Call him Marvelman, call him Miracleman, call him whatever you want, but he needs a toy line. He needs something. Anything.
Miracleman was originally Marvelman, and Marvelman was originally published in Warrior Magazine. It was written by Alan Moore, who took an old ’50s comic concept by Mick Anglo (under Fawcett) and reformatted it into an “Alan Moore comic.” Eclipse comics published Marvelman as Miracleman (changing each instance of “Marvel” to “Miracle”) and history was confusingly born.
A few years ago Marvel got the rights to republish the Miracleman comics in trade and omnibus form. The rights were a hullabaloo of a mess that I won’t bore you with here because it makes my head spin. A quick googling will lead you to the scoop. Basically, Alan Moore’s beard and Neil Gaiman’s accent had some rights to it, along with Todd McFarlane’s balls and who knows what else. I may be confusing something in there somewhere, but I’m not a lawyer, so if you wanted legal advice, consult that guy who sings for U2 . . . Pro Bono or something. Essentially they had been tied up in strange little knots that too a while to untangle, and when they were finally untangled, Marvel decided to do some editing on the actual comics. Meaning censoring. Meaning I’m not buying that. Bitches.
None of that is important. What is important is that Marvel/Miracleman — I’m going with Miracleman as that’s how USAian me was first introduced to him by — desperately needs a toy line with good, fully articulated toys. And the best part is that it wouldn’t necessarily need a deep line. I’d be perfectly satisfied with what constitutes a single wave in toy terms.
Miracleman himself would obviously be at the head of the wave. Now, Miracleman was always described as being 7 feet tall, and he’s a thin dude, so he’d need a figure that stood a proper 7 inches if he was going to work within the confines of a 1:12th scale toy line. Anybody else in the line would have to measure up properly to him. I’d like him to not be super-ripped like most superhero figures are. He doesn’t need psycho muscles in order to look physically imposing, as he was usually drawn with what looked like realistic spandex as opposed to paint-your-body type of spandex.
Along with Miracleman, I’d also need Kid Miracleman and Young Miracleman, because there’s no shortage of Captain Marvel / Captain Marvel Jr. similarities with any of this. I mean, the transformations occurred with the shouting of a trigger word, so you know going in what you’re getting. Unfortunately there’s no giant rabbit or hefty uncle, but not everything can be perfect.
Kid Miracleman would have to make two different appearances in toy form. One when he was younger, and one older, for when . . . well, I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read it, but let’s say if you have read it, you’ll know that a Miracleman toy line without this figure wouldn’t be complete at all.
The toy line wouldn’t be complete if there were not at least one female toy, so that means they’d also have to make . . . no no, don’t jump ahead . . . Miraclewoman. Yes, you’re getting the theme. There was also a Miracledog. Or Marveldog. Awesome.
If we stopped there, we’d have a pretty decent toy line. But I wouldn’t say no to British superhero Big Ben that Miracleman tussled with if I were to get greedy about it. Evelyn Cream and his sapphire teeth would also make a snazzy-looking figure, but now I know I’m asking for too much. At this point I’ll be asking for two different Miracleman figures portraying the two different slight variations on his costume. And Warpsmiths. And his kid. And . . . well, you get the point.
No, I think if I were to get a decent lineup featuing Miracleman, Kid Miracleman (both young and old), Young Miracleman, Miraclewoman, and Big Ben, I’d consider the collection complete and that chapter closed.
I’m only missing one issue of the original comic series. I’m also missing a good toy line out of the concept. These could be some of the Greatest Toys Never Made.
