Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Mister Miracle #1 by Tom King Mister Miracle (2017-2019) From Hugo Award-winning writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads, the team behind THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON, comes an ambitious new take on one of 's most beloved in MISTER MIRACLE! One of the best-reviewed series of the year and already a classic in the making, this Mister Miracle is magical, dark, intimate and unlike anything you've read before. Scott Free is the greatest escape artist who ever lived. So great, he escaped Granny Goodness' gruesome orphanage and the dangers of to travel across galaxies and set up a new life on Earth with his wife, Big Barda. Using the stage alter ego of Mister Miracle, he has made quite a career for himself showing off his acrobatic escape techniques. He even caught the attention of the , who has counted him among its ranks. You might say Scott Free has everything--so why isn't it enough? Mister Miracle has mastered every illusion, achieved every stunt, pulled off every trick--except one. He has never escaped death. Is it even possible? Our hero is going to have to kill himself if he wants to find out. INTERVIEW: Tom King Tackles New Gods Mythology in Mister Miracle. Writer Tom King opens up about his most ambitious project ever, reuniting with Mitch Gerads to explore DC Comics' Jesus analogue, Mister Miracle. As Jack Kirby's centennial rapidly approaches, DC has been pulling out all the celebratory stops with one shots and specials -- but easily the most ambitious and most anticipated of the festivities has been the Tom King and Mitch Gerads Mister Miracle limited series launch. The twelve issue run brings King and Gerads back together after a handful of issues and the grounded, modern day military drama of Sheriff of Babylon , released under Vertigo last year, and marks the "official" Rebirth reintroduction of the vast majority of Kirby's New Gods pantheon. CBR sat down with King at this years Comic-Con International in San Diego to get the very latest details, as the wait for issue one finally draws to a close. So Tom, you’ve got a new book that’s coming out before this new [ Batman ] arc starts. Can we talk about Mister Miracle ? I would love to talk about Mister Miracle . We’ve got some previews to work with now, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that it’s kind of a dark book, yeah? Well… , I mean, how many “light” books have I written? That’s true! But this one looks kind of dark even for you, I would say -- and I mean that in a good way! Yeah, maybe. But it turns into like, a Game of Thrones -type story so there’s that. It’s an epic story that takes place in two different worlds, in Los Angeles and in a war on Apokolips, so… I’m sure there are going to be some readers here who are meeting Scott Free for the first time in this series. It’s been a while since he’s had a starring role, and he certainly hasn’t had one in Rebirth, so what are you hoping readers take away from your take on this character? This is the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done. Mitch Gerads and I were literally like -- we looked at things like Watchmen , stories that are as good as that, that sort of reflect our time. They’re great comics but they’re deeper than that, they sort of get into the veins. So we were like, “Can we do that?” And the answer is. “No.” You can’t be Alan Moore, but you can try , right? You can be ambitious! What the hell, right? So that’s what we said. So this is our attempt to do something like that. It’s our attempt to write a book that’s an epic, Game of Thrones -y superhero book, but it’s also about this contemporary moment. Not in terms of the politics, really. Not, “I hate Trump!” or whatever, because that’s boring. You can just read a Twitter feed and get better information. But in terms of this feeling we all have, this paranoia we all have. You wake up every day, and you’re not in the world you once thought it was. The rules that your parents taught you, the rules of life don’t make sense anymore, and you get this feeling that you’re just trapped here, like you can’t get out, no matter what you do. You’re stuck here. And what better person to talk about this feeling we all have of being trapped in a place in a place we don’t understand than the god of escape? You talked a bit about Scott being a sort of Jesus analogue when you announced the series, which is something that I had never thought about until that moment, and then realized made total sense. Kirby’s genius was to take the epic Bible stories of his childhood, combine them with the passion he got from fighting in World War Two, and then add his own insanity and creativity from working in comics for thirty years. and all of that ended up creating the spine of our current pop culture. And so, with Scott -- the classic context in Christianity is God giving his son to humanity, but in Kirby’s myth, God gives his son to the devil. That’s the twist on it. He’s the son of God, but he was raised in Hell, in a place where he was damaged in the deepest place a person can be damaged. And here’s the thing: he’s a happy-go-lucky character! If you’ve read his book or seen my favorite modern interpretation of him in the cartoon, he and Barda have this great relationship. They’re madly in love with each other. But beneath all that there’s this idea that there was this guy who was a child , whose father gave him to a torturer and said, “You have to suffer to make our