1. Miracleman #2 by The Original Writer and Garry Leach (Marvel)
Marvel's re-release of the long-out-of-print Alan Moore classic from 1982 continues with the second instalment of the first Miracleman book, A Dream of Flying (Moore is the cryptically named The Original Writer of the comic). After 18 years of amnesia, Mike Moran remembers the magic word - KIMOTA! - that transforms him into the superhero, Miracleman. Back in the day he had two sidekicks, Young Miracleman and Kid Miracleman, but after the fateful incident that wiped his memory and killed Young Miracleman, Kid Miracleman aka Johnny Bates seemingly lost his powers but went on to become a highly successful businessman... or did he? Reading this series is like catching glimpses of future brilliance. John Bates is like a proto-Ozymandias while the theme of superhero power unchecked in this series would become the core of Watchmen. Meanwhile, "The Yesterday Gambit" issue features art from very young artists Steve Dillon, Alan Davis and Paul Neary, who would all go on to become legends (though, as you'd expect, their styles are very different today to what it was 30 years ago). Speaking of the art, digitally retouching artwork sometimes means an inferior product for the reader but that's not the case here. Included at the back of this comic are photostatic images of the original Miracleman pages from Warrior magazine which are uncoloured and, compared to what we get today, you can see that the additional colour is a massive improvement. You can even see Garry Leach's original inks remain in the retouched version which sometimes isn't the case when re-doing art. I don't want to ruin this issue's story for you (I know it's been out for 30 years but I think this reprint is garnering a lot of new readers - like me!) but I was thoroughly entertained with the story even though it's something we've seen before - though obviously this was one of the earliest versions of this kind of take on superheroes. It's dark, clever, and a completely engrossing read, so much so that even small details like how Kid Miracleman has aged and Miracleman hasn't, don't get in the way of the enjoyment. And there's also Garry Leach's art which is just phenomenal. How Moore was able to pack in so much information and narrative into the bite-sized anthology-style format of Warrior is absolutely amazing. It doesn't feel rushed or sloppy or even compacted, it's just perfect - compare it to some stories from 2000AD today and you'll be amazed at the gap in quality. Also included, besides the original Warrior pages, are sketches from Leach's sketchbooks and some Marvelman comics from the Golden Age era of 1954. Obviously don't expect the same level of sophisticated storytelling in Moore's comic, but they're still fun to read in their own quaintly charming fashion. For all its technical brilliance, Miracleman is just a really fun comic to read. I'm glad it's back in print and the re-launch with the retouched art is making a great comic that much better. Definitely check this one out for a fantastic superhero story. * Those are my picks of the week - I know, it was all Marvel! Alls I can say is that DC needs to up its game, they're just not producing good stuff these days, or at least not this week anyway, and I wasn't that impressed with Image's offerings either. As always, let me know in the comments what comics you enjoyed and hit me up with some recs on Twitter, @NoelThorne. See you guys next week!