Miracleman (1985) #10

Miracleman 10

John Ridgway returns to ink Veitch and it works out nicely. Veitch has fine composition, with the Ridgway inks the panels all have a lot of personality. I love how Mike looks so ancient and tired.

Most of the issue is spent with two aliens who have come to Earth to check on the miracle-people. Turns out there are more of them than Moore previously revealed (at least one more) and the aliens use the alternate universe in a similar way.

The stuff with the baby, while beautifully rendered, gets a little tiresome. Moore amps up the pressure on the characters only to immediately release it when a scene is winding up. The baby’s also not visually around a lot and sometimes when Liz and Mike talk about her, it sounds like there’s a monster in the crib.

Moore uses some lovely storytelling devices here too. Really lovely ones.

Miracleman 10 (December 1986)

7970 20051127175604 large John Ridgway returns to ink Veitch and it works out nicely. Veitch has fine composition, with the Ridgway inks the panels all have a lot of personality. I love how Mike looks so ancient and tired.

Moore uses some lovely storytelling devices here too. Really lovely ones.

CREDITS

Mindgames; writer, Alan Moore; penciller, Rick Veitch; inker, John Ridgway; colorist, Ron Courtney; letterer, Wayne Truman; editor, Cat Yronwode; publisher, Eclipse.

Miracleman 6 (February 1986)

7951 20051127175441 large And here we have the first appearance of Chuck Austen on the art. And wow. Wow. I complained about Alan Davis–who does the first chapter–I complained about his work on faces. But he got the mythic quality of the story. He got how people, even if they aren’t beautifully drawn, do look different.

Austen doesn’t get anything. It’s bad. It’s worse than I… it’s bad.

The story’s good though. Moore neatly ties all the jungle scenery to the finale (or the cliffhanger). Austen butchers it. It should be great stuff but nope. It looks like a crappy eighties cartoon.

Anyway, there are some other really good moments in the modern day story. The art’s not good, but there are good moments.

Then there’s Young Miracleman story with Ridgeway art. It’s more cute than anything else, but it’s good. Moore shows some whimsy, which the main feature doesn’t have.

B-

CREDITS

…And Every Dog Its Day!; writer, Alan Moore; artists, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen and John Ridgway; colorist, Ron Courtney; letterer, Wayne Truman; editors, Dez Skinn and Cartherine Yronwode; publisher, Eclipse.

Miracleman 5 (January 1986)

7935 20051127175425 large Really, the art’s Alan Davis? Mostly, I mean–John Ridgeway’s back to finish the flashback story–but Davis does the art on most of the issue. And it’s not good. It’s really rushed, really loose with detail. There’s definitely some decent composition, but I just thought whoever came on the art had good composition and not good detail ability.

The story mostly concerns Gargunza revealing Miracleman’s past to Liz. It’s during these parts Davis fails the script the most–Moore clearly wants Liz to have gravitas (even when she doesn’t have any real lines), but Davis doesn’t sell it. It’s too bad.

The writing gets it through. Moore’s a lot more successful with the Gargunza and Liz scenes than with Evelyn Cream. Cream’s supposed to offer a human take on Miracleman (who doesn’t do anything this issue) but Moore’s trying too hard.

It’s a bridging issue. The awesome’s just subdued.

CREDITS

The Approaching Light; writer, Alan Moore; artists, Alan Davis and John Ridgway; colorist, Ron Courtney; letterer, G. George; editors, Dez Skinn and Cartherine Yronwode; publisher, Eclipse.

Miracleman 4 (December 1985)

7932 20051127175406 large And here’s the first mention of Miracleman as a superhero. He’s hanging out in a park, runs across a kid who’s terrified of a nuclear attack, they bond. Great scene from Moore.

Alan Davis does most of the art this issue. It’s very well composed at times, but his figures feel a little two dimensional. John Ridgeway does one of the chapters (these are still Warrior reprints) and it’s a little more effective. It might just be the content–giant magical kingdoms and vampire legions and so on.

The story moves forward a little, but Moore seems a lot more concentrated on the chapter form. Mike Moran only shows up long enough to change into Miracleman. Even Liz has more scenes without Miracleman (or Mike) than with.

It’s still fantastic stuff. It’s just Moore’s writer fingerprints are showing up. He’s artificial with the plotting and pacing. It isn’t organically growing.

A-

CREDITS

Catgames; writer, Alan Moore; artists, Alan Davis and John Ridgway; colorist, Ron Courtney; letterer, G. George; editors, Dez Skinn and Cartherine Yronwode; publisher, Eclipse.

