From our friend The Dakoit at The Dakoit’s Blogspot Comic Speculation site
Hello Everyone,
Yes, it’s been a long time coming. My apologies for the wait, and hope you enjoy this latest installment of my in-depth blog post. It features two books that I think you will agree are awesome to have in your collection. Enjoy!
When most comic historians evaluate the legacy of Jack Kirby, most hark back to his days at Marvel, creating some of the most influential heroes in North American culture. While his tenure at Marvel was extraordinary, few devote time to his defection to DC, and his contributions to the DC mythos. While apparent that most of his creations were far less received by the general audience, and touted by critics as obtuse to esoteric, there are some bright points to re-consider. Two very appealing characters make their dramatic debut in two issues, during Kirby’s Fourth World run. While most veteran collectors know about these two keys, I nevertheless wanted to re-visit them because, quite frankly, there are so many great reasons to have them in your collection.
So I tuned into Monday Night RAW after I got home from work, as it is THE thing for me to do on Monday evenings. Mindless high-jinks to decompress the mind after a grueling day of complex brain work. As the beguiling Triple H and Stephanie McMahan made their grand entrance, hilarious JBL announced them as the premiere ‘power couple’. Letting out a laugh, I immediately felt my comic book sense tingling. It struck me that comics do not particularly favor husband and wife superhero teams for some odd reason. Think about how many couple teams there are in comics, and I’m talking married– Mr. Fantastic/Sue Storm, Aquaman/Mera (ambiguity of marriage in New 52), Cyclops/Jean Grey briefly, Black Panther/Storm very briefly. The list is short, but we often forget a very formidable couple, Mr. Miracle and Big Barda.
The underrated super couple have a tremendous amount to offer, both have amazing power sets, come from over 40 years of great back stories, and share a unique dynamic. And yet, they get the short end of the stick when it comes to fan popularity, and thus back issue desirability. I for one, find these two immensely intriguing, and deserving of more credibility in the comic world. For this reason, they make my undervalued post for this week, and I’ll point to reasons why you should grab their first appearances in high grade while you still can.
Mister Miracle made his audacious first appearance in Mister Miracle #1. And just by looking at the iconic cover we immediately find a sense of electric energy only ‘King Kirby’ could render.
Mister Miracle #1 (vol.1): 1st app. Mister Miracle
Released: April 1971
Bought For (June 2013): EBay $30.99 + 6.00 shipping, NM+ (Raw)
Current Ebay price (April 26th 2014):
$69.95 VF/NM (only one selling)
$247.95 CGC slabbed 9.4 (only one selling)
www.comicspriceguide.com:
$80 (9.2 VF-NM) Raw
$179.20 (9.2) CGC slabbed
Mister Miracle was an off-shoot title of the short lived Kirby series tetralogy, called the ‘Fourth World’. A series of interconnected titles including Forever People and the New Gods. It was the longest running title of the Kirby meta-universe, lasting 18 issues. Although the origin story of Mister Miracle revealed in subsequent issues, here it is below to the best of my comic book knowledge.
Scott Free (I love it) an immortal, has super strength, agility, stamina, reflexes, and tremendous resistance to injury. He is also a master escapologist and genius level intellect to boot. He was born the son of the ruler of High Father, Ruler of New Genesis. New Genesis was in perpetual war with the mighty despot Darkseid of planet Apokolips. In a diplomatic sign of truce, High Father agreed to exchange heirs, his son in exchange of Darkseid’s second born son, Orion.
Brought into the hell of Apokolips, Scott was treated as a prisoner and at a very tender age, taken to ‘Terror Orphange’ with no knowledge of his true heritage. As he grew older, Scott with the help and tutelage of the rebel Himon and by the inspired vision of Metron, devised a way to escape to Earth. It was during these secret meetings with Himon that he met fellow pupil and future wife, Barda (wikipedia):
Mister Miracle #4 (vol.1): 1st app. Big Barda
Released: October 1971
Bought For (April 5th 2014): EBay $23.50 + 2.99 shipping, VF+ (Raw)
Current Ebay price (April 26th 2014):
$48.00 VF/NM (only one selling)
$ N/A CGC slabbed 9.4 (none selling)
www.comicspriceguide.com:
$48 (9.2 VF-NM) Raw
$47.04 (9.2) CGC slabbed (??)
Just as Scott, Barda is also a member of a race called the New Gods. Barda is also immortal has super human strength, master combatant (deadliest hand to hand combatants alive- fighting Wonder Woman to a draw). She was born centuries ago in Apokolips. Barda was snatched from her mother Big Breeda’s arms upon birth, to be trained as a warrior. She would one day lead Apokolips army called the Female Fury Battalion. However, during a raid Barda meets her soon to be husband and falls in love. She then follows the resistance being a pupil of the rebel Himon, and aids in Scott’s escape to Earth. She stays behind, disabled in the conflict.
