King and Gerads continue to be on some other shit with this Mister Miracle run. Not only is the story thrilling, but the psychological aspects behind the characters and motives keep the reader uneasy. Even with its hard-ass scenes and bars, there's still moments of humor able to fit in at just the right moment. Mister Miracle aka Mr. Escape The Room is standing on these shelves daring someone to take the crown. Read Full Review

Mister Miracle #9 is another home run. It does so many little brilliant things. Its always been a rather subtle book and this issue is no exception. Theres so much happening under the surface and that makes it all the more rewarding. It constantly subverts reader expectation. No other book being published by the Big Two is anything like it. King and Gerads are telling a story for the ages with this one. Read Full Review

DC has had an amazing string of successes in the two years since the Rebirth era began, and Mister Miracle is foremost among them. This title has me impatiently waiting for the next installment as the issue heads into the last few issues. Read Full Review

Kind and Gerads have delivered us yet another spectacular issue surrounding the war of the gods and the family that Scott Free has created for himself. The joining of these two stories makes for a thrilling comic that is flawless. 'Mister Miracle' is emotional and action packed and deserves the highest rating. Read Full Review

Tom King and Mitch Gerads draw on their creative strengths to pull off what's probably the best issue of the Mister Miracle maxi-series. Read Full Review

Mister Miracle, as always, does an exquisite job of taking the most atrocious sights and making them seem mundane. Only three issues left to go now, and while it's going to be awesome seeing how this story wraps up, it's a shame that it ever has to end. Read Full Review

While the end is a bit predictable the overall read is amazing and is a comic that blends entertainment, socio-political themes, a reflection on real world events, and drama, with a dash of philosophy. It's an amazing issue for an already amazing series. Read Full Review

The issue ends with a great set up for the rest of the series. Gerads did a great job again here too. The expressions are amazing and the panel layouts are strong. There's nothing like this on the stands. And that's a great thing. Read Full Review

We're just three issues away from the end of this series and if the last few pages are any indication, things are about to get a lot more interesting and dire for Mister Miracle. Read Full Review

Thus far, the one way to describe Mister Miracle would be "Harsh". Tom King and Mitch Gerads' reinvention of the Fourth World has been nothing short of brutal in different ways in every issue. Read Full Review

The new Mister Miracle is a showcase in the creative team's unequaled ability to use character and setting to build tension, setting us up for another gut-punch of a cliffhanger. Read Full Review

Mister Miracle continues to be a splendid series, and the ending was something to witness. If you know just a tad of Scott Free's backstory, then the ending will make even more sense. King and Gerads do go over it slightly in the first or second issue. Regardless, it is still a cliffhanger to behold. King and Gerads are the dynamic duo of comics right now, and I can't to see how they bring it all to an end in a few months. Read Full Review

Another excellent issue from Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Clayton Cowles. Though the plot doesn't move much, the issue sets up a major conflict with a tight script and excellent artwork. Read Full Review

I think this book and I assume the entire series run will serve not only as a great story but a training tool for comic book creators. Whether you're a writer, artist, colorist, letterer or even editor, there are so many great aspects to how they presented this book and paced it. So that being said I highly recommend Mister Miracle #9, this series is something special. Read Full Review

This is a strong installment once again and I can't wait to re-read it after processing it a bit more just to save Mitch Gerards' artwork even more because each of these panels is gold in so many ways. Very recommended. Read Full Review

With a story that stops short of being perfect, and art which glows, what can one say? Read Full Review

"Mister Miracle" #9 continues to give fans what they expect and have to come to love about the series: thought-provoking, funny, and serious story-telling with some killer art. If you've been following this series, you'll be happy to know that its well on its way to what we can all hope is an amazing ending. Read Full Review

Another chapter and another bunch of nine-panel pages that hopefully mean something more in a couple of months.  Reviewing Mister Miracle is. Driving. Me. Crazy! Read Full Review

Future classic. Tom King is writing books so far beyond most of the drivel published today.

Just knowing that Kalibak needs reading glasses is perfect!

Darkseid is... grandpa of the year.

I kind of figured out what was going to happen, but i still wasnt ready for that ending. WHAT THE HELL!!!!? I want the next issue now!

Another fantastic issue, what else can be said about this series and its quality?

I will say the ending here was a tad obvious, if you know anything about Scott and Orion's origins.

Absolutely loved the first 6 issues issues 7 and 8 got a little slow and 9 i really enjoyed but they were really pushing the mystery of what was really going on in the first 6 issues but not a bunch of development since then. I cant wait to see how this series ends.

As usual, there must definitely be some messed up things going on in King's book.

Welcome to the Oblivion Bar where the first round is on me and the pretzels are free! Be warned: like the pickled eggs at the bar, this issue is going to get SPOILED rotten.

So what happened during this issue of Mister Miracle? That’s a really great question that hopefully we can answer by the time we’re done discussing it. I’ll be the first to admit that I want a straightforward story that’s not confusing, complex, or complicated. And without a doubt, this story is confusing and overly complex. No one can doubt that. No one can argue that they totally understand what’s happening in this story either.

