Mister Miracle: Source of Freedom #4 Review

Writer: Brandon M. Easton / Artist: Fico Ossio and Rico Renzi / DC Comics Mister Miracle: Source of Freedom #4 is my favorite issue of this series so far. It’s giving HBO Watchmen Hooded Justice vibes. They really just revamped and re-contextualized a Golden Era DC character right before our eyes.  Let me stop rambling.  This issue of Source of Freedom dealt primarily with the origin of Thaddeus Brown. In this iteration of the character, he was a young Black boy in the 40s/50s who fancied pulp novels. So imagine his surprise when a Motherbox showed up on his farm, granting him the powers of a New God.  I’m admittedly not super well versed in the Mister Miracle mythos, so I thought this was a new character. But I did some bare minimum research and found out that no, Thaddeus Brown has always been the first Mister Miracle, and Scott Free and Shiloh Norman always came after him. But he wasn’t always Black. Even with a name like Thaddeus. 

Finding that out made this issue even more powerful for me. I know it deals a lot with the multiverse, but Easton Ossio and Renzi have done a fantastic job in one issue to make this character feel like he’s been here all along.  Mister Miracle: Source of Freedom #4 deals primarily in flashbacks as we learn about Thaddeus’ past, and Ossio and Renzi once again brought some heat with their art. First off, Thad’s design is great. He’s got that naturally strong look that dudes had back in the day. Not like the yoked guys …