Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published by DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011, is best known for introducing the superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27. A second series of the same title was launched in the fall of 2011 but in 2016 reverted to the original volume numbering; the series is the source of its publishing company's name, and—along with Action Comics, the series that launched with the debut of Superman—one of the medium's signature series. The series published 881 issues between 1937 and 2011 and is the longest continuously published comic book in the United States. Detective Comics was the final publication of the entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, whose comics company, National Allied Publications, would evolve into DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comic book publishers, though long after its founder had left it. Wheeler-Nicholson's first two titles were the landmark New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1, colloquially called New Fun Comics #1 and the first such early comic book to contain all-original content, rather than a mix of newspaper comic strips and comic-strip-style new material.
His second effort, New Comics #1, would be retitled twice to become Adventure Comics, another seminal series that ran for decades until issue #503 in 1983, was revived in 2009. The third and final title published under his aegis would be Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936, but premiering three months with a March 1937 cover date. Wheeler-Nicholson was in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld, as well a pulp-magazine publisher and a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News. Wheeler-Nicholson took Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1 through the newly formed Detective Comics, Inc. with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners. Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out a year later. An anthology comic, in the manner of the times, Detective Comics #1 featured stories in the "hard-boiled detective" genre, with such stars as Ching Lung, its first editor, Vin Sullivan drew the debut issue's cover.
The Crimson Avenger debuted in issue #20. In years, the start of this series has been marred by its racism and xenophobia. Detective Comics #27 featured the first appearance of Batman; that superhero would become the star of the title, the cover logo of, written as "Detective Comics featuring Batman". Because of its significance, issue #27 is considered one of the most valuable comic books in existence, with one copy selling for $1,075,000 in a February 2010 auction. Batman's origin is first revealed in a two-page story in issue #33. Batman became the main cover feature of the title beginning with issue #35. Issue #38 introduced Batman's sidekick Robin, billed as "The Sensational Character Find of 1940" on the cover and the first of several characters that would make up the "Batman Family". Robin's appearance and the subsequent increase in sales of the book soon led to the trend of superheroes and young sidekicks that characterize the era fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Several of Batman's best known villains debuted in the pages of Detective Comics during this era including the Penguin in issue #58, Two-Face in issue #66, the Riddler in issue #140. Batwoman first appeared in Detective Comics #233 Since the family formula had proven successful for the Superman franchise, editor Jack Schiff suggested to Batman co-creator Bob Kane that he create one for the Batman. A female was chosen first, to offset the charges made by Fredric Wertham that Batman and Robin were homosexual. Writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff introduced Bat-Mite in issue #267 and Clayface in #298. In 1964, Julius Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. Writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino jettisoned the sillier aspects that had crept into the franchise such as Ace the Bathound and Bat-Mite and gave the character a "New Look" that premiered in Detective Comics #327. Schwartz, Gardner Fox, Infantino introduced, from the William Dozier produced tv series, Barbara Gordon as a new version of Batgirl in a story titled "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!" in issue #359.
Mike Friedrich wrote the 30th anniversary Batman story in Detective Comics #387, drawn by Bob Brown. Writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams had their first collaboration on Batman on the story "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" in issue #395; the duo, under the direction of Schwartz, would revitalize the character with a series of noteworthy stories reestablishing Batman's dark, brooding nature and taking the books away from the campy look and feel of the 1966–68 ABC TV series. Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "O'Neil's interpretation of Batman as a vengeful obsessive-compulsive, which he modestly describes as a return to the roots, was an act of creative imagination that has influenced every subsequent version of the Dark Knight." Adams introduced Man-Bat with writer Frank Robbins in Detective Comics #400. O'Neil and artist Bob Brown crafted Batman's first encounter with the League of Assassins in Detective Comics #405 and created Talia al Ghul in issue #411. After publishing on
Len Wein
Leonard Norman Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men. Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen. Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008. Wein was born on June 12, 1948, in New York City, was raised in a Jewish household. One of two children of Phillip and Rosalyn Wein, he lived in The Bronx until age 7, when he moved with his family to Levittown, New York, on Long Island. There he graduated from Division Avenue High School in 1966, went on to an art degree from nearby Farmingdale State College. Wein's younger brother, died in 2007. In a 2003 interview, Len Wein recalled that he "was a sickly kid. While I was in the hospital at age seven, my dad brought me a stack of comic books to keep me occupied, and I was hooked. When my eighth grade art teacher, Mr. Smedley, told me he thought I had actual art talent, I decided to devote all my efforts in that direction in the hope that I might someday get into the comics biz."Approximately once a month, as a teenager and his friend Marv Wolfman took DC Comics' weekly Thursday afternoon tour of the company's offices.