Now on Earth, Scott takes employment landing a job in a circus with an escape artist Thaddeus Brown who called himself ‘Mr. Miracle’. Brown is tragically murdered by the ‘Intergang’, and Scott adopts the Mr. Miracle moniker and tracks the killers down. Scott also uses a variety of cosmic weapons and gadgets that he has at his arsenal.
Barda soon escapes ‘Granny’s Terror Orphange’ to Earth and joins Scott in his stage tour. They are soon married by High Father, and both decide to lead an estranged life from New Genesis in their peaceful new home, Baily, New Hampshire. (wikipedia)
Although the story continues with both joining Justice League, embarking on several missions to save each other, both dying and being resurrected, moving to Greenwich Village NY, and also yes, being separating but quickly reconciling, their love for each other overcoming all obstacles, and to this day remaining happily married.
Notice how different this story is to other characters in comics today. With high profile marriages being revoked (Peter Parker/Mary Jane, Clark Kent/Lois Lane, T’Challa/Ororo Munroe) because the big publishers insist that heroes ‘cannot remain interesting while married’ routine. The perpetually single hero in melancholy, unable to wed because perils his/her alter-ego poses, is IMO a true cop out and lazy story telling in comics today. My argument lies in the notion that heroes were created to represent determination in the face obstacles, and overcoming them no matter what. Then why is it that heroes cowardly shy away from the hurdles of marriage?
Today, we see comic heroes from different cultures and sexual orientations gaining social acceptance than ever before, although still in nascent stages, creators are taking notice of the general society as a whole. However, it is still astounding that heroes fail to represent a huge portion of the married population (representing~50% of North American families).
The big publishers should have creators use their creative juices and see breaking the status quo. While this post has become a little bit of commentary, and thus beyond the scope of speculation, it does establish one major point- A super married couple would have a great many interesting stories to tell. While DC should take this challenge and bring these two power couple into prominence once again. Here are the reasons why you’ll want to grab these books:
Why should you get Mister Miracle #1 and Mister Miracle #4
?
1. 1st App. of Mr. Miracle and Big Barda
2. Classic Jack Kirby issues, handling both art and scripts.
3. Both fairly inexpensive in high grade
4. Potential for movie appearance, great DC characters have solid growth potential
5. Books are 40+ years old
Print Numbers:
According to my current discussions of actual print numbers of the books, we have come to the conservative concensus that Mr. Miracle #1 was printed at ~ 175,000 while Mister Miracle #4 would probably be around the ~125,000 in comparison to much more popular Marvel titles that saw print anywhere between 175-273k within the same time period. Yes there are a sizable number of these books out there, but having them found in high grade is another issue altogether. No direct comic stores, and not much demand for these books throughout the years have left them in discount bins and rummage sales. So finding them in high grade will be a task but not impossible.
In closing,
Look, if any of you seen Disney’s The Invincibles, it stands as arguably as one of the best superhero movies ever made, and lo and behold, it was movie starring strong nuclear family. Great stories do exist with married couples, we’ve seen it with some of the most memorable comic stories ever told with Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm for 50 years. With doom and self loathing commonplace in comics, writers should use Big Barda and Mr. Miracle to inject a fresh new take and dynamic in comics, that of the super power couple.
If you’re still not convinced, with the new Justice League Movie by Bryan Singer officially announced:
( http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/04/27/official-justice-league-movie-directed-by-zack-snyder-will-follow-batmansuperman/ )
I have a feeling the big baddie would have to be Darkseid. If it is him, it wouldn’t be a stretch at all to find Scott Free and Barda finally make their cinematic appearance in the hellish bowels of Apokolips. Scott and Barda introduced as gladiators, ensuing rebellion and romance would be an absolutely amazing subplot. They would be sure to become household names.
Speaking of household names, the only female hero from DC that resonates with girls and women today, is still Wonder Woman. I am sure if Big Barda was introduced, it would change the game significantly. Barda as wife, also physically stronger, more assertive and fiercer a warrior than her male counterpart, would be role reversal at its finest! Kirby definitely was onto something when creating these two, and the importance of them is even more profound in the family dichotomy of past and present.
I guess only time will tell whether these books grow and have the chance to become more desirable, but I still think these two characters are primed to grow and really need a shot at a current title. They have a great back story and would certainly have immense potential if translated into cinema. Awesome high grade King Kirby finds at a great price for any collection indeed.
Until next time…keep hunting my pannapictagraphists!
Special Thanks to pundit Mr. Terry Hoknes, for his continued print number knowledge.
http://www.hoknescomics.com/
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