Miracleman

Miracleman
Cover to Miracleman #3. Art by Howard Chaykin.
Publication information
Publisher	L. Miller & Son (UK) Quality Communications (UK) Eclipse Comics (USA) Marvel Comics (USA)
First appearance	Marvelman #25 (Feb. 1954)
Created by	Mick Anglo
In-story information
Alter ego	Michael Moran
Partnerships	Miraclewoman Warpsmiths Kid Marvelman Young Marvelman
Notable aliases	Micky Miracleman
Abilities	Flight Super-strength Invulnerability

Miracleman, formerly known as Marvelman, is a fictional superhero appearing in comics published by Marvel Comics. Marvelman was created in 1954 by writer-artist Mick Anglo for publisher L. Miller & Son. Originally a United Kingdom home-grown substitute for the American character Captain Marvel, the series ran until 1963. He was revived in 1982 in a dark, post-modern reboot by writer Alan Moore, with later contributions by Neil Gaiman.

In 1953, the American company Fawcett Comics, which was the U.S. publisher of Captain Marvel, discontinued the title because of a lawsuit from DC Comics.Len Miller and his company L. Miller & Son, Ltd. had been publishing black and white reprints of the series, along with other Fawcett titles, in the UK. Rather than stopping, he turned to comic packager Mick Anglo for help continuing or replacing the comic. They transformed Captain Marvel to Marvelman while Miller continued his other Fawcett reprint titles and used logos and trademarks that looked significantly like Fawcett's. This added to the appearance that the Fawcett line was continuing, and that Marvelman was still Captain Marvel, in order to retain the audience.

Marvelman was very similar to Captain Marvel: a young reporter named Micky Moran encounters an astrophysicist, instead of a wizard, who gives him superpowers based on atomic energy instead of magic. To transform into Marvelman, he speaks the word "Kimota", which is phonetically "atomic" backwards, rather than "Shazam". Instead of Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, Marvelman was joined by Dicky Dauntless, a teenage messenger boy who became Young Marvelman, and young Johnny Bates, who became Kid Marvelman; both of their magic words were "Marvelman".