The summer of #Kirby100 celebrations continues!
This month, the “King”, Jack Kirby, would have been 100 years old. His world-renowned comic book creations (Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Fourth World characters, etc.), however, are ever young. They remain in print, re-reprint, reimagined and returned to the Kirby greatness that originally saw their inspiration.
Throughout the summer, the writers of Biff Bam Pop! have been celebrating #Kirby100 with a series of articles which you can find right here.
Throughout the month of August, DC Comics has been celebrating Jack Kirby with various comic book one-shots and series, aimed at drawing attention to the multitude of DC heroes and villains that the “King” had created. One also gets the sense that the publisher is setting them up for a renewed pop-culture push, putting them front and center in the DC Universe.
Today sees the release of the first issue of the highly anticipated Mister Miracle!
Mister Miracle #1
Written By: Tom King
Illustrated By: Mitch Gerads
Published By: DC Comics
Highly anticipated?
The truth is that many don’t even know who Mister Miracle is, other than he’s got a pretty cool name.
But he’s got a pretty cool origin as well, one that is Shakespearean in the telling – much like the rest of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World series of comic books, published by DC Comics in the early 1970’s.
Scott Free is the son of Highfather, ruler of the planet, New Genesis. Through diplomatic maneuverings, Highfather made a truce with the tyrant ruler of planet Apokolips, Darkseid. To stop war between the rivals, they exchanged their sons: Orion, the second son of Darkseid came to be raised with Highfather on the peaceful New Genesis.
Scott Free, unaware of his true parentage, was essentially imprisoned on the totalitarian Apokolips, crowded with villains and despots! But could a sense of goodness and justice in a being be stronger than his overbearing and malicious upbringing? Scott Free broke free of his captors and his lot in life and escaped to Earth and became the protégé of the circus escape artist, Thaddeus Brown. But Darkseid lets nothing escape his clutches for long – and chased both Scott Free and his wife, the Apokolips-raised, Female Fury, Barda Free (Big Barda, for obvious reasons) while simultaneously conniving to wage war on New Genesis.
Hugo-Award nominated, Eisner-Award winner and acclaimed writer, Tom King (Batman, Sheriff of Babylon, Vision, Omega Men: The End Is Near) along with fan favourite artist Mitch Gerads (The Punisher, Sheriff of Babylon, Batman) have created, in Mister Miracle, a senses-shattering and throught-provoking12-issue maxi-series that seeks to both honour the origins of the character and push him forward to new ground. Mister Miracle, the greatest escape artist, deserves the spotlight! Of course, they also intend to push the limits of the comic book medium – something Scott Free would certainly be up to attempting!
Here, Mister Miracle has mastered every trick, illusion and stunt – save one. Scott Free, prince of New Genesis, survivor of Apokolips, heroic member of the Justice League, has never escaped death. Is it possible?
Mister Miracle will have to kill himself if he wants to find out.
How’s that for enticement?!?
Make the run to your local comic book shop today and witness the greatest show on earth! The first issue of Mister Miracle drops – and death may be its final act!
You can catch a DC Comics interview of writer Tom King speaking about this twelve-issue series in the video directly below:
Reblogged this on JP Fallavollita.