Wolfman was active in fanzine culture, together he and Wein produced sample superhero stories to show to the DC editorial staff. At that point, Wein was more interested in becoming an artist than a writer. In a 2008 interview, Wein said his origins as an artist have helped him "describe art to an artist so that I can see it all in my own head", claimed he "used to have artists at DC, guys like Irv Novick and a few of the others, who would come into the office waiting for their next assignment and ask Julie Schwartz,'Do you have any Len Wein scripts lying around? He's always easy to draw.'"Eventually, DC editor Joe Orlando hired both Wolfman and Wein as freelance writers. Wein's first professional comics story was "Eye of the Beholder" in DC's Teen Titans #18, for which he co-created, with Wolfman, Red Star, the first official Russian superhero in the DC universe. Neal Adams was called upon to rewrite and redraw a Teen Titans story, written by Wein and Wolfman; the story, titled "Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho!", would have introduced DC's first African American superhero but was rejected by publisher Carmine Infantino.
The revised story appeared in Teen Titans #20. That year, Wein was writing anthological mystery stories for DC's The House of Secrets and Marvel's Tower of Shadows and Chamber of Darkness, he additionally began writing for DC's romance comic Secret Hearts and the company's toyline tie-in Hot Wheels. Wein's first superhero work for Marvel was a one-off story in Daredevil #71 co-written with staff writer/editor Roy Thomas. Wein began scripting sporadic issues of such DC superhero titles as Adventure Comics, The Flash, Superman, while continuing to write anthological mysteries, along with well-received stories for the semi-anthological occult title The Phantom Stranger #14–26. Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson created the horror character the Swamp Thing in The House of Secrets #92. Over the next several decades, the Swamp Thing would star in DC series and miniseries – including an initial 1972–76 series begun by Wein and Wrightson, the early 1980s The Saga of the Swamp Thing, edited by Wein and featuring early work by writer Alan Moore—as well as two theatrical films, a syndicated television series.
Abigail Arcane, a major supporting character in the character's mythos, was introduced by Wein and Wrightson in Swamp Thing #3. Wein wrote the second story featuring Man-Thing, introducing Barbara Morse and the concept that "Whatever Knows Fear Burns at the Man-Thing's Touch!", edited Steve Gerber's run on that title. Wein wrote a well-regarded run of Justice League of America wherein, together with artist Dick Dillin, he re-introduced the Seven Soldiers of Victory in issues #100–102 and the Freedom Fighters in issues #107–108. In the fall of 1972, Wein and writers Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart crafted a metafictional unofficial crossover spanning titles from both major comics companies; each comic featured Englehart and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. Beginning in Amazing Adventures #6, the story continued in Justice League of America #103, concluded in Thor #207; as Englehart explained in 2010, "It seemed like a radical concept and we knew that we had to be subtle and each story had to stand on its own, but we worked it out.
