Miracleman: Apocrypha was an American superhero limited series anthology comic book, published by Eclipse Comics between 1991 and 1992. It was a spin-off of Eclipse's Miracleman series, and ran for three issues.
In order to avoid clashing with the main title's carefully plotted continuity the mini-series consisted of stories within a story, with a framing sequence by Miracleman creative team Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham establishing that the various stories were the content of comic books in the library of Olympus, the huge palace inhabited by the title character and his paramour Miraclewoman.
Creation
As well as the commercial benefit of another title based on Eclipse's most popular character, a key motivation for the series was the number of comics creators who were expressing interest in working on Miracleman. As Gaiman and Buckingham had three six-issue arcs planned for the main title they decided on the Apocrypha format to make use of this enthusiasm without derailing their plans, with Gaiman stating he "loved the idea doing a book of imaginary stories". They produced 10 pages of framing material which bookended each of the three issues. Buckingham also produced covers for the series; the cover to Miracleman: Apocrypha #2 was a direct homage to John Byrne's cover for The Man of Steel #1, while that of the third issue is based on that of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four #5 by Jack Kirby, featuring near-identical dialogue. Each story in the anthology was between six and ten pages long. Art Adams was originally announced as a contributor but ultimately did not work on the series.
Publishing history
The first issue was dated November 1991; after a month's delay the second and third issues followed in the first two months of 1992. In December of the same year Eclipse issued a trade paperback collection of the series.
While the full series has yet to be reprinted by Marvel Comics since they acquired the Miracleman licence, material from the framing sequence was updated and edited to again be used to introduce imaginary stories for Miracleman #0.
Contents
"The Library of Olympus:" (written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Mark Buckingham) Since Miracleman took control of the world the comic industry has undergone a considerable shift – superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the X-Men have all left publication, unable to compete with real-world superhumans. Instead most comics revolve around Miracleman, his allies, his enemies and his mythos. Feeling disconnected from the human race, he reads a selection of those held in the Library of Olympus. After doing so he is none the wiser, and Miraclewoman gently chides him, noting that comic books got them into this mess in the first place – a reference to Gargunza being inspired to create them after reading an issue of Captain Marvel Adventures.