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TimRees — Miracleman #1
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Published: 2017-08-07 14:00:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 783; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 0
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From 20-odd years ago...pen and ink, and what we used to call felt-tips!Related content
Comments: 11
Wasn't this character originally called marvelman?
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Correct! But some years after first publication, Marvel Comics took exception to the name, and threatened to sue the other publisher...hence the change to Miracleman.
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He was originally a character from 1954-1963 in the UK. Marvel comics (as we know them) started in 1961 (Marvelman existed FIRST).
Writer Alan Moore brought MM back in the 1980s in an anthology book called "Warrior Magazine", by Quality Communications, that ran some 26 issues. It wasn't until QC published the titled "Marvelman Special #1" in 1984 that Marvel took offense, since it contained "Marvel" in the title. They thought people would get confused between the two and believe "Marvelman" was theirs. (This is silly since BOTH Marvel AND DC own rights to characters called "Captain Marvel". AND that the character Marvelman pre-dated Marvel by a DECADE. Go figure).
Marvel threatened to sue unless QC stopped using the character. Which QC did after much grumbling. Warrior #21 was MM's last appearance. And it killed the book (issue 26 was final issue) and the company went bankrupt.
Alan Moore took the character to Eclipse Comics who reprinted the original chapters from Warrior after changing the character's name to "Miracleman" to avoid a lawsuit from Marvel Comics. Miracleman 1-6 are the colorized reprints of the Warrior chapters. And Moore continued to work on the character till issue 16. Then Neil Gaiman took over.
But, Eclipse Comics suffered a massive flood of their warehouse right after Miracleman #15 was printed (before it shipped out) and much of their print run of ALL of their comic-lines were destroyed. Hence Miralceman 15 being scarce. And Eclipse never recovered financially. They went bankrupt around Miracleman #24. And the story stopped and was never completed.
McFarlane swooped in and bought all of Eclipse's character properties (in an attempt to get Miracleman). But, didn't realize that Eclipse didn't actually "own" Miracleman. They only had publishing rights. McFarlane didn't find this out until he had already introduced the character into his Spawn comic and drew up some "coming soon" posters and even had Miracleman statues and figures made. But... McFarlane was sued and had to stop using the character.
Marvel Comics now "officially" owns all rights to past and present Marvelman stories and has (once again) been reprinting the original Moore material that has been re-re-titled back to "Marvelman" and is attempting to see the original 80s story, that was started over 30 years ago, finished. But, there have been creative issues on the NEW stories by Gaiman and Buckingham which have postponed the release.
Hope that helps!
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That's a great summation of the convoluted back-story to this great character!
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He's my fave character, if you couldn't tell! 
Also of note... that VERY SAME "Warrior Magazine" run saw the original "V for Vendetta" chapters by Alan Moore. MM and V were running in the SAME issues! Along with other stories by soon-to-be-famous artists and writers.
A shame Warrior Magazine died out. It was a great publication. And worth collecting if you like back issues.
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I did love going to collect my issue from the newsagents every month...
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I remember reading about this comic book on tv tropes.
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Oh yes, I've seen that, too. But I also remember reading about when it happened! I'm that old.
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I'm glad that I'm not the only one!!!!
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