MISTER MIRACLE

released OUT NOW! Publisher dC Comics Writer Tom King Artist Mitch Gerads

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga was one of the original comic book epics, a gloriously bonkers mix of mythology and superheroics that’s still influential. Among the characters Kirby created for it was Mister Miracle, aka Scott Free, a legendary escape artist with a troubled history, inspired by the early illusionist career of artist Jim Steranko. Now this new 12-issue miniseries is exploring Kirby’s hero in a surprising amount of depth.

This is a dark and violent tale that follows Scott as he’s brought back to the world of New Genesis to act as a general in the war against the evil Darkseid. The battle is soon pushing Scott to breaking point, forcing him to confront his fellow “New God” Orion, but this is just as much a psychological story, teasing out the more provocative themes of Kirby’s ground-breaking work.

Three issues in, Tom King’s script is the equal of his work on acclaimed Marvel miniseries The Vision, bringing a maturity to the story that’s perfectly matched by Mitch Gerad’s atmospheric, imaginative art.

DC has been sensibly using the miniseries format to give creators free rein without continuity constraints; it’s a strategy that pays off magnificently here, with a comic that’s already looking to be one of the most ambitious superhero stories of recent years. Saxon Bullock