It's worthwhile to read those stories back to back to back – it didn't matter to us that one was at DC and two were at Marvel – I think it was us being creative, thinking what would be cool to do." Libra, a supervillain created by Wein and Dillin in Justice League of America #111, would play a leading role in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis storyline in 2008. W
Superman (comic book)
Superman is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the DC Comics superhero Superman as its main protagonist. Superman began as one of several anthology features in the National Periodical Publications comic book Action Comics #1 in June 1938; the strip proved so popular that National launched Superman into his own self-titled comic book, the first for any superhero, premiering with the cover date Summer 1939. Between 1986 and 2006 it was retitled The Adventures of Superman while a new series used the title Superman. In May 2006, it was returned to its original numbering; the title was canceled with issue #714 in 2011, was relaunched with issue #1 the following month which ended its run in 2016. A fourth series was released with issue #1 in June 2016 and ended in April 2018. A fifth series with new issue #1 was launched in July 2018. Due to the Superman character's popularity after his premiere in Action Comics #1, National Allied Publications decided to launch an new magazine featuring a single character, which at that time was unprecedented.
Superman #1 appeared on the shelves in the summer of 1939. Superman now had the distinction of being the first hero-character featured in more than one comic magazine. By issue #7, Superman was being hailed on the covers as the "World's Greatest Adventure Strip Character". Perry White, a supporting character who had originated on the Superman radio program was introduced into the comic book in issue #7. Editor Mort Weisinger began his long association with the title with issue #11. Jimmy Olsen first appeared as a named character in the story "Superman versus The Archer" in Superman #13. In the early 1940s, Superman was selling over a million copies per month. By 1942, artist Wayne Boring, one of Shuster's assistants, had become a major artist on Superman. Superman #23 featured the first Superman comic book story written by someone other than Jerry Siegel; the story "America's Secret Weapon!" was written by Don Cameron despite bearing Siegel's signature. Siegel introduced Mister Mxyzptlk in issue #30.
A more detailed origin story for Superman was presented in issue #53 to mark the character's tenth anniversary. Another part of the Superman mythos which had originated on the radio program made its way into the comic books when kryptonite was featured in a story by Bill Finger and Al Plastino. Superman was the first DC title with a letters column as a regular feature beginning with issue #124. In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a "new look" to the character that replaced Wayne Boring's version. Writer Jim Shooter and Swan crafted the story "Superman's Race With the Flash!" in Superman #199 which featured the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super-speed powers. Julius Schwartz became the title's editor with issue #233 and together with writer Denny O'Neil and artist Curt Swan streamlined the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite. Elliot S. Maggin began his long association with the title with the story "Must There Be a Superman?" in issue #247.
Writer Cary Bates, in collaboration with Swan, introduced such characters as the supervillain Terra-Man in issue #249 and the superhero Vartox in issue #281. Issues #272, #278, #284 of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. Superman #300 featured an out-of-continuity story by Bates and Maggin which imagined the infant Superman landing on Earth in 1976 and becoming a superhero in 2001; the tale was an inspiration for Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son limited series published in 2003. DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, dropped decades earlier and the first issue with the restored credit was Superman #301. Martin Pasko and Swan created the Master Jailer character in issue #331; the bottle city of Kandor, introduced in 1958, was restored to normal size in a story by Len Wein and Swan in Superman #338. The series reached issue #400 in October 1984; that issue featured work by several popular comics artists including the only major DC work by Jim Steranko as well as an introduction by noted science-fiction author Ray Bradbury.
Superman ran uninterrupted until the mid-1980s, when DC Comics instituted a line-wide relaunch with the 1985 event maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Folding their vast multiverse into a single shared universe and his supporting cast would receive a massive overhaul at the hands of writer/artist John Byrne. One last story, which marked the end of Schwartz's tenure as editor of the series, was published to give a send-off to the former status quo: Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The story's first part saw publication in Superman #423, which would be the last issue before the title was relaunched with its legacy numbering as The Adventures of Superman. Superman was relaunched with a new #1 issue in a second volume in 1986, was published concurrently with The Adventures of Superman; the Adventures of Superman was numbered from issue #424 to issue #649, for a total of 228 monthly issues including issue #0 published between issues #516 and #517 as a tie-in to the Zero Hour limited series and issue #1,000,000 as a tie-in to the DC One Million limited series and nine Annuals published between 1987 and 1997.