Hellblazer 8 (August 1988)

All of a sudden, Delano seems to decide he needs to make the comic about Constantine. Not immediately, of course. He opens with a little about the cultists kidnapping Constantine’s lady friend, though she’s been reduced to a chess piece at this point.

Then Constantine hallucinates–and Delano gives the reader some hints of the backstory (a botched exorcism)–and finally wakes up to discover himself in a hospital bed.

Apparently Swamp Thing, in an offscreen moment, got Constantine to the doctor. This scene, with Swamp Thing somehow delivering a crushed Constantine to the emergency room door, would be better than anything else in the issue.

Anyway, a demon shows up and tries to get Constantine to join his side against the Christian fundamentalists. Delano amusingly puts the blame not on the fundamentalists… but insensitive angels. The details are interesting, but they don’t make a story.

Still, the writing’s decent.

CREDITS

Intensive Care; writer, Jamie Delano; penciller, John Ridgway; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Hellblazer 9 (September 1988)

What’s with Delano and all the globe trotting? It gets outrageous this issue, with Delano carting Constantine over to Gotham to have it out with his ghosts. He’s upset he’s got demon’s blood running through his veins, but only because one of his ghosts explains that condition to him. The way Delano writes it in scenes, he’s just drunk and depressed.

So if Delano’s going for subtle, he goes way too far. Hellblazer is so subtle, it could put the reader to sleep.

It turns out Constantine is trying, but not in his internal monologue, to figure out what to do about his girlfriend. Delano has been very dramatic and action-oriented with her story so far; the presumed resolution is muted (if artistically stylish). It’s also bloody obvious. Constantine should’ve had the idea immediately.

The end cameo from tobacco Swamp Thing is the best thing and it’s terribly written.

CREDITS

Shot to Hell; writer, Jamie Delano; penciller, John Ridgway; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Hellblazer 7 (July 1988)

This issue, rather inappropriately, feels like a rip-off of a Swamp Thing standard. Well, I think Moore did it once and Veitch did it once, but it’s still a standard. There’s no supernatural situation of the week this issue, instead a friend of Constantine hacks into the evil fundamentalist’s computer network but he does so via hallucinogenic and technology suction cupped to his forehead.

Delano and Ridgway spend most of their effort on this journey through the computer world–pre-Internet, post-Tron–and it feels just like when Moore (and Veitch) send Swamp Thing through the Green. Given Hellblazer‘s a spin-off of Swamp Thing… it just feels rather cheap.

And the whole issue turns out to be a way for Delano to focus on Constantine for the last five pages instead of the melodrama.

The writing’s fine, the art’s fine, but it’s a waste of time.

CREDITS

Ghosts in the Machine; writer, Jamie Delano; pencillers, Brett Ewins and John Ridgway; inkers, Jim McCarthy and Ridgway; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Hellblazer 6 (June 1988)

After last issue’s trip to America, Constantine is back–without explanation–in London. Luckily, he stumbles into a situation where he can learn more of the B plot.

Delano’s story is somewhat lame, but at least it features Constantine in a substantial role. It ties a little into Swamp Thing, but in a slight way. What Delano choses to share with that book is almost more interesting than the issue itself.

What is interesting, however, is Delano’s attention to the AIDS crisis and a comedic bit about football hooligans. Hellblazer feels British, an informed (if amplified) British.

Delano uses all of the business and revelations of the villain (one of them) to disguise the lack of plot. Constantine and his lady friend get in some trouble. The football stuff, the AIDS stuff, the villain stuff… it emptily fills pages.

It’s also annoying how Delano writes Constantine constantly talking to himself.

CREDITS

Extreme Prejudice; writer, Jamie Delano; artist, John Ridgway; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Hellblazer 5 (May 1988)

Delano name drops Swamp Thing early on this issue. Maybe he’s trying to remind readers why they picked up this book in the first place, maybe he’s trying to remind them Constantine is actually a character. Because he’s useless in this issue of Hellblazer. Besides whining about being a coward in his internal dialogue and interceding once… he’s pointless in his own book.

This issue is a horror comic about Vietnam. I’ll bet it’s not the first of its kind, with a guy going nuts and the outcome being terrible.

While Delano does tie it into the B plot about a fundamentalist, capitalist church being up to no good, it could stand alone. In fact, it would be stronger if it did stand alone because then Delano could have spent time establishing characters.

The scenes are competent enough and Ridgway’s art is fine, but Delano’s unable to define the comic.

CREDITS

When Johnny Comes Marching Home; writer, Jamie Delano; artist, John Ridgway; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.