It's a Miracle...Man! Article by aviewaskewed, 02:10 PM 27th Sep Rich Johnston posted up his Lying in the Gutters rumor column today, there will be at least one more post with info from it, but here's the lead and potentially biggest story to come out of it, this is directly from Johnston, because there's just too much there for little ol me to summarize: The Marvelman/Miracleman rumours kicked up a notch with Bowen Design's reporting on their website of a new statue, in association with Marvels & Miracles. The article, first pulled then revived on their website, originally stated that Marvelman the series would relaunch again from Marvel in December. While clarification of such a schedule is news, some people seem surprised that this is happening at all. I don't know why - maybe it's worth going over old ground and clarifying the current situation. Marvel have repeatedly stated their intention to publish Marvelman, the series created by Alan Moore, Garry Leach and Dez Skinn, based on the popular 1950's British superhero comic, itself based on the Fawcett Captain Marvel series. The revival appeared first in "Warrior," an anthology magazine by Dez Skinn that not only brought Alan Moore to prominence with "Marvelman," "V For Vendetta" and "BoJeffries Saga," but also gave opportunities for increased exposure to the likes of Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Grant Morrison, Brian Bolland and more. When Eclipse published the series in the USA, they continued the story to its natural conclusion, then saw Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham continue in a very different style. Neil Gaiman has committed himself to clarifying the publishing situation, which became very complex when Eclipse went bankrupt and potential owners of the 1950s series began to emerge. Profits from Marvels's "1602" series written by Gaiman went to his company Marvels & Miracles LLC, as will proceeds from the case against Todd McFarlane. Indeed that latter case clarified a much supported rumour that Todd's supposed ownership of Marvelman/Miracleman was based on an Eclipse contract he acquired when he bought the company - but that it had a reversion clause that returned ownership to previous owners. As it stands, that would give Marvels & Miracles LLC controlling 30% (Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham's rights), Garry Leach kingmaking with 60% (Alan Davis having granted any and all of his right to the character to Leach) and 10% back to publisher Dez Skinn. All creators on the series, from Alan Moore to Chuck Austen, own the rights to the work they created for the series. After Bendis Board poster Mike Black discovered the Bowen Statue listing, the Bendis Board took it upon themselves to claim that Marvelman must be the shock appearance character at the end of the current Avengers arc - a story that Bendis wasn't publically denying - but that Gaiman did. As to the Bowen stated schedule, Previews didn't list "Marvelman" the series for December from Marvel, and talking to Neil Gaiman I'm assured that there are no current publishing schedules or format for the series. Yet. However, his lawyer Ken F Levin, heavily involved with Marvels & Miracles, stated in a mistaken email to 'TheHistorianII' on the Marvel Masterworks Message Board that "We will know next week when Marvel will start publishing." Miracle Man is one of the most lauded series ever created (and if you know ANYTHING about the talent listed in the above post, you can see why). It has been unreprintable for a little over a decade because of these rights issues, but since the series under Gaiman was NOT finished, and Gaiman purportedly, by his own admission, HAS one more (possibly two, I'm not entirely sure the number, but I'm positive it's no higher then two) more issue(s) of the series complete, and I believe that would make it a wrap. Stay tuned as I'll have more on this when I can dredge it up. Back to The Endless Crew