Mister Miracle in The Source of Freedom #2

Mister Miracle in The Source of Freedom #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Brandon Easton

Illustrated by Fico Ossio

Coloured by Rico Renzi

Lettered by Rob Leigh

After the shocking events of issue #1, Shilo is suddenly on the run from a powerful new enemy who believes the Mister Miracle mantle belongs to them. With his career in shambles, his apartment destroyed, and no real understanding of what’s happening, Shilo must fight his way out of an unwinnable situation and track down secrets held by his mentor and friend, the first Mister Miracle, Thaddeus Brown!

Well I have no idea what Earth this is on but I do know it isn’t Earth 1 or whatever the current main Earth is. We know this because on that Earth Shilo was trained by Scott and was given the mantle with his blessing and what we learn here is that this Shilo doesn’t even know who he or Barda are. My guess would be Earth 23 but that’s just a shot in the dark. That right off the bat this is what I’m thinking about means that I am invested and engaged in this book to a very high degree. Which by the way is absolutely stunning in my humble opinion.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development is amazing thanks to the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story along with the twists & turns keep the reader riveted to the story.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured as well as how the layers within the story continue to emerge, evolve and strengthen. It is within the layers where a lot of the strong characterisation takes place as well as how we see the reaction to his identity being partially revealed on telly and through public opinion. These bits add extra depth and complexity to the story in such a great manner. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

I am absolutely loving the interior artwork here. The linework is exquisitely laid down and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level and quality in the detail work is astonishingly well rendered. We do see some amazing use of backgrounds and when they aren’t it’s really all about the composition within the panels as they all work together to bring us the depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a magnificent eye for storytelling. The colour work is bloody brilliant! The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a master colourists eye. The way the colours pop and how they are laid down, the gradation in particular is amazing to see on these pages, are expertly rendered.

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Shilo has always been a good solid character but we never did get to see a lot of him so that this focuses on him and what he can do is absolutely delightful. With his Mother Box and the appearance of N’Vir Free the story is only just getting started and it’ll be rather interesting to learn where she comes from and why she is going after anyone wearing the Miracle mantle who isn’t related to Scott Free. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and I cannot wait to find out what that is. With some stupendous writing and outstanding interiors this will engage you in ways that are unexpected and yet oh so fun to explore.