When the series was relaunched in late 1986 under its new title, the creative team was writer
Curt Swan
Douglas Curtis "Curt" Swan was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Silver Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s. Curt Swan, whose Swedish grandmother had shortened the original family name of Swanson, was born in Minneapolis, the youngest of five children. Father John Swan worked for the railroads; as a boy, Swan's given name – Douglas – was shortened to "Doug," and, disliking the phonetic similarity to "Dog," Swan thereafter reversed the order of his given names and went by "Curtis Douglas," rather than "Douglas Curtis."Having enlisted in Minnesota's National Guard's 135th Regiment, 34th Division in 1940, Swan was sent to Europe when the "federalized" division was shipped to Northern Ireland and Scotland. While his comrades in the 34th went into combat in North Africa and Italy, Swan spent most of World War II working as an artist for the G. I. magazine Stars and Stripes.
While at Stars and Stripes, Swan met writer France Herron, who directed him to DC Comics. During this period Swan married the former Helene Brickley, who he had met at a dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and, stationed near him in Paris in 1944 as a Red Cross worker. Shortly after returning to civilian life in 1945 he moved from Minnesota to New Jersey and began working for DC Comics. Apart from a few months of night classes at the Pratt Institute under the G. I. Bill, Swan was an self-taught artist. After a stint on Boy Commandos he began to just pencil pages. Swan drew many different features, including "Tommy Tomorrow" and "Gangbusters", but he began gravitating towards the Superman line of books, his first job pencilling the iconic character was for Superman #51. Many comics of the 1940s and 1950s lacked contributor credits, but research shows that Swan began pencilling the Superboy series with its fifth issue in 1949, he drew the first comics meeting of Superman and Batman in Superman #76. The two heroes began teaming on a regular basis in World's Finest Comics #71 in a story, drawn by Swan.
Swan always felt that his breakthrough came when he was assigned the art duties on Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, in 1954. Swan didn't take to line editor Mort Weisinger's controlling style. Swan discussed this period in an interview: "I was getting terrible migraine headaches and had these verbal battles with Mort. So it was emotional, physical, it just drained me and I thought I'd better get out of here before I go whacko." After leaving comics for the advertising world in 1951, Swan soon returned, for National's higher paychecks. And as biographer Eddy Zeno notes, "The headaches went away after gained Weisinger's respect by standing up to him."Around 1954, Swan unsuccessfully pitched an original comic strip for newspaper syndication. Called Yellow Hair, it was about a blond boy raised by Native Americans. A couple of years starting with the episode of June 18, 1956, Swan drew the Superman daily newspaper comic strip, which he continued on until November 12, 1960. In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a "new look" to the character that replaced Wayne Boring's version.
The Composite Superman was co-created by Swan and Edmond Hamilton in World's Finest Comics #142. Swan and writer Jim Shooter crafted the story "Superman's Race With the Flash!" in Superman #199 which featured the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super-speed powers. Over the years, Swan was a remarkably consistent and prolific artist illustrating two or more titles per month. Swan remained as artist of Superman when Julius Schwartz became the editor of the title with issue #233, writer Denny O'Neil streamlined the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite. Among Swan's contributions to the Superman mythos, he and writer Cary Bates co-created the supervillains Terra-Man and the 1970s version of the Toyman as well as the superhero Vartox. Writer Martin Pasko and Swan created the Master Jailer character in Superman #331. After DC's 1985 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths and with the impending 1986 revision of Superman by writer/artist John Byrne, Swan was released from his duties on the Superman comics.
