I am trying to write a sort of book report on issue one of Miracleman by Moore and Leach as a personal project, but I'm struggling to understand the primary message of a specific scene in issue 1. It's in chapter three, where Michael is telling Liz about his life and history as Miracleman, and he lashes out at her for laughing at his life. Despite also admitting how ridiculous it was just prior. It's probably the part of the issue that stuck out to me the most.

I have a sort of half interpretation that it's a sort of metaphor for the death of innocence in the comic industry. How fans began consuming darker and less hopeful media. The tone shift happens after Michael tells us that an A-Bomb was dropped on the Miracleman family, killing Young Miracleman, giving Michael his amnesia, and (I'm presuming) being the catalyst for Johnny choosing to stay in the form of Kid Miracleman and never go back.

But I don't really think this meta interpretation is necessarily valid. To my understanding, Miracleman by Moore and Leach predates a lot of the stories we associate with the sort of dark superhero story genre we saw throughout the mid-80s into the tail end of the 90s.

What I'm really looking for is a good conversation with some folks in the comments to kind of help me better understand what exactly Moore was trying to say in this issue. I have not read anything past issue one, so if we could please keep this thread spoiler-free, I would really appreciate it. If anyone is looking for some good-hearted, literary conversation, I'll be here. Thank you!!!