Galaxy Newsbrief 080714: Reporting on Comics

* Spurred by this week's release of Miracleman #9 by Marvel Comics, part of its ongoing reprint of Alan Moore's landmark 1980s superhero series, Mike Sterling reports on the warnings to dealers that the Eclipse version of Miracleman #9 inspired.

* Miracleman #9 was controversial in its time -- and Marvel apparently fears it still is, since they polybagged the issue -- because it depicts Miracleman and Liz Moran's daughter Winter being born, with anatomically-correct views of the crowning and actual birth. In the 1980s we as a society were apparently terrified at the thought that children might learn where they came from, and the polybag on this week's issue indicates we haven't progressed very far. (Pro tip/spoiler warning: Babies usually come out of vaginas.)

* I'm amazed at how little the ongoing Miracleman reprints, set to lead up to new issues by Neil Gaiman, completing his unfinished run, are being talked about. This week's re-release of one of the two most controversial issues in the series didn't even merit a mention in the most prominent weekly new releases rundown on a site dedicated to reporting on comics. It's a curious omission by a site that has been curiously silent about this title, given how rich a topic of discussion it has the potential to be, combining overall narrative excellence with creators right issues, and how Marvel is handling not only the reissuing of one of the most important superhero comics in history, but how they are handling such elements as Winter's birth. There's a slight buzzing in the back of my head that tells me Moore's penultimate issue, in which the destruction of London is vividly, violently depicted (resulting in Miracleman #15 being the other hugely controversial issue in the run), might actually get talked about by major websites that purport to report on comics. If that's the case -- that the vagina issue is ignored while the BIG DEATH ISSUE is deemed worth talking about -- man, comics as a culture is even more fucked than I already figured it is.

* Meanwhile, just to report on some interesting comics news this week, since no one else seems up to the task -- Miracleman #9, reprinting the controversial childbirth story, is out this week in comic book stores, published by Marvel. Go get one before all the publicity winds up causing the issue to sell out, won't you?