Mister Miracle 3
From Barbelith
"Radio Bedlam"
Barbelith thread: Self = Dark Side (http://www.barbelith.com/topic/21563/from/245)
| Table of contents |
Background and General Commentary
Synopsis:
As Mister Miracle, Shilo Norman has always been the world's greatest Super Escape Artist, but now a new-comer called Baron Bedlam has arisen to challenge him to the title. Bedlam can copy all of Shilo's tricks and even ape his signature style, but underneath his slick and shiny surface he's a soulless shell. When the forces that have been conspiring to dismantle Shilo's life piece-by-piece stand revealed, will his soul have the strength to endure the despair-inducing power of Dark Side's Anti-Life Equation? ...And how can the soul go on when the body lies beaten and broken and the Enemy holds all the cards?
Annotations
| Featured Characters | Featured Locations |
|---|---|
|
Page 2
PANEL 1: "Who the hell is Baron Bedlam?"
Chad - "Baron Bedlam is a Caucasian maskless Mr. Miracle in classicly chosen 'supervillain colors'. Shall we discuss race and class again?"
Baron Bedlam's color scheme is an exact inversion of Mister Miracle's. Green for red, red for green, purple for yellow, et cetera. This approach to supervillain costume design has been used by other villains in the past, including Zoom, the Reverse Flash (http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/zoom.html).
Page 3
In the background of PANEL 3, you can see the headquarters of the Chase-Manhattan bank and Gaudi's Hotel Attraction. Both of these unbuilt architectural landmarks were first glimpsed in Seven Soldiers #0. The woman in this panel has had the Plastic People enameling process applied to her skin.
Page 5
PANEL 1: "I get back from a month in Paris, there's a storm eating up Florida, and the whole country's gone crazy!"
Jonelle is talking about Hurrican Gloria, the storm of epic proportions first mentioned in a television broadcast in Guardian #3.
The storm will reach Philadelphia in Frankenstein 3, and will be close enough to cause concern at Star Labs in Manhattan when Mister Miracle #4 rolls around.
PANEL 2: "Yeah, and what's that Flat $#*@ you're always breathing in?"
ZZ's glowing ball and it's psychedelic vapors first appeared in Mister Miracle #1, though without any explanation of what it really was at the time.
Mario - I can't think of any particular referent for the Flat in the Fourth World, But it occurs to me that if it shows the users "how things really are" it may actually show them that their universe IS flat. That is, two-dimensional. And about 6.5" by 10".
PANEL 3: "You have to stop seeing what's-her-name... Lashina. She's poison!"
Lashina is a Female Furie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_Furies).
Page 9
The big guy with a K on a necklace (and later on a shirt) might be Kalibak. The one in the grey clothing could be Grayven, but he does not keep to the grey clothing throughout.
Mario - Other possibilities include Bedlam (he has a goatee) and Glorious Godfrey (since he mentions a sister, and Godfrey's sister is Amazing Grace). The third fellow, with the baseball hat, could be one of a half-dozen possibilities, but I lean towards Kanto, Darkseid's court assassin.
Page 13
In PANELS 2-3, there's a guy on crutches and a woman with red hair. These are the human forms of Lightray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightray) and Jezebelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezebelle), as seen in Mister Miracle #2.
Page 14
In PANEL 1, Shilo is nearly run down by a gang of kids in a stolen taxi cab. The cab contains Klarion the Witch-Boy and the kid's gang known as the Deviants. This same moment was seen from a different perspective in Klarion #3.
In PANEL 2, Carla Marcus rejects the marriage proposal of Jake Jordan (a.k.a. The Manhattan Guardian.) This moment appears in flashback in Guardian 3.
Page 15
PANEL 4: "Manhattan Superhero Museum presents The New York Philharmonic's performance of 'Heroica'"
Manhattan's Museum of Superheroes appears in Klarion 3. Klarion and the Deviants are on their way to rob the Museum at this very moment.
Page 22
Ldones - "Also, as we pull out after that brutal scene, that's Hurricane Gloriana (last mentioned in Guardian #3) hitting Florida and heading up the coast."
In PANEL 5, Hurricane Gloria is visible from space as it hits the coast of Florida.
Page 24
PANEL 1: "The Life Trap has you in it's grip."
"And there's only one way out..."
The two guys on the last page are the human forms of Orion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28comics%29) and Lightray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightray) ...New Gods in disguise.
Back to Mister Miracle
Back to Seven Soldiers Annotations
