, Garry Leach, and Alan Davis started the work in a British anthology called Warrior.
In 1985 the stories were republished and numbered. It was at that time that the title was changed to Miracleman. Neil Gaiman took up the story with artist Mark Buckingham in issue 17. Gaiman’s last issue to be published was 24. The final issue, although written and illustrated, never saw print. The fans will finally have their ending this winter. Included below is a preview of variant cover art for issue one courtesy of Marvel Comics.
UPDATE 7:45:00PM 10/17/2013: This story has been altered from its original version to correct an error regarding the date of the Marvelman name change to Miracleman. We incorrectly stated that this name changed happened with issue #17 when it instead happend with issue #1.