If a single butt warranted editing, it’s concerning to speculate how Marvel will handle legitimately graphic scenes in upcoming “Miracleman” issues released through their app. In issue #9, a character gives birth over multiple pages of the book, with great attention to the scientific details of child delivery, including a display of parts that would now be covered by purple panties. In issue #15, a character goes on one of the most violent rampages in superhero comics history, destroying the entire city of London. People are torn apart, impaled, skinned and tormented by a rain of severed hands and feet. Will this content be similarly edited, and if so, what does that mean for the creative integrity of the story? These moments are intended to be shocking, to make readers feel, to connect us to the ideas of power and villainy – mature themes, to be sure, and thought provoking ones that set the stage for Moore’s later work on acclaimed titles such as “Watchmen.” If these moments are at risk of being censored, the story of “Miracleman” becomes something else, a work out of sync with the vision of its creators.
CBR takes up the story of Marvel’s censorship of Miracleman in its digital format. So far, this has been downplayed as Marvel because it’s “only” in digital, and there’re “parental advisory” (that is, uncensored) editions also available from some – but not all – digital outlets.
There’s more to be addressed here, including the fact that (a) the creators apparently didn’t know that Marvel was censoring the digital editions, and (b) the censored editions are euphemistically called the “mass market” editions of the work. What, if anything, does that mean about the eventual bookstore collections?