Excerpts from Amazing Heroes Preview Special n.2, published by Fantagraphics in 1986.
At the time Eclipse was publishing Miracleman, reprinting for the US market the Marvelman episodes previously presented in UK Warrior magazine, in b/w. Starting from issue n.6, Miracleman included (then) new material continuing the stories of the British hero.
Alan Moore: What we’re attempting to do with Miracleman is strip away a lot of the accumulated cliches and dross that have built up around the super-heroes, and try to get back to what we perceive as the original idea - which was probably something very closely akin to the original function of the Greek and Norse legends. When those particular legends were current, when they had just been evolved, they were contemporary: they weren't set in an exotic faraway land or faraway time, they were happening at the end of the street. What we are trying to do is reinterpret the idea of a god amongst people, which is basically what the idea oi the super-hero is, even though the original idea has been diluted.
We're trying not to go over the more conventional background of the super-hero, like... you won't find a lot of super-heroes in Miracleman. With the exception of Kid Miracleman, whom you've seen already [in the first two issues], there are not any villains planned for the immediate future of the book. I find it more interesting not to see how powerful, exaggerated characters react to each other, but how one powerful, exaggerated character - Miracleman - reacts to the human race in general.
We'll also be going into the psychology of the character, trying to get into what would feel like to actually do all this bizarre and miraculous stuff. Anytime someone jostled you in the line at cafeteria you could just throw them into orbit. I think it would probably change your view of society slightly.
Those are the areas that we're going to get into: what it feels for the person himself being a god amongst creatures that must look to him like animals.
What it feels like for the humans suddenly being confronted with something that's a million times better than they are. [...]
[Talking about the inflated prices on the premiere issue of MM]
Miracleman #1 is a comic book, a throwaway comic book, that should be bought for 75 cents and briefly enjoyed. The thing I like about comics is that they are a democratic art-form - often with very good art - that is in the price range of anybody who has 75 cents. He can just go down to the corner news agent and buy a comic. That is one of the things that attract me about comics.
When you start getting to the point where something with a cover price of 75 cents changes hands for 10 dollars, I certainly don't want anything to do with it. I find it a bit distressing, I certainly wouldn't pay that much. Quite frankly, I would advise other people not to, although obviously, what they do is up to theme. It seems like a wholly false, manufactured, and artificial situation to me.
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