Broken Frontier

Can the World’s Greatest Escape Artist escape from himself or from the bizarre alien gods haunting his every step?

As the escape artist, Mr. Miracle, Shilo Norman takes outlandish risks and wins the adoration of the public. Yet he struggles with self-esteem and seems to only gamble with death because he cannot face life. Is there more to existence than the flash and glamour that are all he knows? In his greatest escape yet, Shilo journeys to the event horizon of a black hole and receives a vision of the god-like traveler, Metron. Upon his return to Earth, Shilo is pursued by others of Metron’s race, hinting at a greater destiny for Mr. Miracle—either among the heavenly gods or as a slave to the dark side.

In this issue, Grant Morrison tackles Jack Kirby’s New Gods and the high concept sci-fi mythology that comes with them. Like Morrison, Kirby in his day seemed to have an endless supply of madly brilliant and outright wacky ideas. Morrison applying his style to Kirby’s creations (as he has to a lesser extent in the Guardian and Klarion miniseries) is a match made in New Genesis.

Though not yet connected to the overarching plot of Seven Soldiers, Mister Miracle #1 deals with many of the same themes: guilt, identity, fantasy vs. reality, higher realms where magic and science become indistinguishable, and an extraordinary individual who could be a savior or a total disaster. Morrison presents the New Gods in a way that I’ve never seen them, incognito in an urban setting. The mixture of existential super-science with the inner city is an unusual one but it presents a fresh and often humorous take on the characters. Granny Goodness pimps her Female Furies and all the exquisite pain and pleasure they offer. The Black Racer (the figure of Death) emerges as a creepy old man in a wheelchair. It makes me curious what other permutations we’ll see and how the epic war of the gods will be integrated with the equally epic invasion of the Sheeda in the other Seven Soldiers series.

I can think of few artists better than Pasqual Ferry for a story like this one. As he proved on the Adam Strange miniseries, Ferry has grown by leaps and bounds as an artist and has become quite skilled at otherworldly alien design. Shilo’s visions in the event horizon are rendered with appropriately trippy patterns and glimmers of bizarre technology. Even the scenes grounded on Earth are instilled with an art deco futuristic sensibility, from Shilo’s swank bachelor pad to the city streets. In fact, the city skyline seems to be a direct homage to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in some scenes. As he (also) did on Adam Strange, colorist Dave McCaig gives the images a surreal glow that is eerie and fascinating to behold.

Forget for a moment the Infinite Crisis and the House of M. Seven Soldiers is the crossover event that’s delivering some of the most innovative and entertaining comics of the year.