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I thought it’s long been clear that Gaiman and Buckingham both want to work on finishing their Miracleman/Marvelman story. Now that Buckingham is free and clear of his Fables commitments, he should be free to finish his story. Now, with the continued delays on Sandman, it’s a fair question as to what the schedule will be for Marvelman if Neil needs to finish his work. But I think all the legal issues are well clear. at least for Neil and Mark.

After Eclipse went out of business it was discovered that there was another completed (written, penciled and inked) issue of Miracleman which was never published and which has been part of the bait to get Miracleman back into print. At the very least, that will see print at last.

If Gaiman’s work on this is as rapid as his Sandman has been, I will be dead long before Issue 2, so what the hell do I care?

[…] Beat – It’s the Golden Age of Superhero Communism: Enter Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham – Can’t wait to read […]

“If Gaiman’s work on this is as rapid as his Sandman has been, I will be dead long before Issue 2, so what the hell do I care?”

That’s the problem with hiring celebrities who have no financial incentive to write comics. They’re doing it as a hobby, so they work at their own pace. And they don’t get fired for missing deadline after deadline. The book just comes out late. (See also: Kevin Smith.)

If I remember correctly, didn’t Neil Gaiman have at least the outline for a few more issues done, which he dug up years ago while going through his basement back in the middle of the McFarland lawsuit?

“That’s the problem with hiring celebrities who have no financial incentive to write comics.”

Even back in the day I remember the original Sandman getting horribly late as it concluded.

Also I would say that Neil Gaiman is more than just a celebrity. His problem is that he has a crazy number of writing projects on the go beyond his comics and from his comments online seems to be missing deadlines on a lot of things.

Also Sandman is likely to sell really well, no matter when it comes out. Eventually it will be collected into a hardcover and trade and sell a huge number of copies no matter how late that is.

IIRC Gaiman was going to do three arcs of MM: Golden Age (which went #17-22), Silver Age (#23+) and then Dark Age. MM #25 was finished (at least up through inking) but never published. There was the three-issue Apocrypha standalone mini that was published by Gaiman & other creators that could be inserted into this run as needed, plus there were some extra MM Apocrypha tales, like the John K Snyder III one, that were started and never completed but could be finished by the original creators.

So there is more MM material in the can right now. Plus Buckingham is more confident & established as a writer at this point in his career than he was almost 30 years ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the working relationship slipped to be more 50/50 on writing than originally planned.

[…] Miller returns to Batman. Again. After that other time he returned. It’s the Golden Age of Superhero Communism: Enter Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham Ty Templeton talks Daredevil and heart attacks The New 52 is now the Old 52: a look back […]

A small nit with the reporting part: Alan Moore, the original writer, is not credited as the “original writer,” as reported. He’s credited as “The Original Writer” — a proper noun pseudonym because of a load of baggage.

And of course this is oddly obvious to someone reading the solicitation description but doesn’t know any of the real life drama as to why there’s no writer name listed.

My question: this is published by IDW, and I’m not aware of any bad blood on Moore’s part between them. Is this a legacy of Marvel unwinding the hurdles such that this product utilizes their fruits and so Moore’s objections must also stand verbatim to the Marvel releases?

Silly but True

This hardcover is probably going to set you back more than $95. That’s the price retailors pay. It will probably sell for around $125 and most likely at that price point won’t appear on your local comics shop’s shelves unless you specifically ask for it.

Yes… the IDW Artist Editions are sold at NET. Order it from IDW, and you’ll get a decent price.

I have a few original pages from Miracleman. I assume you already have what you need, or are using the files the Marvel already scanned of the pages. But just in case, I have a couple of pages if you need/want them.
Jonathan

It must have been a late night at the studio. I thought they were organ tattoos till I made out a dragon thing inside there. Not his best.
I can’t collect MiracleMan anymore at $5 a pop until I find it at the library as a trade with the expected cheap binding to finish up what I read.
Marvel can never be simple. Their first instinct is to gimmick up everything. All the nice work they did with the restoration inside is just carnivaled up somehow in trying to turn this marketing opportunity.

I don’t think its working especially to a very new audience. It would have been better if it was 3 stories in one book each at $2.99 with no padding, no gimmicks.

I know some folks are complaining about the high price per issue, but to me it’s not so bad. 5 bucks an issue for one of the best comic stories ever, not to mention the extras. Well, okay, I don’t much care for the Original Golden-Age MM Stories, but Moore’s Warpsmith stories are excellent and not so easy for most folks to find. I may not fit the typical customer profile, though, since I buy no other Marvel books and only Astro City from DC… in other words, maybe the money I’m saving from not buying any other Big 2 books makes the cost of MM seem okay.

One of Alex Ross’ earliest comics stories (right after “The Terminator”) was:
Miracleman: Apocrypha #3, “Wishing on a Star” (February 1992)

Compare and contrast, as they say…

I am in complete agreement with “johnrobiethecat” assessment of what Marvel comics is doing with the re-publication of the Miracle man stories. This kind of marketing is more of a disincentive for me to purchase these books. I totally understand Marvel’s thinking in what they are doing, but I am voicing my disagreement with my wallet.
I owned all the original Eclipse Miracle man comic books and many of the Warrior magazines. Read everything and enjoyed it, so I can wait a year or two or five until it is repackaged in a format that I prefer to purchase.
Unfortunately my local retailer was disappointed when I explained why I would not be purchasing that title or the new Sandman title (for similar reasons).