Mister Miracle

I recently listened to an interview with Polygon's comics critic Susana Polo where, among other things, she talked about Mister Miracle and the phrase "Darkseid is."

I had never read the comic, so I ordered it from my library and finished it yesterday. There's a lot packed into it! I'm not sure exactly what angle I'll take with these thoughts so I'll do a meander through it. 

One thing it prompted me to think about is the difference between something being obviously good and the personal experience of liking it or not. This is a brilliant comic. It is one that I would recommend to people, maybe even to people who don't read comics or aren't familiar with the range of stories that are tackled in modern comics. However, I'm not sure how much I liked it. Some parts felt oppressive to me, like my viewpoint on the story was too constrained, and some of the humour (though I know the jokes are good) didn't land for me. I'm glad to have read it. I'll definitely think back on it, and the story has meaningful, possibly even profound ideas, but in some ways it didn't quite click with me personally. 

To get into what it is about, it is a standalone story that can be read without prior knowledge of the established characters. Mister Miracle and the other main characters have been around since Jack Kirby created his "Fourth World" and cast of "New Gods" in the 1970s. He wanted to tell stories on an epic scale, modern myths about good versus evil. Tom King and Mitch Gerad's Mister Miracle, created in 2017, summarises the sweep of Kirby's story in a pastiche of the 70s comic book style. It then drops the reader into the wake of Mister Miracle's - living in modern L.A. under the name Scott Free - attempted suicide.

There are multiple threads interwoven through the book. A continuation of the grand myth of good versus evil. A very grounded story of a man struggling with depression and the trauma of his abusive childhood. A war claiming millions of lives. A couple trying to raise a baby while dealing with other big demands. The different aspects blur together and at times aren't distinguishable. The phrase "Darkseid is" (a reference to the devil analogue in the Fourth World mythos always being out there, impossible to overcome) is used to great effect to show the intrusion of hopelessness into Scott's thoughts wherever he is and whatever he is doing. It is combined together expertly.

For me personally, the comedic juxtaposition of the mundane life stuff with the epic adventure (plans to remodel an apartment discussed while overcoming Herculean challenges, offering carrot sticks and hummus to a god come to render judgement) was sometimes funny and sometimes a little much - but that's a tightrope walk for the writer and I think he has achieved something masterful overall. And the heaviness of the subject matter was tough for me at times, though handled very well. Scott's wife, Barda, is an amazing support to him after his suicide attempt, but I like that it also includes scenes where the toll on her is too much and she blows up at him.

I mentioned my frustration at feeling my viewpoint was constrained. I think I have a mild dislike for stories with unreliable narrators who can't tell what is real and what isn't. That exists here, combined with a regimented panel structure that makes the flow of time feel the same whether things are easy or hard - you can never catch your breath or hold back the next event. It is probably intentional, to create some level of discomfort in the reader, and that will vary for different readers. I was frustrated by it, wanting to pull out of Scott's viewpoint to see things for myself - but I think that's part of the point. I'm just not sure how much of my time I want to spend in that kind of storytelling. I certainly don't like movies like that, though I have probably read books with a similar approach and liked them more. Maybe this is something specific to visual media for me, that feeling of oppression when my viewpoint is controlled during a story about trauma. Or maybe I'm overthinking it and I just found the story dragged ever so slightly in the middle.

Anyway, this is an amazing comic. It might prompt me to read more of Jack Kirby's old stuff, and to read more by Tom King.