“C'mon. Sell Me Another One”: Simulation, Sacrifice, and Symbolic Revolution in King & Gerads' Mister Miracle
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“C’MON. SELL ME ANOTHER ONE”: SIMULATION, SACRIFICE, AND SYMBOLIC REVOLUTION IN KING & GERADS’ MISTER MIRACLE Zachary J.A. Rondinelli "The Strangest, Most Incredible Hero to Ever Appear in Comics!"1 This phrase, interwoven as it is throughout the narrative of Mister Miracle, acts as an unyielding reminder of the unsettling presence of the DC Universe’s most formidable, near omnipotent supervillain Mister Miracle holds a unique position of simultaneity within the DC Universe. He often finds himself and is almost always accompanied by an all-black panel at varying locations within the static nine-panel ‘caught’ in a sort of stasis of in betweens; god and human, New Genesis and Apokolips, superhero and grid structure, refusing to be ignored. This technique allows King and Gerads to ensure that the over- performer, son and orphan. Scott Free, created by Jack “King” Kirby in 1971 after his exodus from Marvel powering presence of Darkseid and his limitless power is never looming far from the readers’ mind. These Comics, is cleverly named in reference to his incomparable prowess as an escape artist. His motto, “I “Darkseid is.” panels hold such a place of prominence for the comicbook that it is easy to begin seeing can always escape” has certainly seemed to hold true throughout his tenure in comics (anyone who can them as a sort of look into Mister Miracle’s mental state; for him, Darkseid is always looming and so these escape insignificance dressed in a costume as gaudy as our Mister Miracle’s must be an artist of superb panels emulate that experience for the reader, as well. This interpretation seems quite logical right up ability) since Mister Miracle has frequently been featured as one of the most important characters of the until the penultimate issue, which is also significant for being the only issue of the entire series that Dark- new gods mythos.2 While certainly not garnering the level of recognition that Batman, Superman, or seid himself physically appears in. Wonder Woman possess, those who are familiar with the peripheries of the DC universe can certainly tell At one point near the end of the issue, Big Barda confronts Darkseid only to be swiftly defeated: you the story of Mister Miracle’s origin. As a young boy, the yet unnamed Scott Free, heir to the throne of New Genesis, was traded away to the despotic ruler of Apokolips, the enemy known as Darkseid. In exchange, Darkseid would provide High Father, the ruler of New Genesis, with his own son. Each child was to be raised by the father’s most bitter enemy in an attempt to establish an, admittedly, antagonistic peace between the two endlessly warring worlds. Raised by the villainous nanny, Granny Goodness, Scott would spend his formative years in the ash and sulphur of the Apokolips “X-Pits” being endlessly trained (alternatively: tortured) in between his many frequent attempts to escape the “inescapable” pits. After years of trauma, Scott succeeds in esca- ping and finds his way to Earth where he eventually becomes the escape artist and superhero known as Mister Miracle. Over the years, Mister Miracle has been prominently featured within his own on-going comics, inclu- ding his original run in 1971 (which lasted only seven issues beyond Kirby’s departure following #18), a new on-going in 1989 (which lasted twenty-eight issues), a seven-issue revival in 1996, and a four-issue tie-in series for Grant Morrison’s “Seven Soldiers” storyline (2005-2006). In each decade since his crea- tion, Scott Free has found a way to escape obscurity by resurrecting himself in the pages of a new series. Fig. 2. Tom King and Mitch Gerads, Mister Miracle (California: DC Comics, 2019), 267. Most recently, this resurrection occurred in writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads’ “high camp space opera”, Mister Miracle (2017).3 While both Barda and the reader might be quick to accept Darkseid’s glib “I am.” as acceptance of Barda’s In his most recent adventure, Scott finds himself torn between his desire to build and maintain a colourful description of him, it yet again follows that recurring, menacing black panel. At this point, it normal family life with his wife, Big Barda (also a product of the “X-Pits”), and his responsibilities in the becomes necessary to probe the placement of this “Darkseid is.” reminder and consider the possibility newly renewed war between New Genesis and Apokolips. From family man and new father, to wartime that Darkseid is not answering Barda at all, but rather the statement that immediately precedes his own. general, and, eventually, even the newly crowned Highfather of New Genesis, we follow Scott and his And if, indeed, this meta-moment does indicate Darkseid exerting power and influence over the comic allies through a dizzying narrative of aesthetic distortion and continuity confusion that should, if they’re itself, then the “Darkseid is.” panels become far more sinister because they signal that