After the amazing announcement by way of Marvel that they would begin printing new remastered editions of the iconic Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman Miracleman series first published in it's now fondly remembered order by Eclipse Comics there was nominally a lot of rejoicing. Soon after, however, cracks did start to become apparent. Out of all them, and there were many, the biggest was the overreaching question of how they would involve Moore, if at all.
Years before Moore made claims that should a reprint ever come, he would rather himself go without credit - and the caginess of Marvel in not mentioning Moore by name only worried readers. Some even speculated that they would simply forego printing the Moore tenure to get around not crediting him. Recent solicits have, and rather humorously, revealed their final gambit in this showdown. Rather than credit him, they have per his wishes kept his name out of the new remasters - instead giving the writer credit to the ghastly vague entity known as "The Original Writer."
The rest of the credits, from artists and editors, remain visible and intact. On the other hand this "The Original Writer" business has already gained traction as a joke on some internet forums, but is accepted as a reasonable solution. Hopefully this will not lead to confused new readers who are picking up the series for the first time. Without the name power that Moore would bring it's going to have to sell on merit and iconic nature alone, which is harder and harder to do these days. We will bring you more Miracleman related news as it comes in.
