Posted in: Avengers, Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: alan davis, Alan Moore, Armageddon, chip zdarsky, Chuck Austen, Garry Leach, John Ridgeway, john totleben, marco checchetto, miracleman, rick veitch
Chip Zdarsky On Miracleman, Politics And Spider-Man
Chip Zdarsky on Miracleman, Politics and Spider-Man ahead of Avengers #1 launching tomorrow
Article Summary
- Chip Zdarsky on Miracleman: David Colton is not becoming a fascist, and Avengers aims to pull him back from that path.
- Zdarsky says Spider-Man is central to Miracleman’s growth, with a key speech in Avengers #7 restoring David Colton’s humanity.
- Chip Zdarsky explains why Miracleman works on the Avengers: David Colton’s blank slate creates fresh conflict and tension.
- Avengers #1 launches with Miracleman, Spider-Man and more, as Zdarsky reshapes Marvel’s new team after Armageddon.
Chip Zdarskyhas broken down his handling of the new Miracleman, the 9/11 Captain America David Colton, in Avengers: Armageddon and the launching-this-week Avengers series on the latest edition of Chip Chat with David Harper, and whether putting him on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is just giving liberal authoritarianism that much of a bigger stage. Though there’s another word that comes readily to mind. David Harper shared one reader’s question from Chris Evan MC, “My interpretation of Moore and Gaiman’s work paints Miracleman in a very fascist light. And David Colton’s arc so far seems to be leaning that way lately as well, with it ending in a period of ellipsis. So, it’s like the thought just kind of goes off. Chip, are you enabling a fascist?”
In the original Alan Moore/Garry Leach/Alan Davis/Chuck Austen/Rick Veitch/John Ridgeway/John TotlebenMiracleman stories, followed by Neil Gaiman/Mark Buckingham, the emergence of superpowers on Earth leads to a total recreation of human society, a rejection of capitalism in favour of well-funded communism and extreme libertarianism. However, that change is imposed upon the world by alien overlords, in the same way that General Ross tried to impose global democracy in Avengers: Armageddon, or Doctor Doom tried to impose a benign, bountiful dictatorship in One World Under Doom. And not everyone, including Mike Moran’s wife Linda, accepted this, much to Miracleman’s puzzlement. So, given recent Marvel storylines, is this where Chip is going? As David Colton was throwing the world’s nukes into the sun, just as the Warpsmiths did in Miracleman?
Chip Zdarsky replies, “No. That was definitely the arc of the character, and then the events of Armageddon have brought him back to Earth and being on the Avengers and being around characters like Spider-Man especially is a way to kind of give David his kind of humanity back and kind of get him off that path.”
Spider-Man? Yes, well, Chip Zdarsky is certainly looking to tell some interesting stories there, spoilers later. But the key interaction comes in six months’ time. “Yeah, I just wrote a speech that Spider-Man gives him in issue seven. This is the thing that David Colton needs to hear, and it’s got to come from Spider-Man. It’s a lot of fun to bring a character that’s new and put them up against these kinds of Marvel characters and see how they interact on the page.”
With great power must there come great responsibility? Chip Zdarsky said one of the appeals of writing David Colton is that he’s still a relatively blank slate compared to the rest of the Avengers. That lets him do things you simply can’t do with characters who have been around for decades. “One of the tricks about writing Marvel comics is these characters have gone through so much, and they’ve quote-unquote learned so much that unless you’re dead set on regressing them there’s not as much internal tension as there may have been when they first started out. … To bring a new character in and have them starting from scratch and being able to look around and have a new way of kind of viewing these characters is fun. It’s so fun as a writer.”
He pointed to a specific moment in Avengers: Armageddon #2, the big multi-country fight against Ross, where he deliberately kept Colton almost completely silent for the entire issue. “I made it a very conscious thing to not have David say anything. Like in that whole issue, he doesn’t say a word until right towards the end when he says, ‘You all talk too much.’ Like you can’t do that with a character who’s been around forever, right? You can’t have Daredevil go the whole issue without saying something and then drop that because, you know, he’s been around. He talks like they all do. They all banter and do have their thing. So, to kind of bring in a character that doesn’t have those kinds of preconceived ideas into a story and have them kind of look around and be like, you guys are f–king idiots. Start talking, stop talking. … It’s just a ball. It’s fun writing David Colton.”
The approach fits the broader theme Chip Zdarsky has been exploring: characters change depending on who they’re around. David Colton spent years as a self-appointed Captain America figure, then living off the grid, then operating as a hammer in search of a nail. Putting him on a team, especially with Spider-Man, forces him to learn how to be a hero in a different way.
Chip Zdarsky said he’s already hearing positive (and cautiously optimistic) feedback from readers at conventions, particularly from fans (like me) who grew up with the eighties/nineties Miracleman material. For him, the character works best as someone the rest of the Marvel Universe can push against – and who can push back.
Avengers #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto is out tomorrow from Marvel Comics. Miracleman is available in Omnibus and you really should read it.
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
Avengers #1
- Avengers #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto
IN THE WAKE OF ARMAGEDDON, A NEW TEAM ASSEMBLES… Superstar team Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto reunite for a trailblazing new era of AVENGERS! With the world order completely rewritten after AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON, there comes a day, a day unlike any other, when a new group of Earth’s mightiest heroes find themselves united to avenge the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Luke Cage and Miracleman! The Avengers take center stage once again in the Marvel Universe, and it all starts here. Don’t miss it! $5.99 Nov 04, 2026
Avengers #2
Avengers #2
Avengers #2
Avengers #2
- Avengers #2 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto
THE BIGGEST LAUNCH OF THE YEAR CONTINUES! Spider-Man must act quickly when his past once again puts Aunt May in jeopardy! Demons flood New York City, and the Avengers have to defeat them! What are Mephisto‘s ultimate goals? And who is this mysterious young woman with the prophetic book? Only the Adjudicator knows! Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto bring you an exciting new direction for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, with twists galore! $4.99 Dec 16, 2026
- Avengers #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto
“CHASE THE DEVIL” PART ONE! Mephisto literally unleashed Hell on Earth, and Spider-Man’s new team of Avengers is determined to make him pay! But that’ll be easier said than done, as Mephisto has some shocking new allies… $4.99 Jan 27, 2027
- Miracleman Omnibus by Alan Moore, Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen, Rick Veitch, John Ridgeway, John Totleben, Cat Yronwode, Grant Morrison, Joe Quesada, Peter Milligan, Mike Allred
Middle-aged reporter Michael Moran always knew he was meant for something more. When an unexpected series of events leads him to reclaim his destiny, Miracleman is reborn! But Miracleman’s return threatens to unravel Moran’s life. Their connections to Dr. Emil Gargunza and Project Zarathustra bring with them disturbing revelations and trigger the return of a childhood friend who, beneath his sinister smile, has become something terrifying. Pushing the concept of the super hero to its logical conclusion, Miracleman is nothing short of a revelation. The series reinvented the super hero and 40 years later stands as one of the influential works in the comic book artform. This first-ever Omnibus edition collects Miracleman Books One through Three, complete with a massive trove of covers, original artwork and rare features. Collecting: Warrior (1982) 1-18, 20-21; Miracleman (1985) 1, 3, 6-16; Marvelman Special (1984) 1; A1 (1989) 1 as presented in Miracleman (2014) 1-16; All-New Miracleman Annual (2014) 1 $99.99 October 25, 2022
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