Paneling: Mister Miracle #7
It’s the first post of 2026.
I’d say that I hope your year has gotten off to a good start, but… (gestures at everything).
For my part, I’ve started it out by making my way through this weighty tome:
While doing so, I landed on a panel that I love because it involves a character I love and because it gets right to the core of why I love that character.
The panel appears in this issue.
While I do like Mister Miracle a lot, the character in question isn’t the star of the book – though as Mister Miracle himself would point out, “Mister Miracle” isn’t a solo act – but rather his not-yet wife (as of this issue) Big Barda.
As this issue begins, we get a glimpse at the world from which Scott “Mister Miracle” Free and Big Barda escaped and Granny Goodness, the woman who raised them.
It is also, much to the dismay of Scott’s friend and assistant Oberon, the world to which they plan to return.
They plan to return because the forces of the world of Apokolips keep attempting to recapture the two of them as they try to build a life on Earth. Scott’s plan is to return and properly win their freedom.
Of course, Scott really only wants to put himself at risk in much the same way he only endangers himself with his escape artist act.
He once again insists that Barda should stay behind so that he can face off against Granny Goodness alone.
Which brings us to the third panel of the eighth page in which we see Barda’s personality distilled down to its essence in three lines of dialogue that tell you everything you need to know about who Big Barda is.
Sure, there are some specifics about her background and her powers and that sort of thing, but what more could you possibly need to know about Barda than what you see in that panel?
From that alone, you know her, and, of course, to know Barda is to love Barda.
I’m not suggesting that Bada lacks complexity, but the basics are pretty straightforward: the two things she loves most in the world are fighting and her husband.
No, they weren’t married yet at this point, nor had they even fully expressed their feelings, but it’s already clear how they feel about each other from their actions.
In any case, that the core traits of a character can be expressed so economically is just more evidence of Kirby’s genius, and that he expressed it so well with Big Barda goes a long way to demonstrating how there have been so many great post-Kirby takes on the character.
If you ever find yourself writing Barda and are struggling to get a handle on how she would respond to a given situation, all you need to do is look at this panel.
Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.
