Dicky Dauntless has rejected Miracleman. He has rejected Johnny Bates. What paths does that leave our lost Young Miracleman? Your Major Spoilers review of Miracleman: The Silver Age #4 from Marvel Comics awaits!

MIRACLEMAN: THE SILVER AGE #4

Writer: Neil Gaiman/Mark Buckingham/Mick Anglo
Artist: Mark Buckingham/George Parlett
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire/Michael Kelleher
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 8, 2023

Previously in Miracleman: The Silver Age: What are the Black Warpsmiths? Young Miracleman’s journey continues, and he finds companions on his quest to learn more about the world and about himself. They may not be the companions that Miracleman would have chosen, but will they be who Young Miracleman needs?

HIGH IN THE HIMALAYAS

After an awkward moment with his mentor, Young Miracleman fled Olympus, landing in the Himalayan mountains. There he encountered a traveler named Jason, on a quest to find the mysterious Mister Master. Elsewhere in the universe, alien Warpsmith Phon Mooda solemnly watches a literal church service to Miracleman himself before returning to… another place. There she meets the Black Warpsmiths for the first time, reporting on the activities of Winter and the other Miracle-children, whose lives have become an endless cycle of meaningless combat. She is, frankly, worried and moreover, scared of what comes next. As for Dickie Dauntless/Young Miracleman, he finally gets his chance to ask Mister Master for advice. The former superhuman tells him two important things: First, he’s a terrible liar, and Master knows exactly who he is. And second, sometimes it’s possible to get everything you want and STILL not be able to fix what’s wrong in your life.

“NOW WHAT?”

We’re now officially two issues into material that has never been published and I have to admit, it’s not going where I thought it was. This issues story balances Young Miracleman’s investigation into why the FIRST enhanced human quit against the realization that the NEWEST enhanced humans are becoming aimless agents of destruction. Phon Mooda even worries that the Miracle experiment is over, or about to be, while Mister Master asks Dickie the armor-piercing question, “Who are you, really?” Miracleman worries that he has lost his young partner forever and begins poring through Gargunza’s fictional archives (which allows them to reprint a classic Mick Anglo story from the fifties), while somebody FINALLY calls out that fact that “Dickie Dauntless” is a character from Gilbert and Sullivan. Visually, this issue is absolutely stunning, note-perfect in every emotion and expression. The major upside to waiting 30 years for this comic is that it’s experienced veteran Mark Buckingham handling the art. The first two issues were much more effective after being redrawn, while this story hangs the most dramatic moment entirely on Mark’s ability to render the conversation between Mister Master and Young Miracleman.

BOTTOM LINE: AN EXCEPTIONAL ISSUE

In comics, as in life, a long wait doesn’t guarantee that you won’t be disappointed, but Miracleman: The Silver Age #4 proves the exception to the rule, succeeding in art, story, and the synthesis of both, deepening the emotional core of the story and making things even more uncomfortably human, earning 5 out of 5 stars overall. I don’t believe Gaiman did extensive rewriting of the original scripts, meaning that the parallels to modern comics event storytelling is even more impressive in its prescience.

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