Hot Take: I feel like Tom King’s Mister Miracle would’ve worked better as a Kamandi story.
A common complaint about King’s writing is that he fits whatever character he’s writing into the story he wants rather than writing a story to fit the character. When you’re doing something like that, it’s very important that you pick a character that fits the story you’re trying to tell.
Especially when you’re writing something as part of an event honoring the original creator. You need to look at those characters the way Jack Kirby intended them to be.
Scott has more than his fair share of trauma but in Kirby’s run he’s had time to rest and process what happened to him by the time we meet him. He builds his own rag tag family and has a job he enjoys that allows him to go places and meet people. Even when his past comes back to haunt him, he faces it head on because he isn’t going to let anyone control him anymore. No matter how much they try to break his spirit, they will never succeed because he is the embodiment of freedom.
Kamandi, on the other hand, is inherently stuck. His story is a tragedy. He’s trapped in an endless cycle of violence and dehumanization, chasing an impossible goal, clinging onto a world that left him behind before he was even born. His story is a huge allegory for Kirby’s experience as a soldier. And, please correct me if I’m wrong, he was the first comic character to attempt suicide in the first issue of his own series. He also gets the option to escape this cycle multiple times. But he will always stay because as long as he believes there are people that need him, his own life comes second. Heck that even transcends universes, although on a much smaller scale. Kamandi’s alternate self, Tommy Tomorrow, gave up his successful music career to join the Planeteers because of that same sense of duty and obligation.
I feel like I’m drifting off topic.
Anyways.
King had a vision for the story, and I don’t hold that against him, I just don’t think he chose the right character.
Plus, based on his work for The Kamandi Challenge, he actually seems to have a very good understanding of Kamandi as a character. Although contrary to his usual writing style, he did write that story specifically for Kamandi so I can see why it was more accurate than his other works.
