Review – Mister Miracle: The Great Escape – A New Apokalips

Mister Miracle: The Great Escape – Varian Johnson, Writer; Daniel Isles, Artist

Ray – 8/10

Ray: DC’s graphic novel line has been behind some radical reinventions of popular characters, casting Wonder Woman as a teenage refugee in the modern day and John Constantine as a mischievous middle schooler in a magical academy. But few reinventions have been more unique than Mister Miracle: The Great Escape, which reinvents Scott Free and Big Barda through the filter of race relations on a modernized Apokalips.

But if you’re expecting a full-on kirbyesque Apokalips here, you may be disappointed. Creators Varian Johnson and Daniel Isles have reinvented Apokalips as a brutal, sterile military environment, where young fighters are trained in a military academy to serve the unseen Darkseid. Even amid this environment, there’s a strict class structure, with the nobles able to brutalize lower-ranking classmates with near impunity and the “lowlies” facing harsh punishment for the slightest offense. And firmly on the bottom tier is the young orphan Scott Free.

Scott may be reinvented as a modern Black teenager here, but you can see many of the classic traits of the character. He’s a daredevil escape artist, the only one to survive Granny Goodness’ infamous punishment pit, and he never misses an opportunity to breach Apokalips’ defenses. But he has a secret mission—working with the tech-savvy janitor Himon to plot a getaway from the planet for Himon’s sickly granddaughter Bekka. While Scott can come off as reckless and selfish at times, it’s always clear he’s fighting for the greater good.

The same can’t be said for the book’s second lead, Big Barda. We’ve mostly seen Barda after she already left the Female Furies (here Granny Goodness’ enforcers at the school), but this picks up right as she’s joined the elite forces. She’s brutal, almost hateful towards Scott at first, and the brutal beating she deals out to him early on makes thinking about their slow-burn romance over the rest of the book a little uncomfortable. But she has her own pained backstory—something that seems to unite everyone in Apokalips—and the creators do a good job of fleshing her out as the story goes on.

The biggest issue with this book, though, is the villains. Darkseid is never actually seen, only serving as a presence. Kalibak looks and acts radically different from his comic version, coming off more as a cruel elitist rather than the brutish “mad dog” of the comics. Granny Goodness is a more complicated story, and probably the most ambitious character in the book. At first, she seems less imposing than her comic version—more like a Dolores Umbridge type. Then there are some major reveals about her in the last act that hint at something more human, if not sympathetic.

But therein lies the main flaw of the book—it takes its time to get there, with ample time for a slow-burn relationship development between Scott and Barda. And that part works, but by the time we get there, the book was almost over. When we get to the last two chapters, the book enters speedrun mode, with major reveals and epic battles taking place over the last thirty pages. But as they rush us forward, major questions are left unanswered and characters make decisions that indicate they may not be that interested in the answers. Will we get a sequel down the line? I hope so, because the book is good enough to deserve it—and it might not feel 100% complete without it.

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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.