Set Description
Both EwanUK and mschmidt really got this set to where it is today with every comic now having at least one 9.8 copy. Ewan notably had the first 9.9 (#12) closely followed by mschmidt's #17 9.9. Unfortunately Ewan's set is now broken up with the 9.9 having been sold on, also in July 2012 a #15 9.8 was removed from the census and a 9.9 appeared (!) and, more recently another #15 9.9 turned up! At the time of writing, only two out of the four 9.9's can be seen in registry sets.
I thought it would be too hard to compete in this set given the quality already present but, having bought a Totleben head sketch #15 (one of 9 known head sketches, completed in the Autumn/Fall of 2011) and having a large number of the other issues in 9.8, I was eventually tempted to amass a full set of 9.8 signature series comics with as many different signatures as possible (hence this is still a work in progress). Last year the set could have been top but I held back as it was lacking one final signature series comic to complete a full set of yellow labels...one year later and it's all yellow!
Going back in time, I have been a big Alan Moore fan for years starting with 2000AD and Warrior. Warrior in particular was a fantastic comic to grow up with, featuring mature stories such as Father Shandor, V for Vendetta, Marvelman and The Bojeffries Saga :-) I have the complete set of all 27 issues, including #4, which features a Marvelman story that has was never reprinted by Eclipse ("The Yesterday Gambit"), and the Warrior 1996 Summer Special "flipbook" with Comics International #76. Marvelman sadly ended abruptly in issue #21 of Warrior with the threat of Legal action over the use of the trademarked "Marvel" in the name (prompted by the publication of the Marvelman Special). Ironically, Mick Angelo's original Marvelman was created before Marvel Comics even existed, although he was a clone of Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel who was in turn a replica of DC Comics' Superman!
Eclipse eventually picked up the title in it's own comic, renaming it Miracleman (to avoid any litigation with Marvel) and initially reprinted the Warrior stories (with some contentious colour added to the pages) but then continued the story where Warrior left off. The print runs on Miracleman started quite high for issue #1 but, by issue #11, that had halved. The infamous issue #15, where Kid Miracleman goes on a rampage (killing 40,000 but is eventually stopped by a dying Aza Chorn), is the rarest of the Alan Moore run with a print run of just over 35,000, which is remarkably low given the kudos this issue now has. Gaiman took over writing duties from #17 but, by issue #24, the print run had declined further making this the rarest of the regular issues.
Sadly Eclipse Comics collapsed, which saw Miracleman #24 being the last issue to see print (#25 was actually written and inked but never saw the light of day and this issue would have lead into a "Dark Age" heralding the return of Kid Miracleman). Over the years that followed (another "Dark Age"), a long and complex dispute took place over the ownership rights of the Miracleman and the stories with Todd McFarlane, Neil Gaiman and others claiming some form of full or partial ownership of the character. In 2009 Marvel announced it had purchased the rights to the original Marvelman from Mick Angelo (actually it was from a company called Emotiv who had previously bought the rights from Mr Angelo); it is worth noting that it seems that Todd McFarlane never had any rights whatsoever to Miracleman. In 2014 Marvel began reprinting the Eclipse/Warrior Miracleman stories and, once reprinted, they will print both the unseen stories and new narratives from Mr Gaiman (we should find out more about the confused Young Miracleman clone and his feelings towards Kid Miracleman and see what the Dark Age brings to dystopia).
Anyway please enjoy the set and the gallery...
List of issues:
Miracleman 3-D:
#01 CGC 9.8: Signed by Garry Leach.
Miracleman:
#01 CGC 9.8: Signed by Garry Leach.
#02 CGC 9.8: Signed by Garry Leach.
#03 CGC 9.8: Signed by Howard Chaykin.
#04 CGC 9.8: Signed by Jim Starlin.
#05 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Paul Gulacy
#06 CGC 9.8: Signed by Tim Truman.
#07 CGC 9.8: Signed by Paul Gulacy.
#08 CGC 9.8: Signed and tiny SKETCH by Dean Mullaney (co-founder of Eclipse)
#09 CGC 9.8: Signed by Rick Veitch.
#10 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by John K. Snyder III; also signed by Rick Veitch.
#11 CGC 9.8: Signed by John Totleben.
#12 CGC 9.8: Signed by John Totleben.
#13 CGC 9.8: Signed by John Totleben.
#14 CGC 9.8: Signed by John Totleben.
#15 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by John Totleben.
#16 CGC 9.8: Signed by John Totleben & Thomas Yeates
#17 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Mark Buckingham.
#18 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Mark Buckingham.
#19 CGC 9.8: Signed by Mark Buckingham.
#20 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Dave McKean; also signed by Mark Buckingham.
#21 CGC 9.8: Signed by Neil Gaiman.
#22 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Mark Buckingham.
#23 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Mark Buckingham.
#24 CGC 9.8: SKETCHED & Signed by Mark Buckingham.
