Mister Miracle #12-18

Mister Miracle #12-18

Originally released in 1973

Written by Jack Kirby

Art by Jack Kirby

It's Valentine's Day, so I chose to go with a comic inspired by the love that Jack Kirby felt for his wife. (Madame Web comes out in theaters today, so I could have gone with a comic based around that, but by all of the accounts that I've read, it's somehow worse than Morbius, so this will be the only mention of it)  I had already started Mister Miracle, and I made it to the end of Jack Kirby's run on the title, which was his longest run of the Fourth World series at 18 issues.

Mister Miracle is the other half of the deal between Apokolips and New Genesis - whereas Orion, from the New Gods comics, was sent to New Genesis to be raised by Highfather, Scott Free (who later became known as Mister Miracle) was sent to Apokolips to live under the tender care of Darkseid and Granny Goodness.  Eventually, Scott escaped and made it to Earth with the help of Big Barda, one of Granny Goodness's Female Furies, which gave Darkseid justification to break his treaty with New Genesis.

I found Mister Miracle to be more engaging than New Gods or the Forever People, and I think part of that is because of Mister Miracle's supporting cast.  In addition to Big Barda, there's also his human business partner Orion, a short old man who panics whenever Mister Miracle narrowly escapes a death trap.  In addition, during these issues, the group encounters a boy named Shilo Norman, who witnessed the death of his brother.  Once his brother's murderers are avenged, Shilo becomes an escape artist-in-training under the tutelage of Mister Miracle and Big Barda.  I feel like the involvement and development of people makes a big difference in making Mister Miracle more relatable - both Oberon and Shilo are fleshed-out, well-developed characters, whereas the humans in the New Gods issues are bland and interchangeable.

It likely also helps that Kirby seems to be more flexible here in the types of foes that Mister Miracle faces.  It isn't always the forces of Apokolips that he has to deal with - there are also ordinary criminals, mutants, and at one point, I honestly thought that the story was going to end with Mister Miracle fighting Hitler. (it turned out to be a Nazi war criminal who went into hiding, but given the nature of comic books, the idea of a cloned or cyborg Hitler showing up didn't seem entirely out of left field)

Kirby even seemed like he got to end the story on his own terms, with issue 18 involving the marriage of Scott Free and Barda. (their relationship was based in part on Jack Kirby's relationship with his wife Rosalind)  All of the forces of Apokolips that the duo had faced throughout the series return, and characters from the New Gods comics like Highfather, Orion, Lightray, and Metron show up to take part in the ceremony, and even Darkseid makes an appearance (if only to try and ruin the wedding).  The series continues several years later, minus Jack Kirby, but for now, this serves as an ending.

I found myself enjoying Mister Miracle the most out of Jack Kirby's Fourth World stories - the characters were fairly grounded, the heroes were likable, and it struck a good balance between action and comedy while including a believable romance at the very end. (their wedding was a little sudden, but I'll forgive that since it was the final issue)  Maybe the later issues of the Forever People will be more interesting, or maybe Kirby's run on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen gets more ridiculous as it goes on (from what I've read, it's good, but it doesn't get as absurd as I would expect from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen), but as of now, I'd say that Mister Miracle is the highlight of Kirby's work at DC.