Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1

DC Comics 2021

Written by Brandon Easton

Illustrated by Fico Ossio

Coloured by Rico Renzi

Lettered by Rob Leigh

Spinning out of DC Future State, the story of how Shilo Norman became the Mister Miracle of tomorrow starts here.

The Mister Miracle show used to be the hottest ticket in town, whether you caught him onstage escaping from perilous traps or spotted him on the streets of Metropolis taking out bad guys. What Shilo Norman forgot is the first rule of both showbiz and super-heroing: always leave them wanting more. Now it’s time to start showing the world what a miracle man can do. Showbiz/superhero rule #2: timing is everything. There’s a new performer in town who wants to knock Mister Miracle off his pedestal and stake a claim to his famous moniker! Can Shilo break free of this trap? (Why yes, that is a clue.)

It has been a while since we’ve seen Shiloh and I have to say it’s rather nice to see him taking centre stage once again. What Brandon is doing here is utterly brilliant in terms of storytelling and bringing to life what it means to be a black man in a costume in today’s world. Part of me empathises with his decision to remain hidden behind the mask while other parts of me agrees with Vito that by letting the world know who he is there is the fight against racism or at least opens more avenues of discussion about it regarding superheroes today.

The way that this is being told really is utterly brilliant. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. The character development is phenomenal! With the dialogue, character interaction and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter fleshing them out as real human beings is just beyond comprehension. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages the reader becomes incredibly involved and engaged in what we see.

I am super impressed with the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. That these layers all seem to run int he same vein is no coincidence it’s designed that way to garner the maximum impact on the reader, make the think, engage their minds and relate to what we see in today’s world climate. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved to perfection.

The interiors here are bloody gorgeous. The linework that we see is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level of quality in the detail work is truly astonishing. That backgrounds are incorporated into the composition within the panels to create the depth perception, sens of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is mindbogglingly good. That a lot of the imagery we see is literally ripped out of today’s headlines makes what we se that much more powerful and meaningful and really packs a wallop like you wouldn’t believe. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is phenomenal! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant eye for understanding just how colour works.

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This is the perfect demonstration of how a comic book can tell socially relevant stories that start discussions on race and inequality which is highly reminiscent of the old Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. Powerful, poignant and above and beyond what you could possibly hope for this is a sensational piece of storytelling and it’s only just getting started.