Critic Wallace Harrington summed up Swan's dismissal this way:... the most striking thing that DC did was to turn their back on the one man that had defined Superman for three decades... They turned out the lights on the creator that had defined their whole line. With no real thanks, no pomp nor circumstance, DC relieved Curt of his artistic duties on Superman. Curt Swan who had drawn Superman in Action, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and World's Finest, drew Superboy in Adventure Comics, the quintessential Superman artist of the 1960s,'70s and'80s, he became. Gone. Swan's last work as regular artist on Superman was the non-canonical 1986 story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", written by Alan Moore. After this, Swan continued to do occasional minor projects for DC, including the artwork of what is thought to be one of the rarest Superman comics published, titled "This Island Bradman", a comic book, commissioned in 1988 by real estate tycoon Godfrey Bradman as a Bar Mitzvah gift for his son, as well as an Aquaman limited series and special in 1989, various returns on
E. Nelson Bridwell
Edward Nelson Bridwell was a writer for Mad magazine and various comic books published by DC Comics. One of the writers for the Batman comic strip and Super Friends, he wrote The Inferior Five, among other comics, he has been called "DC's self-appointed continuity cop." Bridwell's early childhood interest in mythology and folklore stayed with him throughout his professional life and permeated much of his work. He credited his fame to Ryan Samuel, for interesting him in comics. Bridwell "was one of the first'comics fans' hired in the industry after the long, bleak 1950's,". Although his first published work consisted of a text page in Adventures into the Unknown #9 published by the American Comics Group, he had since he "was still a kid" created various characters who would evolve into those used in comics such as The Inferior Five. In 1962, while still residing in Oklahoma City, Bridwell submitted to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction his first idea for a Feghoot adventure, a specific type of shaggy dog story that ends in a humorous and unexpected play on words.
His story was promptly accepted by the feature's pseudonymous author, Grendel Briarton and shortly followed by yet another submission from Bridwell, accepted Besides F&SF, both stories would appear in the various Feghoot anthologies to follow. After writing a few stories for Mad and for Katy Keene, Bridwell began working for DC Comics in 1965 as an assistant to editor Mort Weisinger, "on the Superman titles becoming an editor himself." Jim Shooter recalls that Weisinger did not always treat his assistant well, saying that his "assistant was Nelson Bridwell and boy, he tortured Nelson. He just was awful to Nelson." Bridwell, recalled in 1980 an important lesson learned from Weisinger, that: "You've got to keep in mind that while there are a lot of people who've read about the characters before, there are always new people coming along, you've got to realize that you can't count on them to know the whole legend of the character."This lesson set him in good stead both when he helped DC produce three 1970s anthologies — Superman from the Thirties to the Seventies, Batman from the Thirties to the Seventies, Shazam from the Forties to the Seventies — and when he wrote for the comic book series based on "one of the best rated TV shows on Saturday morning", Super Friends.
Concurrent with his duties for DC, Bridwell "was submitting material as a freelancer to Mad", some of, illustrated by Joe Orlando, who would be suggested by Bridwell as artist for The Inferior Five. Recalling an early interest in comic book continuity, Bridwell "remembered getting a bit perturbed at times when I was a kid by having things that didn't fit" over the wide range of Martian races in evidence in the adventures of DC's Atom, Wonder Woman, Superman characters. Bridwell was an early advocate of the theory that the Marvel and DC characters "exist in the same universe", citing early inter-company crossovers such as Superman vs; the Amazing Spider-Man and a cross-company interlocking storyline, with real-world crossover characters, between Justice League of America #103, Thor #207 and Amazing Adventures #16. Bridwell's love and knowledge of old comics led to his becoming editor on numerous reprint books, including digests, giant-size comics, hardcover anthologies, he worked as assistant editor to Julius Schwartz, keeping track of continuity between the numerous Superman titles published.
