Miraclewoman

Miraclewoman is a fictional superheroine appearing in the Eclipse Comics comic book Miracleman.

Miraclewoman
Publication information
PublisherEclipse Comics (USA), Quality Communications (UK)
First appearanceMiracleman #10 (U.S.A.)
Created byAlan Moore
In-story information
Alter egoAvril Lear
Team affiliationsMiracleman
Warpsmiths
Notable aliasesAvril, Dr. McCarthy
AbilitiesSee Powers and abilities

In the Miracleman comic, Miraclewoman is the analog of other feminine super heroines such as Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel. Her given name is Avril Lear, but she also uses the alias of Dr. McCarthy.

History

She first appears in Miracleman 10. The title page and a later panel shows her red stiletto boots, near the body of Mike Moran, in another dimension called Underspace. There the bodies not currently being used by the Miracleman Family or similar beings are stored. She first appears in her unpowered form, being tracked by two aliens. In issue 11,[1] page 5, she is shown watching Mike Moran leaving his home. While he is battling the pair of aliens, who appear to have many available forms tailored for specific purposes, including combat, she enters his home using super speed to move past Liz unnoticed, when Liz opens the door for the doorbell. Her red stiletto boots are depicted in the shadows, which were shown in earlier panels and can also be seen in Issue 10 as well. When, in the height of a losing battle, Miracleman inadvertently thinks of his daughter, Winter, the aliens telepathically find out about the child, whose existence they had not known of previously. One of the aliens leaves for the Moran home, apparently after the child. As death appears imminent for both Liz and Winter, Miraclewoman reveals herself, ambushing the alien from behind and damaging its throat, smartly preventing it from changing form and severely injuring it as well. The aliens subsequently are revealed to be the Qys, and the source of the original alien technology on which the Marvelman characters were based. The alien protocols, which called for the destruction of any of the "debased" beings, has radically different rules for the situation as a result of the existence of Liz and Miracleman's child, Winter, a "natural" super being.

Issue 12[2] tells Miraclewoman's origin story. She was kidnapped as a teenager, much like the other Miracleman Family, and experimented upon in secret by Dr Gargunza. There, unsupervised by the government, his depraved attentions were free to experiment with her, a dog, and a young man named Terrance Rebbeck, who would become Young Nastyman, a Black Adam analog. Like the others of the Miracleman Family she was given the ability to change into a super powered body. Her adventures were nothing more than computer simulations invented by Gargunza. Unlike them, her and Young Nastyman's experiences were more depraved and unsupervised. Her adventures focused on bondage and torture, described in comic as using the sensory input of "scented gags and rope burns". Rebbeks's simulations were focused on the role of a villain, allowing him to enact depravities, and giving him more control. Young Nastyman eventually went insane and escaped from the lab they were held in. This became the first time the Miracleman family was allowed out, with Gargunza hoping they could catch Young Nastyman in a discreet manner. Miraclewoman is likewise released, with Gargunza's hope of having her and one of the Miracleman Family mate and create a naturally born super child. She locates them using an ability to sense "aura traces". Separately they search for Young Nastyman. While following Young Nastyman's aura traces she finds the military bunker she was created in, and, when searched, reveals the records of her and Rebbeck's treatment under Gargunza's "experiments". This includes recordings of Dr Gargunza's sexual abuse of her unconscious body (which she regards with bemusement, not feeling violated in the least). She finally locates Young Nastyman in Iceland, who has gone crazy. Feeling a kinship with him she reveals the truth of their creation and a plan to fake their deaths. Remaining crazed he attacks her and they apparently die while battling in a volcano. This battle and the preceding events would lead to the decision to terminate the Miracleman Family.

She uses this to escape notice and took up a new life and trained as a doctor. When she was located by the aliens in Issue 10, she rushed to Miracleman to warn him, having known of his reawakening, and using her ability to track auras to find him. In the following issues Liz leaves Mike due to the stress and horrors plaguing his new life. Avril/Miraclewoman becomes one of his closest allies and in Issue 16 his lover. After successfully rebuilding the world in their image they consummated their feelings. Their lovemaking becomes quite public when they begin mating in the sky and continue a nude chase and sexual encounter, above London's streets, They are both shown surrounded by a white aura (a protective force field discussed earlier in the comic, and referred to as the "Tinkerbell Effect", but apparently intensified by the sexual activity) and after reaching an apparent orgasm this aura explodes like fireworks in the night sky. They then fall to earth and come to rest at the bottom of a river. Liz later uses Mike's infidelity as one more reason to reject Miracleman and his offer to make her a superwoman. He does not see his relationship with Miraclewoman as wrong, even though he was still married to Liz. He also ponders why she would reject the chance to be like him.

Many in-comic references are made to tie Miracleman's allies to the Greek pantheon. Miracleman himself represents Zeus. Their fortress and home is called Olympus, Miraclewoman's origin story in issue 12 is titled Aphrodite, and the firedrake is referred to as Apollo. As Aphrodite she is Miracleman's otherworldly lover. In fact she looks like a feminine Miracleman.

Issue 18[3] shows her recreating the mythical relationship of Aphrodite and Adonis. She of course in the role of the goddess, and a windmill worker named John Gallaway as the mortal Adonis. Of note is that she is again depicted as being surrounded by a white aura during sex. Her lesson to him is that while she is Miraclewoman she is physically perfect, she then transforms to her Avril Lear form and asks that he love her as she is, as both are her true self. This allows him to break a convention of seeking physical perfection in a lover, and he later reconciles with his ex-wife, in a less than fairy tale ending.

In issue #24 a unique plotline is introduced regarding Young Miracleman. Miraclewoman twice states that Young Miracleman is in love with, and sexually attracted to Miracleman. This is stated in both issues 12 and 24. In issue 12 she describes her origin and first meeting with the Miracleman Family and noted Young Miracleman's reaction as immature. In Issue 24, Young Miracleman had been previously resurrected, and, in keeping with her role as Aphtodite, she encourages Miracleman to reach out to him romantically. Convinced by Miraclewoman, he changes his mind stating that he should have seen it as well. His advances are violently rejected, and Young Miracleman flees from him crying. The final panels of the finished comic show the beginnings of a verbal confrontation between Miracleman and Miraclewoman. Due to Eclipse's bankruptcy and the legal battle and confusion surrounding the Miracleman property, we are left without the results of their confrontation. It is also possible that she was correct in assuming Young Miracleman's attraction to Miracleman but he was not psychologically or emotionally mature enough to accept his homosexuality, therefore, he rejected Miracleman's advances in an attempt to belie his true desires. Having been raised during the conservative 50s-60s Britain, Young Miracleman would have likely thought homosexuality immoral and probably refused to accept his feelings and urges and hid them behind a facade of traditional masculinity in emulation of Miracleman.

Powers and abilities
  • Super strength
  • Unaided flight
  • Super speed
  • Physical invulnerability
  • Enhanced physical senses
  • Psychic-like ability to sense aura traces

References
  1. May 1987
  2. September 1987
  3. August 1990

Bibliography
  • Miracleman #10 (December 1986) – 24 (August 1993)
  • Miracleman: Apocrypha #1 (November 1991) – 3 (February 1992)
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