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A review by ericbuscemi
A Dream of Flying by The Original Writer, Steve Dillon, Alan Davis, Garry Leach, Paul Neary, Mick Anglo
4.0
This Vulture article made me very excited to read this recently re-released comic, and now that I have, I don't even know where to begin with a review. So here is a brief history of the comic, taken from the Vulture article (click the link above for the full article):
When the U.S. stopped importing then-popular Captain Marvel to Britain in 1954, British publishers created their own knock-off, Marvelman, who was popular until U.S. comics import restrictions eased in the early 60s, causing Marvelman do disappear in 1963. In 1982, Dez Skinn launched the anthology Warrior and brought back Marvelman, giving it to writer [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1304944713p2/3961.jpg]. This series continued until 1984, when it came to a stop amidst rumors Marvel Comics pressured Warrior to drop it because of the Marvelman name. In the early 90s, American publisher Eclipse bought the character rights and started reprinting the Warrior comics with the character renamed as Miracleman. They also continued the story with writer [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. This lasted until Eclipse went out of business in 1994. Then, in 2009, Marvel bought the rights to the character, and announced they were reprinting all the stories... and letting Gaiman write and publish the end of the saga.
So this first volume, collecting Miracleman issues 1-4, is a bit dated and distinctly British, but it is also the early work of graphic novel legends Moore and later, Gaiman, and it shows. The opening gambit, a Golden Age interpretation of Miracleman and his sidekicks had me quickly flipping through the book to make certain the entire run wasn't like that, but fear not, it isn't. It is just a brilliant way to contrast the way Miracleman is about to be handled going forward -- by turning everything the reader, and he himself, knows end over end. In a word, this comic is an early archetype of the subversive work Moore would later be known for.
This is not on the level of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649] or [b:The Sandman|23754|The Sandman, Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes (The Sandman #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358923255s/23754.jpg|1228437] -- at least not this first volume -- but it is unmistakably brilliant in its own right, so much so that [b:The New Avengers, Vol. 2: Sentry|105910|The New Avengers, Vol. 2 Sentry|Brian Michael Bendis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317302961s/105910.jpg|102091] basically stole Miracleman's origin for their Sentry character.
I do have one issue with this collection that does not relate to the comic run, and that is that this 176 page hardcover book is about a third filler material, some of which is the type of obligatory sketches almost always found at the end of most trade paperbacks, but there are also multiple comics at the end that do not feature Miracleman at all. So just be aware going in that this collection is a bit slimmer than you might initially expect. I guess Marvel has to make as many trade paperbacks as it can out of a 24-issue initial run. And, of course, I will run out and buy them all. Sigh.
When the U.S. stopped importing then-popular Captain Marvel to Britain in 1954, British publishers created their own knock-off, Marvelman, who was popular until U.S. comics import restrictions eased in the early 60s, causing Marvelman do disappear in 1963. In 1982, Dez Skinn launched the anthology Warrior and brought back Marvelman, giving it to writer [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1304944713p2/3961.jpg]. This series continued until 1984, when it came to a stop amidst rumors Marvel Comics pressured Warrior to drop it because of the Marvelman name. In the early 90s, American publisher Eclipse bought the character rights and started reprinting the Warrior comics with the character renamed as Miracleman. They also continued the story with writer [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]. This lasted until Eclipse went out of business in 1994. Then, in 2009, Marvel bought the rights to the character, and announced they were reprinting all the stories... and letting Gaiman write and publish the end of the saga.
So this first volume, collecting Miracleman issues 1-4, is a bit dated and distinctly British, but it is also the early work of graphic novel legends Moore and later, Gaiman, and it shows. The opening gambit, a Golden Age interpretation of Miracleman and his sidekicks had me quickly flipping through the book to make certain the entire run wasn't like that, but fear not, it isn't. It is just a brilliant way to contrast the way Miracleman is about to be handled going forward -- by turning everything the reader, and he himself, knows end over end. In a word, this comic is an early archetype of the subversive work Moore would later be known for.
This is not on the level of [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649] or [b:The Sandman|23754|The Sandman, Vol. 1 Preludes and Nocturnes (The Sandman #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358923255s/23754.jpg|1228437] -- at least not this first volume -- but it is unmistakably brilliant in its own right, so much so that [b:The New Avengers, Vol. 2: Sentry|105910|The New Avengers, Vol. 2 Sentry|Brian Michael Bendis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317302961s/105910.jpg|102091] basically stole Miracleman's origin for their Sentry character.
I do have one issue with this collection that does not relate to the comic run, and that is that this 176 page hardcover book is about a third filler material, some of which is the type of obligatory sketches almost always found at the end of most trade paperbacks, but there are also multiple comics at the end that do not feature Miracleman at all. So just be aware going in that this collection is a bit slimmer than you might initially expect. I guess Marvel has to make as many trade paperbacks as it can out of a 24-issue initial run. And, of course, I will run out and buy them all. Sigh.