the reality within paying attention, make any reader question the reality being presented. Of course, this is further obfusca- which we are witnessing the comics narrative may in fact be one simulated by Darkseid himself. The ted by the comics’ constant reminder of the shadowy, evil presence lurking behind the scenes. All it takes history of the new gods’ mythology (steeped as it is in over four decades of complex continuity) would are two simple words: “Darkseid is.”4 certainly support this idea when one recalls the existence of the infamous “anti-life equation”. The “anti-life equation” has a complicated history and is often depicted with varying levels of potency. One of the most powerful and dangerous weapons within the DC Universe, we are told from the very first issue of Mister Miracle that Darkseid is in possession of the equation, the solution of which would give Darkseid ultimate power and control. What exactly that power and control looks like varies from story to story, but both Highfather and Desaad offer possible explanations of the equations power in King and Gerads’ story. Highfather suggests that, “with the equation Darkseid will be able to change reality” and “change men’s minds”, while Darkseid’s crony, Desaad, claims that “the equation is knowledge…it is lear- ning the way to take a person’s will [and] remove that which allows resistance. It is an understanding of how to excise… hope.”5 When Darkseid’s meta-slip and the existence of the anti-life equation are combi- ned, a new potential reading for the ending, and by extension larger narrative, of Mister Miracle emerges. One that not only answers the many questions that materialize from the aesthetic choices of the comic, Fig. 1. Tom King and Mitch Gerads, Mister Miracle (California: DC Comics, 2019), 73. but is also supported by the thematic intentions, as well. 74 FAKE tba: journal of art, media, and visual culture 75 If the narrative of the twelve-issue maxiseries can be read as a large-scale simulation resultant low-middle class) to positions of ‘less than’.10 For Baudrillard, this demonstrated the shift away from a from Darkseid’s use of the anti-life equation on Scott Free/Mister Miracle, then Scott’s choice to remain commodity-system, towards the object-system that would define his work in The System of Objects. “trapped” within the simulation at the end of the series becomes a powerful statement. Internally, Dark- Shifting towards a new system of objects provided Baudrillard with the necessary positioning to seid’s defeat can be viewed as a completion of the circuit of symbolic exchange, which by extension, better understand the intricacies of the relationship between values and exchange. Baudrillard recogni- allows Scott to realign the dynamic of power back towards equilibrium and redirect that usurped power zed that “to become an object of consumption, an object must first become a sign” and from here posits and control onto deciding what type of life he wants. When viewed through the lens of Jean Baudrillard’s that rather than a fetishized aesthetic object that holds only a general sign-value, it was the symbolic work, this decision becomes a conscious rebuke of symbolic revolution and the necessary sacrifice that object that was truly important.11 His example of the wedding ring as a unique signifier of an individual it requires, suggesting that contrary to Baudrillardian belief, “the real” can be discovered and cherished commitment and relationship versus an ordinary ring that has no greater meaning than as an object of within the hyperreal simulation of our world. Through this reading then, the comic can be said to make consumption demonstrates the differences between a meaningful symbolic object and one with traditio- a meaningful statement about reality, one’s ability to determine what is “real”, and whether or not that nal sign-value.12 From here onwards, Baudrillard dedicates much of his theorizing towards further eluci- even matters. dating the intricacies of the logic of symbolic exchange. Yet it is only when hybridizing this notion of symbolic exchange with Marcel Mauss’ concept of gift “And the Fourth World, My Child, That is My World. The World I See When I Close My Eyes…”6 exchange that Baudrillard begins to reveal the nature of power that rests behind the sign system.13 In For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, he suggests that to create a unidirectional/interrupted Few mediums are as obviously postmodern as the comicbook. In fact, comics’ indebtedness to post- circuit of symbolic exchange creates an unbalanced power dynamic: “To give, and to do it in such a way modernism is so well established that I hesitate to even draw any attention to the mountain of critical that one is unable to repay is to disrupt the exchange to your profit…the social process is thus thrown out discourse about the relationship between the two in fear of being accused of tediousness or the re-ins- of equilibrium, whereas repaying disrupts the power relationship and institutes (or reinstitutes), on the cription of previously settled critical debates.