Miracleman - The Golden Age

Miracleman was originally written by Alan Moore as a post-modern deconstruction of the hero myth and its place in popular culture. It stands as a benchmark and as a signpost for both Moore's own future writings and the direction of Superhero's to follow.

When Moore left with issue 16 it was thought that he had taken the story just about as far as it could possibly go -the hero's had defeated "Bates" and averted an apocalypse; and built their paradise on earth. Where could it possibly go from there?

Enter Neil Gaiman. I believe that Miracleman was the first comic that he wrote, and if that is the case it makes it even more remarkable. Gaiman knew that there was no way he could make the story any grander -there would come a time where the reader would just say "enough's enough" and lose the sense of proportion, so he did something remarkable. If Moore focused on the macrocosm then Gaiman focused on the micro. He took 9 short interludes into the lives of the people that populated the world of miracles. He focused on the everyday lives, looked at the way they functioned as they tried to find their place in such a radically different world. Miracleman barely features in the stories -a technique he would use in his Sandman comics. The stories deal with many facets that were only hinted at in Moore's run; and fleshes out the world that we could only gaze at dispassionately -as through the eyes of a god.

The artwork is sublime; with Mark Buckingham utilizing different styles for each chapter -my own personal favourite is the Andy Warhol story.

I remember when I first read "The Golden Age" -I'd not heard of Neil Gaiman or Miracleman. But the stories serve as a great introduction to both. You don't need to have read Miracleman to understand this book -it helps, of course, and it makes you realise just what an accomplishment these stories actually are. These are character driven stories and show just what is possible in the hands of a master craftsman -such as Neil Gaiman.