Mister Miracle #1

History

After years of creative frustration at Marvel, Kirby negotiated a deal with DC that gave him full writer-artist-editor control over a suite of new titles, and Mister Miracle #1 — on sale January 14, 1971 — was the sixth (or seventh, depending on how simultaneous releases are counted) installment of that project. According to Kirby's then-assistant Mark Evanier, Kirby had originally planned to hand the book off to Steve Ditko after a few issues, with Evanier scripting, but DC publisher Carmine Infantino vetoed the arrangement and required Kirby to handle all creative duties himself. A production wrinkle further distinguishes the first issue: DC's coloring department chose a purple costume for Scott Free's interiors over Kirby's preference for red; Kirby pushed back too late to alter the printed pages, though the change to the now-standard red, yellow, and green palette did make it onto the cover, and correct coloring appeared in subsequent issues. The escape-artist concept itself was inspired, per Evanier, by the real-world escapology career of comics creator Jim Steranko, a friend of Kirby's.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Scott Free (Mister Miracle), the New God son of Highfather of New Genesis, who escaped Apokolips and adopted the identity of a human escape artist.
• First appearance and death of Thaddeus Brown, Earth's original Mister Miracle, a circus escape artist who is murdered by a sniper working for Inter-Gang boss Steel Hand within this same issue.
• First appearance of Oberon, the diminutive stage manager and assistant to Thaddeus Brown, who immediately transfers his loyalty to Scott Free at the issue's close.
• Written, drawn, and edited entirely by Jack Kirby; cover inked by Vince Colletta, who also inked early interior issues.
• The story is titled 'Murder Missile Trap!' and is deliberately earthbound — Inter-Gang provides the only overt connection to the broader Fourth World mythology, with Darkseid unmentioned.
• Interior costume coloring error: Scott Free's costume appears purple throughout the interiors of issue #1 rather than the red that Kirby intended; the corrected red costume appears on the cover and in all subsequent issues.
• The series ran 18 issues in its original incarnation (April 1971 – February/March 1974), making it the longest-lasting of the core Fourth World titles; New Gods and Forever People were each cancelled after 11 issues.
• Issue #1 has been reprinted multiple times, including in Countdown Special: The New Gods #1 (2008), Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007/2011), and the standalone Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle collection (1998, 2017).

Cast · 4 characters

Full credits

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers

Key issues in Mister Miracle

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#4 1st appearance — Big Barda

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#2 1st appearance — Granny Goodness