Mister Miracle #1

The opening issue of Tom King and Mitch Gerads' twelve-part series arrives with a cover by Nick Derington that immediately establishes its unsettling tone: Scott Free, in his red-and-green Mister Miracle costume, is bound by an elaborate web of mechanical clamps and chains on a theatrical stage bathed in deep crimson light, while a silhouetted audience watches from below. It's a striking image — the world's greatest escape artist utterly restrained, every limb locked in place — that perfectly captures the tension between spectacle and helplessness at the heart of this mature-rated series. If you've been waiting for a DC book with genuine emotional weight and craft, this first issue is a very compelling place to start.