I’m writing this still reeling in shock from the announcement that Marvel Comics bought the rights to Marvelman.\u00a0 For those of you not familiar with the character, Marvelman (called “Miracleman” in the\u00a0US because Marvel Comics felt their comics empire would collapse if\u00a0the word “Marvel” was used to describe anything that wasn’t theirs)\u00a0was a British ripoff of Captain Marvel back in the 1950s-60s.\u00a0 The stories were cute and fun and good solid entertainment for kids.\u00a0 Then Alan Moore got a hold of the comic, and comics were never the same again.\u00a0 Before the Dark Knight, before Watchmen, this was the series that asked the question “What if superheroes lived in the real world?” for the first time.\u00a0 And it was AMAZING.\u00a0 Well-written, with gorgeous artwork by a variety of artists (including some of the best artwork\u00a0of John Totleben’s career, and that’s saying a lot).\u00a0 I won’t spoil the ending of Moore’s run, but when he finished, it took Neil Gaiman to come in and keep the series alive.\u00a0 And did I mention gorgeous artwork?\u00a0 This is where I first read Mark Buckingham’s pages, and realized that here was an artist who could draw in any style, from cartoony to Warhol, and do it WELL.\u00a0 To date, the “Andy Warhol” issue by Gaiman & Buckingham remains one of my all-time favorite single issues of any series.\u00a0 Legal issues prevented the\u00a0comic from continuing, and it’s remained one of the great unfinished stories ever.<\/p>\n
Until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How they got the rights to it, I don’t know.\u00a0 But the thought of Marvelman by Marvel Comics makes me physically ill.\u00a0 One would hope that they will reprint all the Moore & Gaiman issues, and then follow-up by finishing that run with Gaiman’s unpublished scripts.\u00a0 After all, Gaiman wrote a final ending to it all; he just never had a chance to wrap his run.\u00a0 This would be the story that fans have been clamoring for years for; a story that would remain in print indefinitely as it’s such a milestone series by the top talents of the field.\u00a0 Or, Marvel could do a Hulk vs. Marvelman miniseries.\u00a0 I really want to be optimistic about this, but…<\/p>\n
Please, Marvel.\u00a0 Neil Gaiman — NEIL GAIMAN!!! — has scripts already in the bag to wrap this all up.\u00a0 Pleasepleaseplease do the smart thing, the financially profitable thing, and USE HIS SCRIPTS!!!!\u00a0 Because we don’t need another strong guy in tights beating up another strong guy in tights story.<\/p>\n
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