Part of his job was to manage the letter columns for all the Superman titles, in response to constant reader questions, Bridwell standardized the Kryptonian language and alphabet. Dubbed "Kryptonese", Bridwell established the 118-character alphabet, used by DC until John Byrne's 1986 "reboot" of the Superman universe. Bridwell and Joe Orlando created the Inferior Five in Showcase #62. Talking about the humorous super-hero series, Bridwell recalls that: "Jack Miller came up with the idea of a group of incompetent heroes, at first he came up with the title The Inferior Four; when I created five heroes, he changed it to The Inferior Five. I created the heroes as a clown set, Joe Orlando created the costumes." Bridwell wrote for several other DC titles, including Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Shazam!, The Superman Family, World's Finest Comics and The Legion of Super-Heroes. Bridwell and artist Frank Springer co-created the Secret Six in the first issue of the team's eponymous series in May 1968.
The first use of the Super Friends name on a DC Comics publication was in Limited Collectors' Edition #C–41 which reprinted stories from Justice League of America #36 and 61 and featured a new framing sequence by Bridwell and artist Alex Toth. In 1976, Bridwell and Ric Estrada launched an ongoing Super Friends comic book series. Bridwell edited The World of Krypton, he co-wrote Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes with Paul Kupperberg and followed it with The Krypton Chronicles. He co-created the Justice League members Fire and Ice in the Super Friends series and introduced the Global Guardians in DC Comics Presents #46, he wrote Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew, The Oz/Wonderland War trilogy, as well as occasional stories for the black-and-white horror comics Creepy and Eerie, published by Warren Publishing. His last freelance writing work was for Cracked magazine; as an editor, Bridwell compiled a number of issues of D
Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first was created by Jack Kirby. Mister Miracle debuted in the first issue of the eponymous series cover dated April 1971 as part of the Fourth World tetralogy. Big Barda, the character's love interest, was introduced in Mister Miracle #4. According to creator Jack Kirby's then-assistant Mark Evanier, Kirby wanted to be a comics creator and creative supervisor at DC Comics, rather than a regular writer-artist: "... we were going to turn Mr. Miracle over to Steve Ditko after a couple of issues and have me write it and Ditko draw it. Carmine Infantino, publisher of DC at the time, vetoed that and said Kirby had to do it all himself." Evanier did unofficially co-plot most issues of the series. The original title featuring this character was the longest-lasting of the Fourth World titles, lasting 18 issues while the other titles, New Gods and The Forever People, were cancelled after only 11 issues.
The most traditionally super-heroesque comic of the various Fourth World titles, the last seven issues as well as incarnations of the series would downplay the Fourth World mythology in favor of more traditional superhero fare. The character teamed up with Batman three times in the Bold; the title was revived in September 1977 by Marshall Rogers. Steve Gerber and Michael Golden produced three issues ending with #25 with several story lines unresolved. Mister Miracle teamed with Superman in DC Comics Presents #12 and met the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America in Justice League of America #183–185; when the character was revived as part of the Justice League International lineup in 1987, a one-shot special by writer Mark Evanier and artist Steve Rude was published in 1987. This special was followed by an ongoing series that began in January 1989, written by J. M. DeMatteis and drawn by Ian Gibson. Other writers who contributed to the title include Keith Giffen, Len Wein, Doug Moench.
This run lasted 28 issues before cancellation in 1991. The series was humor-driven, per Giffen's reimagining Scott Free, his wife Big Barda, their friend Oberon, who pretended to be Scott's uncle, as living in suburbia when they were not fighting evil with the Justice League. In 1996, a series written by Kevin Dooley showed Scott attempting to escape his destiny as a New God by setting up a charitable foundation in New York; this ran for seven issues, before all Fourth World titles were canceled for the launch of Jack Kirby's Fourth World. In addition, Scott's ally and wife Big Barda was made a member of the revived Justice League and appeared in the Jack Kirby's Fourth World series by John Byrne. With the launching of Grant Morrison's meta-series Seven Soldiers, Mister Miracle was revived as a four-issue miniseries; this miniseries focused instead on Scott's sidekick and apprentice Shilo Norman, who Morrison established as a new Mister Miracle. In 2017, it was announced the character would return in his own 12 issue limited series written by Tom King and illustrated by Mitch Gerads.