With all that being said, why do I like it? If you hate complex and confusing stories, why is this one ok? That question is fair and easy to answer. When I know what I’m getting into before the story starts, I’m ok with it. I don’t walk into Burger King demanding a Big Mac. I’m not watching the movie “White Chicks” and expecting it to win an Oscar. This story was never designed to be straightforward. This story was designed to be thought provoking and complex, which it has in spades.

It’s the style that King is going for throughout Mister Miracle. However, an answer must happen by the end or then I too will be just as angry as many others. You can throw curveball after curveball at me as long as you throw me one right down the middle at the end so it all makes sense and I can at least get on base. So, let’s jump into the story shall we....

This issue is actually simple on the outside. Scott is their trying to negotiate with Kalibak on behalf of Darkseid. They are trying to end the war and come to some type of peace agreement. The talks go back and forth and it appears as though everyone has agreed until Darkseid gets his sticky little fingers on the deal. Darkseid tells Kalibak the new deal, which was very shocking. Darkseid is willing to stop the war, create peace, and give back the anti-life equation. Again ... GIVE BACK THE ANTI LIFE EQUATION!!! However, Scott and Barda have to give Darkseid their child Jack Free for him to raise as his heir. That was an interesting twist. So, will they do it? And why would Darkseid be willing to give up the one thing he has been searching for his entire life for Jack Free?

Now, there was a huge part of the story that I feel many are overlooking and not talking about. It actually happened when Scott went to pee in between negotiations, which was hilarious to me. He was told a story about a master painter and his apprentice, which by the way was the story of Zeuxis and Parrhasios that he manipulated to being about Da Vinci. Side note: how often do we get two comics in the same week that reference Da Vinci (see SHIELD by Hickman)? Anyway, the painters had a contest to see who was the better painter.

The painters put their paintings behind two curtains. The apprentice opened his curtain first to reveal fruit. But the fruit was painted so realistic that birds flew into it and tried to eat them. When it was the masters turn, he was asked to reveal his painting. The master says “I already did.” Turns out, the masters painting was so realistic that his painting was the actual curtain itself that was out the entire time. It was so good, that he didn’t just fool the birds, he fooled the entire crowd as well as the apprentice.

So why do I feel like this story is so important? Because this is King giving us a clue as to what’s going on throughout the story. King is telling us that the real truth has not been revealed. In a way, he’s being a Magician of sorts. “A good artist can fool our natural selfs but a great artist can fool our culture.” Everyone is focused on something to do with depression, suicide, death and even rebirth. Others have speculated that this is all in Scott’s mind and that’s what the blurry video lines are each time we see them. The speculation is that Scott is in some type of “matrix”. I think the point is that the story about Da Vinci was to clue us all in to say, “you’re all wrong!” The artist/ magician (King) is doing something bigger that no one has thought of yet. So, the last question is, then what is it then?

I say this: think about what a curtain does. It both hides and reveals. Something big is still hidden in this story but the reveal to me is Jack Free. He is important to this story. We have had issues dedicated to him that seemed pointless.... but they weren’t. Everyone is concerned about Scott and his suicide as well as the blurry lines when we should focus on what’s right in front of our face; Jack Free. It’s basic slight of hand.

But remember, a curtain hides and reveals. King revealed the importance of Jack in this issue. But that same curtain is still hiding something big. If I was to speculate, the meaning of “Jack” is to supplant, which also means to overthrow. I wonder if the new ruler of Apokolips when this is all said and done will be Jack Free since we know Darkseid will be traveling in space with the League? Or maybe Jack Free is Lump, which some have mentioned already. All that I feel confident about right now is that Jack is important to this story and should not be overlooked AND something bigger is yet to come.

The art was fantastic. The story had its moments of humor and King has done a tremendous job with this series so far. The only thing I feel like knocking King for is that I feel like he tried to sell us on the painting story as his own and that is a story I heard in school a long time ago. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Otherwise, I’m really digging this story and loved this issue. How do I know? Whether it be good or bad, all anyone can do is talk about this book, especially about what’s going on within this book, make theories up about this book, and try to draw their own conclusions. If that’s not a good book, I don’t know what is. When your done reading a book and you can’t stop thinking about it or wanting to talk about it, in my humble opinion, it’s a great book and a great issue. I’m all in and I hope you are too.

If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace more

That ending gave me chills.

This series continues to keep me on the edge of my seat from the uneasiness that it cases me to feel something horrible is about to happen, but you just don't know when.
Seems like we're getting a big clue with this book and it's definitely a nightmare scenario for Scott Free and Big Barda.

The usual MM black humor is here, and King is going FULL KING. Gerads really varied his colors both within and compared to past issues. Given the level of success of this series, he could just stick with what works, but he's clearly pushing himself. Usually, the slow pace reflects something deeper, but I may have just missed the underlying tone leading up to the final reveal.

Frustrated now. This had so many GOOD elements to it and WOULD'VE gotten top marks if it was an early on issue BUT it ain't and we really don't know what we're really reading yet. I'm starting to dread the fact if this all proves to be "not really real" Also, here's hoping the final issue #12 isn't a force infodump to explain it all (belatedly) after 1 year publishing.

It’s on the upswing.

Straight forward with sleight of hand. King teases but I just couldn't care about the drag with these characters. Mitch Gerards continues to get better and more confortable with these guys and it looks great.