Mister Miracle #4 Cover by Nick Derington

Pretty great planning that the cover of the 4th issue of Tom King's Eisner-winning Mister Miracle mini-series would feature Big Barda. After all, Barda did make her first appearance in issue 4 of the original Kirby series...

The 12 issues of King's Mister Miracle were a revelation that rejuvenated many people's (including my) love of comic books. It takes an existing cosmic property and layers it with fatherly responsibility, filial duty, marital bliss and stress, and a healthy dose of awesomeness. Mitch Gerads' work on the interiors was pitch-perfect, but, unfortunately for collectors, all digital. The 12 covers by Nick Derington represent the only traditional art available from this landmark evergreen series.

My introduction to comic art was tied to Mister Miracle. Nick Derington's cover to Mister Miracle #10, featuring Darkseid, was what made me pick up that series. I took it home, studied the cover, and on a whim googled, "Nick Derington original art for sale." I suspect many collectors here have similar stories they can point to. I was directed to the Felix Comic Art website to find (to my chagrin) that all of the covers had sold. But while I was there I started looking around...

I was drooling when this cover came up on a Heritage auction, and surprised and elated when I actually got it.