Newer Gods 12. With some kind of power comes some kind of responsibility!
Newer Gods is a monthly feature where I take a look back at the history of DC Comics’ New Gods from the era after original creator Jack Kirby. It’s a study of creators as they take a look back at work of the King of Comics and re-create it.
An image so good even Vince Colletta inks couldn’t ruin it.
Mister Miracle 20
Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers return for Mister Miracle 20 with the somewhat unfortunate inker choice of Vince Colletta, though the infamous Vince seems to put more work in here than he often does. Famous for erasing lines to make his life easier, pretty much no one looks back on Colletta’s work with fondness, but he at least isn’t too intrusive on Marshall’s pencils.
“Eclipse” kicks off with Oberon at the top of the mine shaft from last issue, which you will remember Granny Goodness set to destroy. Mister Miracle shoots out of the tunnel as it explodes outward in spectacular—and oddly colored—fashion.
The art and the coloring combine for one strange looking explosion.
Mister Miracle quickly sums up the events as he sets out to repair his Mother Box. As Scott communes with the box, Oberon looks on and marvels at the strangeness of it all.
Mother Box connects directly with Scott's mind however and speaks to him. (It's been a while since I've read the Kirby classics, so can anyone tell me if this is the first time Mother Box directly communicates?) She gives Scott bad and good news.
“Your attempts are beautiful, but futile, boy. You and I have parted forever. And yet, I am with you always, for we are joined at the Source. The miraculous things I showed you are part of your life, now! I will survive in you as you will survive in others! But you alone must forge your destiny!”
Sounds a bit trippy, but we're talking Englehart in the 70s folks. Recreational substances probably were involved in the creation process.
Anyway, Scott scoops up Oberon and flies up towards space. He realizes that he's earned the powers that are his birthright as a god of New Genesis. His destination is the moon, which we know from the sister book is Darkseid's new base. But he's heading towards a meeting with the four villains that attacked last time.
We also get our first continuity error (of sorts) between this title and Return of the New Gods. While Doctor Bedlam was in a new form in that book's last issue, here he still looks just like his Kirby original. Yet the book gives an easy solution for the discrepancy, as Bedlam sends his mind-force and enters another animate, this time in the form of a costumed Mister Miracle!
He attacks Big Barda, bent on bending her to Granny's will with thoughts of her husband's betrayal. Yet it causes Barda to smash the false Miracle in the face. Yet the real thing shows up just as the Bedlam-Miracle moves to strike again.
Scott starts to tear apart the moon-base, but the half-conscious Barda attacks him, not quite sure of herself after Granny's torture and MIND MANIPULATION!
Mister Miracle awakes in another Granny death-trap, this time two rockets bent on flying in different directions. Bedlam wanted to kill him quickly and efficiently, but she cries that wouldn't give her the full vengeance she desires. She seems to miss the fact that Scott escapes every trap she ever set, even as she declares his death to the crucifixion.
The rockets fire in a burst of smoke. All but Kanto declare him surely dead. The swordsman has some doubts, proving he might be a total fool here. Oberon uses the same rocket firing as a distraction to escape his own cell. The villains rush to find him, but Mister Miracle gets to him first! Miracle had simply cut himself free from one rocket and flew the other non-explosive device to its landing, where his new powers protected him.
Scott and Oberon escape the base on to the moon's surface. Barda attacks him again. But with his increased might, he's now a match for her. After trading punches, he manages to K-O his confused wife.
He knows she must be returned to New Genesis for medical attention. (How he will get her back with a Mother Box isn't shown here and will almost certainly be glossed over.)
Scott Free has other plans. He looks back at Granny's comparison to Jesus and declares that he will come to the gods of Apokolips as Jesus did to humanity, not to fight for religion but for freedom! It's a bit of a clunky concept, probably again owed to this era of Englehart's connection with the aforementioned variety of chemicals.
This is sort of a plan... I guess?
While Rogers draws a gorgeous issue here, the story proves to be a bit of a mess. The analogies don't quite work. The birthright given by Mother Box seems to have brought him into his full godlike abilities, yet Miracle talks about being human just pages later. His disregard for his wife's safety when she attacks also seems out of character, though one has to wonder if it's there to be some mandated action in the pages.
This issue doesn't give us much of a blurb, only ending with “The curtain goes up in Mr. Miracle 21” But before we reach that point, Mister Miracle has another team-up calling his name!
