Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom

When I first heard about this 6-issue series, I was ecstatic. I really enjoyed the Tom King/Mitch Gerads 2018 Mister Miracle mini which left me with many questions. Namely, I wanted to know if Scott Free survived his reality-bending encounter with the Anti-Life Equation or did Mister Miracle really succeed in killing himself and everything that happened was just the last moments of thought for the New God? So when I found out that Shilo Norman was the star of this series, I didn't think I was going to get my answer!

While myself and countless comic book fans are getting tired of legacy heroes, Shilo Norman is one of those legacies that I can get behind. Shilo was the creation of Jack Kirby. First appearing in issue #15 of Mister Miracle, Shilo was the ward of the original Miracle stuntman, Thaddeus Brown. Before Scott Free came to Earth, Shilo Norman was being trained to become the next Mister Miracle. But not being older than a pre-teen, Shilo wasn't ready yet to take on the Mister Miracle mantle. 

Shilo Norman would eventually don the red and yellow costume when he became an adult. Sometimes he would share the Mister Miracle title with Scott Free. But after the continuity altering events of Final Crisis and Death of the New Gods, for the most part, Shilo Norman was the sole celebrity stuntman/superhero on the block.

In this story, set in the some years from now as part of DC's Future State story line, Shilo Norman has created a multi-media empire as an escape artist thanks in part to Thaddeus Brown's training and a mysterious computer device called mother box. Keeping his identity a secret, his agent is pressuring Shilo to unmask as public opinion about capes, his in particular, has started to wane. Someone has hacked all of Mister Miracle's social media accounts and begun a campaign of their own accusing Shilo of being a fraud. 

The accuser is N'Vir Free, the daughter of Scott Free and Big Barda. Only Shilo Norman has never heard of Scott and Barda! And why is a mystery man named Oberon offering to fill in the gaps about these seemingly unknown entities?

Written by Brendan M. Easton (Transformers: Deviations), this story captures the decades long African American struggle in Metropolis and places South. Easton's account of Thaddeus Brown, now cast as a black man seeking his fame and fortune during the Civil Rights era was powerful. So much to the point, I think he should have written The Other History of the DC Universe. (To be fair, I've not read that yet, so this opinion might be moot. We shall see.)

After completing this read in less than 24 hours, my verdict is just. This is a great read. I get some of my answers as to what happened with Scott Free. I was also okay with the new race casting of Thaddeus Brown. Why Easton does this was actually quite satisfying but I'm not a liberty to say more about that. Spoilers, sweetie.

The Source of Freedom is a book deep in Jack Kirby Fourth World lore and Multiversity history and quantum mechanics. A lot of the events that occur in this book are the results of Dark Nights: Metal and its subsequent sequels. Normally, I say it's okay not to read such and such before you read the book I'm currently reviewing. This time, I really don't think you should skip it. Metal really explains a lot of what's happening here.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Featuring: Mister Miracle

This second volume of Mister Miracle's original series exploits signal a time of change for both the heroic escape artist and his creator Jack Kirby.

    It's 1972 and Kirby's Fourth World Experiment has been deemed a failure. New Gods and Forever People has been cancelled after only about a dozen issues each. Lack of readership and a bigger lack of faith on the part of the DC editors signalled a quick end to the exploits of Highfather, Orion, and Beautiful Dreamer.

     But because Mister Miracle was more of a super-hero title than a cosmic saga, it managed to survive for another 8 issues. In the last volume, Scott Free won his temporary freedom from the clutches of Granny Goodness and Darkseid. Now, Miracle, his assistant Oberon, his girlfriend, the fierce Big Barda and some of her lieutenants from Apokolips, the Furies, travel the country putting on a travelling sideshow. They are assisted with the help of the original Mister Miracle's son acting as their road manager. 

   Exploring haunted houses, fighting an assortment of ghouls, and uncovering various crime cartels, the series turns into a trippy adult version of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Gang, minus the dog. However, Scott gains a sidekick in the form of a young boy named Shilo Norman. 

   Shilo witnessed a murder and until he can testify against the criminals, Miracle is named his guardian and bodyguard. (If you read the 80s Mister Miracle Series or Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers, you'd know that Shilo will one day inherit the mantle of the World's Greatest Escape Artist after Scott retires from superheroing.)

   Though this volume covers the end of Kirby's run at DC, this isn't the end of the Fourth World. This isn't even the end of the Mister Miracle series. Thankfully readers and management at DC saw Kirby's work as the masterpiece it was and revitalize this series (and New Gods) again around 1977-78. Sadly, the DC Implosion of titles due to company-wide poor sales and evener poorer distribution practices lead to both titles being cancelled once again (and permanently) before the begin of the Reagan 80s. 

    If you want to collect the last 7 issues of this series, you'll have to search. Issues 19-25 have to this point never been collected or reprinted. The same goes for New Gods 12-19.

    Another Kirby triumph. Though the Furies start dropping from the scene by story #4 and it's not explained why. But some other odds and ends left unresolved from the last volume and due to the suspensions of the other Fourth World titles are addressed.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle

   This black and white collection reprints the first 10 issues of the King's dynamic debut of Mister Miracle. Scott Free is a fugitive from orphanages of Apokolips. Seeking refuge, funds, and some excitement, the young man meets the aged magician Mister Miracle. With Miracle's experience and Scott's array of futuristic technology, the two look to revitalize the Mister Miracle traveling magic show.

   But when a master criminal assassinates the old man, Scott assumes the mantle of Mister Miracle to avenge his fallen friend. Along with his new sidekick Oberon, Mister Miracle then travels the country, escaping from an array of insane traps, and righting wrongs all while fighting off a rogues gallery of Apokoliptian soldiers tasked with bringing Scott back to his home planet for judgment at the hands of the dastardly Granny Goodness.

   Of the titles in Kirby's Fourth World series, Mister Miracle was the only one I remember reading as a kid. He was a member of the Justice League, so to me he was a real established superhero. Names like Darkseid, Orion, New Gods, and Forever People- theose were like those non-super star baseball cards you got while looking for a Jose Canseco or Nolan Ryan in a package of ball cards. I considered them commons. I would get dozens of Kirby titles in grab bags as a kid and I'd toss them into the corner of my comic book trunk and read the few Superman and Batmans peppered throughout. Man, how wrong I was to overlook this Jack Kirby gems.

   I've overlooked that mistake nowadays, collecting the Fourth World series reprinted in trades. Mister Miracle and Jack Kirby's Fourth World Starring Mister Miracle represent the final two pieces to the Fourth World puzzle that I was missing. The adventures of Mister Miracle, Oberon, and eventually the female fury from Apokolips, Big Barda were the most like a superhero comic and thus are the most sought after of the Fourth World titles. It took me forever to find these for less than cover price. (I've seen this book sold for as much as $100 on eBay and Amazon- no joke!) But once I did, I snatched them up before anyone else had a chance to beat me to it.

    A beloved treasury that is worth every penny- if you can find it. A little goofy, a little odd, but a whole lot of fun and adventure.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.