As promised I’m back taking a look at another series from DC comics. Written by Tom King, Mister Miracle is a 12-issue run that was originally published in 2017. Illustration was helmed by Mitch Gerads. It’s another series often viewed as some of the best material put out by DC. The series was officially recognized in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, receiving the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. The series is easily available to read collected into a single-volume trade paperback and hardcover deluxe edition.

The story of Mister Miracle is based on master escape artist, Scott Free. Scott is one of the New Gods, a race of super-enhanced beings native to the planet of New Genesis. At birth, Scott was given up by Highfather, the leader of the New Gods, and raised on the parallel world of Apokolips by the galactic tyrant, Darkseid. This was done to end a centuries-long conflict between the two planets. Eventually, Scott manages to escape Apokolips and make a name for himself as a performer on Earth. However, war soon breaks out once again and Scott is forced to join the New Gods to stop Darkseid from destroying free will using the ultimate weapon: The Anti-Life Equation.

Although there is certainly a lot of background lore and context for this story, King does a good job setting up events before truly diving into the main plot. If you know nothing about the New Gods, I think this is a relatively good starting point. There are a few intricacies to their society that are often left unexplained, such as the bio-mechanical Motherboxes often utilized by Scott and others throughout this tale. I could see new readers having a hard time understanding what these devices are capable of and why all the New Gods seem to have one.

Apart from a few important scenes, the core of this narrative is an in-depth character study of Mister Miracle. Scott is a troubled soul and this book focuses heavily on his interpersonal conflicts with himself, wife, and extremely unusual family members. Beneath the scenes of extraplanar warfare and outlandish scenarios is a story of building a family that will certainly be relatable for many readers. Not having kids myself, I found that I wasn’t quite as drawn to this aspect, which dominates much of the second half.

I was much more interested in Scott’s mental health struggles. Given Scott’s entire childhood was littered with untold trauma, it doesn’t come as a shock that this leads him toward some dark places. King handles these subjects tactfully and with respect. Additionally, I found the inclusion helps to further humanize these godlike characters that make up the core cast.

I also found the paneling and layout of this book to be exceptional. Virtually every page consists of nine small panels that are utilized in a clever fashion. Some scenes bleed over multiple panels forming an interconnected image, while others present similar scenes with only slight adjustments often to emphasize dialogue and create drama or humor. There are some great recurring jokes within this story that help to brighten the mood amongst the heavy subject matter. I also appreciate how the small paneling helps to accentuate action scenes. Each individual scene is self-contained, giving attention to almost every individual hit or movement.

Despite my love of the paneling, I’m not the biggest fan of the art. It’s very stylized and works well for a comic book but often lacks much detail. It’s just not to my personal taste for a superhero comic, especially one involving the New Gods who almost demand large epic shots with their sheer presence.

Another big issue I have is the ending. It’s not terrible by any means and it does resolve the story in a satisfying way. My problems arise with how the tale is almost forced to tie in with the DC multiverse and whatever crisis event was rebooting the universe at the time. It clutters up a lot of the ending scenes and creates needless confusion. It is something that I feel is the worst aspect of DC’s books. Every universe has to be explained or placed within some alternate realm that must eventually tie into other series. That is easily the biggest detractor for me and it certainly soured my experience of the conclusion.

Nonetheless, I still think Mister Miracle is a series worth reading at least once. It certainly made me appreciate the character more as I always thought he was the lamest of the New Gods. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best comics out there but certainly above average.

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Mister Miracle

24.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Imaginative paneling
• Well written characters
• Solid humor and drama

Cons

• Art is hit or miss
• Family focus wasn't for me
• Multiverse wrecks ending