"The Marvelman Exists... And We Own Him!"

Today saw a very strange announcement out of San Diego Con, indeed. It sounds like Marvel Comics will be reprinting the original adventures of Marvelman from the 1950s and 60s... when he was quite boring and unoriginal, considering that during that period he was mostly just a Captain Marvel ripoff that was created when the UK publisher ran out of Captain Marvel material (from the U.S.) to reprint.

In this fan's opinion, what made Marvelman special was the treatment he got in the hands of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman during the 80s and 90s. Moore's re-imagining of the character in the pages of Warrior magazine elevated Micky Moran and his alter ego from "derivative" to "definitive". It was all of the developments that Moore and Gaiman introduced that caught and held our attention, not the silly stories from the 50s and 60s.

The other troubling aspect to the press release is the notion that Marvel Comics might be incorporating the character into their own universe. Fans who followed the series in the 80s and 90s know that very big changes occurred in the world of Marvelman, including the decimation of London, England as the result of a particularly bloody "super-battle." Following that, Marvelman (called "Miracleman" then, to avoid problems with, of all folks, Marvel Comics!) ascended to the throne of ultimate ruler, a turn of events that would clearly put that tale at odds with any introduction into the Marvel Universe proper. Beyond that, I'm not sure that Marvel has it in them to appreciate or maintain the subtlety and layers involved in the character that the two Brits wrote so effectively. It's not exactly what the House of Ideas is known for these days, anyway.

(Comic book rumour guru Rich Johnston has this to say on the topic, which is definitely worth a read.)

So, at this point, I'm a little skeptical about this news. What I'd hoped for was an announcement that Marvel was going to reprint the Moore and Gaiman stories in a suitably beautiful format, while at the same time allowing Neil to finish off what he'd started back in the 90s. Instead, we're getting reprints of the Mick Anglo stuff from much earlier along with being told to "stay tuned" for more news. Hmmmm. Colour me non-plussed so far.