world better.” He literally had to suffer for our sins. Not in a metaphorical way! He was literally suffering for the sins of his culture! This is how that can break you, and how the laughter and the lightness might just be something you’re using to paste over the other stuff. It all might just be another trap you’ve stumbled into. There’s just a lot there. Kirby set the table for us all, we just get to eat, you know? There’s a big moment in the preview with showing up at Scott and Barda’s house, and a confrontation that seems pretty brutal. Can you tell me a little more about the Orion dynamic for the two of them? Mister Miracle #1. Scott Free and Big Barda stand, Mister Miracle rises! DC Comics' Mister Miracle #1 by Tom King & Mitch Gerads. In stores August 9th, 2017. From the team behind THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON and the Hugo Award-nominated writer of comes a unique take on Mister Miracle, one of Jack Kirby’s most beloved New Gods. Beginning this August and running for 12 issues, new series MISTER MIRACLE from writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads will take readers on an episodic roller coaster of death, resurrection, mystery and intrigue. Created by Kirby for DC and first appearing in 1971’s MISTER MIRACLE #1, Scott Free, using the stage alter ego of Mister Miracle, is the greatest escape artist who ever lived. So great is his skill that he has mastered every illusion, achieved every stunt and pulled off every trick— except one. He has never escaped death. Is it even possible? “MISTER MIRACLE is the most ambitious project I've ever worked on,” says King. “Mitch and I asked ourselves if we could do something as good as SANDMAN, PREACHER or NEW FRONTIER, which are transcendent, contained stories that comment upon the times in which they were made. We knew we'd be stupid to think we could, but we'd be more stupid not to try.” “Because of the nature of how Tom and I are creating the book, I’m able to really stretch how I approach the art,” adds Gerads. “I’ve followed Tom into Baghdad, Gotham City, and now I couldn’t be more excited to join him on the battle plains of Apokolips! So here we go, into the breach once more, and I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side. FOR !” “MISTER MIRACLE is the story of a trapped man who can get out of any trap,” continues King. “It's about the weird that surrounds us now, that seems to push into every aspect of our being, that leaves us questioning the very foundations of our existence: how did I get into this and how the hell do I get out?” MISTER MIRACLE #1, written by Tom King, illustrated by Mitch Gerads, lettered by Clayton Cowles and edited by Jamie S. Rich, will hit shelves August 9. Cover artwork is by Nick Derington with variant cover by Gerads. Mister Miracle #12 Closes the Curtain on Scott’s False Reality - For Good. In Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Mister Miracle #12, we finally learn the shocking secret behind Scott Free's false reality. SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Mister Miracle #12, by Tom King, Mitch Gerads and Clayton Cowles, on sale now. With the release of Mister Miracle #12, Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ exploration of the mind-bending yet mundane life of Scott Free has come to a close. As expected, that also means we finally have an answer as to what’s been causing Scott to experience false memories and why it seemed as though the miniseries existed outside of the main DC Universe continuity, despite King confirming the contrary. However, while the key to Scott’s false reality is no Paranoid Pill, it is something of a bitter pill to swallow. In Issue #11, the surprising appearance of all but confirmed what readers had long suspected, which was that everything that had transpired over the course of the miniseries was some sort of fabrication. What wasn’t entirely clear, though, was if Metron trapped Scott in another world or dimension, if he was trapped by The Lump, or if perhaps we were witnessing the final pre- Flashpoint story. Then, of course, there was the possibility that Scott’s attempted suicide in Issue #1 was more successful than we were led to believe. As it turns out, that’s exactly the case. Throughout the issue, Scott is visited by those who’ve died over the course of the miniseries, including Granny Goodness, Bug, Orion, , and . Furthermore, each of them is rendered with the same static effect we’ve come to associate with the perception that all isn’t what it seems. It’s during the first visit, though, that it starts to become clear what Metron was trying to show Scott in the previous issue. “The deaths, the war, the wife, the child,” Granny Goodness says. “This pretend life you… It’s in your head.” “You little fool ,” she continues. “You had a chance. Metron was a signal. You should’ve opened your eyes. You should’ve come back.” While Granny Goodness’ words certainly leave some room for interpretation, it would appear that Metron was attempting to pull a dying Scott Free away from the light at the end of the tunnel – a gesture Scott ultimately refused. Where does that leave Scott, now, though? If we’re to believe Bug, he’s in Hell, which is symbolized by the ongoing war between New Genesis and Apokolips. And while Scott had a chance to escape, he chose not to. However, if we’re to believe Orion, Scott is in Heaven, which is symbolized by his life with Big Barda, Jacob and now, a newborn daughter. Regardless of what form of afterlife Scott