Comic Review: Mister Miracle #10

Mister Miracle #10

DC Comics

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Mitch Gerads

The walls are closing in and the Free family is beginning to crack. Whatever is left of Scott’s sanity is starting to fade, and Funky Freshman has a new totally original comic series that will totally be a hit. I mean it’s got Batman in it, who doesn’t like Batman? Everybody loves Batman, I mean just look at his comic sales.

Reeling in from last months issue, Scott and Barda are faced with one of the most difficult and gut-wrenching choices of their life: to give up their only son to Darkseid or to let New Genesis slowly get defeated by the hordes of Apokolips. Truly a lose/lose scenario, something Mister Miracle may not be able to escape from. King continues to produce the feeling of dread and despair through each page and it really does feel like time is running out. Now that we finally know what the endgame is for the series, it now feels like it’s 5 minutes to midnight. Sure throughout this series, there was this feeling of uncertainty and hopelessness, and that Scott’s life was going to end. But now that we know it’s his beloved child’s life, and possibly his marriage is on the line, we really do feel the pressure.

I’ve been enjoying this series, but I can’t say that it hasn’t made me feel depressed out of my mind. As I stated with some other Tom King works, he really shines with mini-series rather than a big long series like his Batman run, (a run I am still currently been following and have noticed how it degraded it quality over time). Mister Miracle is a character I was familiar with but not crazy about and I’ve found this series to be interesting. Now I wouldn’t classify this series as the definitive series, it’s another one of ‘Tom King takes another somewhat upbeat character and makes their life a living hell’ series. And, again because it’s a mini-series, I think it works. King shines better with smaller contained stories and I think he works better with not A-lister characters. (Now please, longtime Mister Miracle and Vision fans I’m truly sorry if I’ve triggered anyone, I’ve always classed those two as high ranking B-listers, so don’t kill me)

This story is like a really emotional driven soap opera with colorful costumes and superpowers in the background. I’ve been able to connect with Scott and Barda more because of their character based moments throughout this series. You can really feel the pressure the two of them are under and it’s understandable how each of them feels because of the different scenarios they are facing. Scott is now the leader of New Genesis, responsible for so many lives in a war that is taking heavy tolls. Not only that, he has a year old son who is the subject of a peace treaty for Darkseid. But is all as it seems? Throughout the series, we have a number of moments where the panels become fuzzy as if reality is being altered in some way, along with dreading panels only stating “DARKSEID IS”.

Mitch Gerads work is still very good, however, I am getting a bit annoyed over the 9-panel grid format that King has been fond of. Like, I get it, 9 grid format is good and all but it works best when used correctly. Gerads seems to use the format and just copy and paste a number of times which makes some pages feel a little pointless and don’t really carry too much weight. But a minor complaint really.

We’re in the endgame now and I can’t wait to see how the final 2 issues wrap up. Fortunately, without spoiling, there’s a glimmer of hope with our heroes but can Mister Miracle really escape his fate? Be sure to read on folks.