Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #6: Shilo Norman

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom comes to an end with issue #6. This issue contained Brandon Easton’s strongest writing to date, and Fico Ossio and Rico Renzi put new meaning to climatic action. This issue, and the series as a whole, is exactly what I want in a comic: incredible artwork, brilliant writing, and a definitive beginning, middle, and end to an arc. Easton delivered soundproof storytelling and did the near-impossible by raising the stakes of a legacy character. 

Fico Ossio has the incredible talent of illustrating brilliantly detailed action that springs from the page while still capturing real emotion within faces. Many books trade big action for the small details, but Ossio has continuously knocked it out of the park with this series. In a book about finding your true self, it is incredibly important to convey real emotion and not be buried behind a mask. Rico Renzi’s colors on Ossio’s art are a feast for the eyes. The two artists make the scale of the action feel massive without anything being lost in the action. The creative team made reading feel effortless with incredible writing interwoven with explosive and mesmerizing visuals. 

I am a huge fan of legacy characters, and Easton has officially written the how-to guide to successfully work with one and bring them to new heights. It is a hard task to sum up what it means to be a legacy in one sentence, but Easton does it with ease. He writes, “A legacy is worthless unless the new generation contributes to the tapestry of the past instead of being woven into a brainless pattern of predictable behavior.” The Mister Miracle mantle has incredible roots dating back to its creation by Jack Kirby in the 60s and even to Tom King’s recent run. Both King and Easton pay homage to the character’s beginnings, but Easton breaks new ground with staying power by putting the mantle in good hands with Shilo Norman. Shilo even gets a reverse Iron Man moment by revealing his true identity at the end of the issue. 

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom is the perfect reminder that most heroes are human, and a mask should not erase that. Easton writes, “You are more than a costume. More than a superhero. You are a human beyond anything else. Therein lies the source of your strength. Embrace Shilo Norman. Embrace your history, your strengths, your weaknesses, your eyes, your hair, your voice, your family. That is the source of freedom.” With the series coming to an end, I can’t wait to see what is next for this creative team, and most of all, Shilo Norman.