Miracleman #9

Written by Alan Moore
Art by Rick Veitch and Rick Bryant

My Miracleman collection has more gaps in it than it does issues, at least during Alan Moore's storied tenure with the character, so I was pretty happy to see this at a reasonable price the other day.  These comics are just about impossible to find in decent condition, and with a $5 price tag, I couldn't resist.

The Miracleman story is only sixteen pages long, and, having not read (or not remembering the issues surrounding it), is hard to understand.  A pregnant woman wakes up because she is having contractions.  She walks outside to a ruined complex, where everyone still living is running away.  She is found by Miracleman, who puts her in a truck and flies away, until they find a nice safe place for him to deliver her (and his?) child.  This leads to a very explicit birthing scene which justifies the parental warning on the cover.  While watching the baby being born, Miracleman reminisces on and ponders his own life.  There is also an interlude which involve some strange creatures in human form visiting someone in a mental hospital.

Having read scattered issues of Moore's Miracleman before, I think this is a series that needs to be read in order to be fully appreciated.  Reading it like this, it's more of a trip to see some old school Rick Veitch artwork, and to try to remember just how groundbreaking this comic was when it came out (I was eleven, and definitely not buying it).

There is a back-up story, but it was unreadable.