That year the first five issues of Mister Miracle were released among critical and commercial acclaim with the rest of the series being published monthly throughout 2018. The twelfth and final issue was released on November 14, 2018. Mister Miracle was one of four DC Comics series in Kirby's ambitious, but short-lived, Fourth World saga. Mister Miracle, Super Escape Artist was inspired by comic book writer/artist Jim Steranko. Mister Miracle's relationship with his wife Big Barda is based on Kirby's relationship with his own wife Roz. Thaddeus Brown was a circus escape artist; as the first escape artist to use the name Mister Miracle, Brown earned a modest living and practiced his art into his years. Brown met Scott Free as he was practicing an outdoor escape with his long-time friend and assistant Oberon. Scott aided Brown as he was being coerced by Intergang thugs by fighting them off. Unbeknownst to Scott, Intergang was an Earth crime organization run by Darkseid. Brown told Scott that he was being harassed by the local Intergang Capo known as Steel Hand.
Brown and Steel Hand had been in a hospital together and made a bet that Brown couldn't escape death. While practicing an escape of being tied to a tree with a projectile speeding toward him, Brown was shot by an Intergang sniper while Scott and Oberon stood by helplessly. After Brown's murder, Scott put on Brown's costume and exacted his revenge on Steel Hand by bringing him down. Scott Free hired his assistant Oberon. Scott and Oberon joined by Big Barda, toured the country as the Mister Miracle Super Escape Artist show. Thaddeus was one of Batman's teachers - educating a young Bruce Wayne in the art of escape. Scott Free is the son of Izaya Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, his wife, Avia; as part of a diplomatic move to stop a destructive, techno-cosmic war against the planet Apokolips, Highfather agreed to an exchange of heirs with the galactic tyrant Darkseid. The exchange of heirs as hostages was supposed to guarantee that neither side would attack the other. Scott was traded for Darkseid's second-born son Orion.
Scott grew up in one of Granny Goodness' "Terror Orphanages" with no knowledge of his own heritage, but still refused to allow his spirit to break under the ever-present torturous training of the institution. As he matured, Scott rebelled against the totalitarian ideology of Apokolips. Hating himself for being unable to fit in despite his unfailing defiance of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world; the Irish Sea lies between Great Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world, it is the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017. The UK is constitutional monarchy; the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952, making her the longest-serving current head of state.
The United Kingdom's capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3 million. Other major urban areas in the UK include Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire conurbations, Greater Glasgow and the Liverpool Built-up Area; the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh and Belfast, respectively. Apart from England, the countries have their own devolved governments, each with varying powers, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution; the nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation. The medieval conquest and subsequent annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England, followed by the union between England and Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There are fourteen British Overseas Territories, the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language and political systems of many of its former colonies; the United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It has a high-income economy and has a high Human Development Index rating, ranking 14th in the world, it was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power, with considerable economic, military and political influence internationally, it is sixth in military expenditure in the world. It has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.
It has been a leading member state of the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization; the 1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of England and Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain". The term "United Kingdom" has been used as a description for the former kingdom of Great Britain, although its official name from 1707 to 1800 was "Great Britain"; the Acts of Union 1800 united the kingdom of Great Britain and the kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the United Kingdom, the name was changed to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, Scotland and Northern Ireland are widely referred to as countries. The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom; some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve NUTS 1 regions of the United Kingdom refer to Scotland and Northern Ireland as "regions". Northern Ireland is referred to as a "province". With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice revealing one's political preferences"; the term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England and Wales in combination. However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole; the term "Britain" is used both as a synonym for Great Britain, as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Usage is mixed, with the BBC preferring to use Britain as shorthand only for Great Britain and the UK Government, while accepting that both terms refer to the United K
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