is in, though, he makes one thing perfectly clear in the end. “I can always escape,” he says as the issue concludes, leaving us with little doubt that even death can’t trap the world’s greatest escape artist for good. Jon Arvedon is CBR's lead news editor and began working for the site in 2017. He’s been an avid superhero fan since he was a young child, though it wasn’t until much later in life that he finally began venturing into the actual comic books that made those characters so popular in the first place. Nevertheless, he immediately developed a strong passion for the medium and began aggressively expanding his knowledge, using any and all downtime at his old office job to scour the depths of Marvel Unlimited, comiXology and the occasional wiki page to help fill in the gaps. His love of comics is rivaled only by that of his love for Star Wars. If you're so inclined, you can follow Jon on Twitter at @JonArvedon. The Art of the Start: MISTER MIRACLE #1 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. You’ve got a handful of pages to prove your concept, to introduce your character, to get your hooks into your reader and keep ’em coming back for more. How do you handle it? In The Art of the Start we look at first issues. Today we look at a reboot of Jack Kirby’s classic Mister Miracle series. A year ago, after a long absence from the world of superhero comics, I wanted in again. DC Rebirth seemed like a perfect place to start. I began buying the first issues of my favorite DC superheroes. The comic book that I kept buying, week after week, was Batman. I’ve never been a big fan of Batman, but this iteration was different: sad but not so damn stoic. From “Rooftops” by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. “Rooftops,” a two-part story, the first drawn by Mitch Gerads, is the most beautiful moment in the series. Batman and Catwoman talk to each other like real people, making small romantic jabs and asking questions. They’re drawn differently too. White lines show the movement of Catwoman twirling across the rooftops; bright neon lights shine from Batman’s eyes. Bruce’s stressful bleak life takes a brief romantic pause, and the comic shows it to us through his rose-colored goggles. After reading this comic, I became a little obsessed with both Tom King and Mitch Gerads, and the work they can do together. Needless to say, I’ve been really looking forward to the first issue of Mister Miracle, whi ch came out last Wednesday. Mister Miracle #1 is a dazzling and strange collage of literary and artistic pursuits. In his captions throughout the issue, King appropriates the hifalutin language of silver age superhero comic books, juxtaposing it with idiosyncratic, naturalistic dialogue. Mitch Gerard’s art draws from all sorts of influences, and never seems to rest on a static point. Superhero melodrama, Los Angeleno angst, and existential confusion all bounce in and out. The comic is somewhat surreal and possibly nonlinear, but the basic premise seems to be that Scott Free, Mister Miracle, living in Los Angeles with his partner Big Barda, attempts to kill himself. Shortly after, he learns of a great and possibly final battle between the gods of Apokolips and New Genesis. From “Mister Miracle” By Tom King and Mitch Gerads. Gerads draws the first page as a close-up of Scott Free lying on the floor after slicing his wrists. A caption asks: “Is he a master of spectacular trickery or is he something more?” This question persists. In a section of the comic reminiscent of Frank Miller, images on a TV screen appear above text. Gerads depicts these pages as from a worn out television, the shapes slightly doubled and the various lines of color zigzagging out of their borders. Dressed in his full costume, sitting on a talk show chair and gabbing with a generic host, the book reminds us that Scott is an entertainer as much as a superhero. This situates his speech: Mister Miracle asks a talk show host: “What doesn’t anyone escape from? Death. No one escapes from death. So I killed myself.” The master illusionist tells his audience he was trying to escape death, but can the audience trust the words of the master illusionist? As the comic plays out, the twin themes of illusion and God develop. A beautifully drawn page where a child (is it Scott? He has Scott’s’ yellow chest dots!) draws what he claims to be God later gets told as a joke by Oberon (Scott’s curmudgeonly manager). Oberon, it turns out, died of throat cancer from all the cigarettes he smokes. So how can a dead man tell Mister Miracle a joke about God? And isn’t that the same question as can we believe an escape artist when he tells us he sliced his wrists open to escape death? These questions are woven into the plot. Highfather, ruler of the New Gods visits Scott on the beach. Darkseid, lord of Apokolips, has apparently achieved his ultimate goal and acquired the anti-life equation. This equation has a long and changing role in the DC Universe. Here though, Highfather explains that it will allow him to “change reality. To change men’s minds.” It seems likely that this explanation has something to do with the oddness in Scott’s life. He has no memory of Oberon’s death, and is certain that Barda’s eyes were blue, not their current brown. Scott’s life is filled with illusion. Maybe he is looking at death, or God, but how will he see clearly? Gerads and King bring beauty and vulnerability to the world of superheroes in ways that dazzle me, and this series seems likely to continue in that legacy.