Mister Miracle is part of the DC mythos known as the Fourth World, home of the New Gods on dual planets New Genesis and Apokolips. The Fourth World is the work of comic artist Jack Kirby, co-creator of the Marvel Universe and one of the medium’s most important artists. Kirby thought up the Fourth World and its characters like Darkseid while working at Marvel and brought the ideas with him when he moved to DC in 1970.
“Mister Miracle” was one of the original three Fourth World comics written and drawn by Kirby, along with “New Gods” and “The Forever People.” Mister Miracle is the son of Highfather, the ruler of the utopian New Genesis. To end the conflict with Apokolips and its ruler Darkseid, the New Gods made a pact: Highfather and Darkseid would exchange sons.
Highfather raised Darkseid’s son Orion with love as his own boy. Darkseid gave Highfather’s son to his torturer, Granny Goodness. The boy never stopped trying to escape, earning him the nickname “Scott Free,” and eventually, he lived up to his name. Making his way to Earth, Scott used his experience to become a professional escape artist: Mister Miracle. He’s married to Big Barda, former leader of Darkseid and Granny’s high guard, the Female Furies. (Kirby based Scott’s career on Jim Steranko, another comic artist as well as an escape artist, and Barda was based on Kirby’s own wife, Roz.)
But despite his new love and life, Scott is still haunted by his childhood and adoptive father. During King and Gerads’ “Mister Miracle,” the character is suffering from depression and tries to “escape” that with a suicide attempt. He survives, and the rest of the series follows him and Barda trying to enjoy a normal life. That life is interrupted by their on-off deployment to fight in a renewed conflict between New Genesis and Apokolips (notice King’s military background popping up?).
The synopsis for the animated “Mister Miracle” sounds like is staying true to the comic: “[A] harrowing, hilarious, heart-wrenching journey across the pitfalls of the ordinary and extraordinary as the son of God raised by the devil tries to save his family, his world, and maybe even himself.”
It makes sense that the series is being animated. Kirby’s original colorful character designs fit that better than live-action. Animation in general is the cinema that’s closest to comic books. (Both are about drawings brought to life.) King hasn’t worked in animation before, but it’s not uncommon for animators to start as comic artists. Storyboarding and comic drawing are similar art forms. The one question I have is how this story will work without being a comic. Each page of “Mister Miracle” is a nine-panel grid to show how Scott feels trapped. The flow of panels is often broken up by ones depicting a black void and the words “Darkseid Is,” showing how he haunts our lead character. Can the show use different tricks for the same effect? Since King himself is at the helm of adapting his own story, I’m confident it will find a way.
Mister Miracle, based on Tom King and Mitch Gerads’s Eisner Award-winning comic, is becoming a TV show set in the new DC Universe. Read More