Measure Our Pain

Issue 3 of Mister Miracle is not an interesting issue. That isn’t to say that it’s a bad one, none of the issues of Mister Miracle are bad. It’s simply an issue that is more interested in the plot of Mister Miracle rather than the themes. Which is to say, rather straightforward in what’s going on than the previous issue’s musings on abuse and the first issues pondering of “Why shouldn’t I commit suicide?” There is, however, one moment of intrigue, and that’s the comic explicitly connecting the presence of Darkseid with the question of

Why shouldn’t I commit suicide?

This leads into the cliffhanger, wherein Scott asks if Orion’s destructive behavior is connected with the presence of Darkseid within him. It doesn’t go anywhere within the comic itself (save Orion beating the crap out of Scott), but it seems to be leading us towards interesting things in later issues, which perhaps sums up the issues lack of thematic cohesion. This is in no small part due to the comic’s nature as a transitionary issue, akin to Watchmen #7, leading us too more interesting events. The issue itself will probably work better when the entire series is collected in trade, but for now we’re left with an issue that, while expertly crafted, never coalesces into something that’s better than a series of loosely connected vignettes. There are certainly some great moments within the comic (the Christmas story, the way Mitch Gerads distorts the panels once Orion shows Scott the face of GOD, Scott’s musing on the nature of Darkseid is and his subversive conclusion, Stan Lee’s Cameo), but in the end, this is a rather good comic in a series with a baseline of great.

“God is a concept,
by which
we measure
our
pain.
I’ll say it again.”
–John Lennon, God

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