Proof of Life Through Anti-Life

Abstract

Tom King & Mitch Gerads' Mister Miracle (2017) has quickly become one of the most philosophically sophisticated superhero comics in recent memory, one that substantially departs from the classic representation of the title character and his supporting cast. A complex family drama, Mister Miracle asks the reader to grapple with questions that blur the lines between the "real" and the "imaginary", as well as what is "true" and "false". By applying the theoretical frameworks of Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1981), the obfusctation of Mister Miracle’s false reality can be revealed as a sophisticated simulacrum that utilizes (dis)simulation and elements of hyperreality as a means of control against Mister Miracle/Scott Free in order to wrench from him control of his “life”. Ultimately though, it becomes clear that this attempt to hijack and diminish Mister Miracle’s potential for a happy life results in the opposite of its intended effect, creating instead a paradoxical death that unintentionally validates the value of life through an alternate anti-life.