Cover: Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

Mister Miracle #15

Aug 1973 · DC · 0.20 USD

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“The Secret Gun”

★ 1st appearance — Shilo Norman

About this Issue

Mister Miracle #15 delivers the first appearance of Shilo Norman, a young Black orphan from the streets of Metropolis who would eventually grow into the third character to carry the Mister Miracle name — making it one of the most consequential debut issues in Jack Kirby's Fourth World mythology. The issue arrived at a pivotal editorial crossroads: the New Gods and Forever People titles had already been canceled, and Kirby was quietly recalibrating his surviving flagship into a more self-contained superhero book while still seeding long-term legacy. Shilo's introduction proved to be one of Kirby's most enduring creative gifts to DC's future, as the character was later elevated by Grant Morrison into a central figure in the Seven Soldiers of Victory metaseries (2005–2006) and Final Crisis (2008), cementing his importance across decades of DC cosmic storytelling. The issue also marks the first appearance of Lt. Solomon Driver, a Metropolis cop who hands Shilo into Scott Free's protective custody and thus sets the entire mentorship arc in motion.

writer, artist Jack Kirby · inker, letterer Mike Royer · cover Jack Kirby, Mike Royer

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $8

CGC 9.8 · 14 in census $504

CGC 9.6 · 24 in census $124

CGC 9.4 · 14 in census $70

CGC 9.2 · 9 in census $61*

CGC 9.0 · 13 in census $50*

CGC 8.5 · 7 in census $40

Show all 19 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 6 in census $37*

CGC 7.5 · 6 in census $33*

CGC 7.0 · 4 in census $28*

CGC 6.5 · 2 in census $25*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $24*

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $20

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 none in existence

CGC 2.5 none in existence

CGC 2.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

By mid-1973, Jack Kirby was functioning as writer, penciler, and editor of Mister Miracle simultaneously — an unusual degree of creative control he held on this title above almost any other work in his career. With the companion Fourth World titles already shuttered by DC due to perceived poor sales, Kirby pivoted the series away from its grand cosmic tapestry toward more grounded, street-level adventure stories, and issue #15 reflects that shift: it is set almost entirely on Earth, with the New Gods mythology present only in the subtext of Scott Free and Big Barda's domestic lives. Mike Royer, Kirby's trusted collaborator on the late Fourth World run, handled the inks and lettering, while Steve Sherman — a young assistant who worked in Kirby's studio — shared editorial credit. The story's title, 'The Real Big Barda,' gestures at Barda's prominence, though the true narrative engine is the arrival of Shilo, whom Kirby reportedly designed wearing a costume reminiscent of Sandy the Golden Boy, a character Kirby himself had co-created back in the 1940s.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Shilo Norman, a young Black street orphan from Metropolis who would eventually become the third Mister Miracle; he was created entirely by Jack Kirby.
First appearance of Lt. Solomon Driver, a Metropolis police officer who places Shilo in the protective custody of Scott Free and Big Barda after witnessing the gang violence surrounding the boy.
First appearance of Mister Fez, the crime boss whose gang murdered Shilo's brother Aaron and whose pursuit of Shilo drives the plot of the issue.
Written, penciled, and covered by Jack Kirby, with inks and lettering by Mike Royer; Steve Sherman shared editorial credit with Kirby — one of the most creator-controlled packages in Kirby's DC tenure.
Cover-dated September 1973 (published July 1973); the issue appeared just after New Gods and Forever People had both been canceled at issue #11, leaving Mister Miracle as the sole surviving Fourth World title.
The story's title is 'The Real Big Barda,' and Barda's physical prowess — she predicts Shilo will sneak out and follow him to Fez's lair — is central to resolving the issue's conflict.
Shilo Norman's story was retold and vastly expanded by Grant Morrison in the Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle four-issue miniseries (2005), which served as a direct narrative lead-in to Final Crisis (2008); in Final Crisis, Shilo is a key human link to the New Gods' conflict with Darkseid.
The entire Kirby run of Mister Miracle #1–18 (including this issue) has been collected multiple times, most notably in Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 4 (2008) and the 1,536-page Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus (2017), published in honor of Kirby's centennial.