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The Comeback Trail
Surprisingly in the post Crisis, post Legends, DC Universe of 1987 Mister Miracle reappeared in two places. As a member of the newly formed Justice League International, the JLA's successor and in his first Special by Mark Evanier and Steve Rude. In hindsight the Special holds up better than the League as J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffin's conversion of the Justice League into a comedy troupe quickly wore thin. Looking back it's hard to remember why it was so popular. No wonder in this period Gorilla Grodd once remarked to a superheroine facing him singlehanded, "You? Alone? Get out of here. I'm Supergorilla Grodd. I've battled the Justice League! Back when that meant something!" (Angel and the Ape #3 May '91) Returning to the Special the Frees were living on Earth and Barda had just asked Scott to stop risking his life in escapes. After all they had been through she didn't want to chance losing him if something went wrong. He reluctantly agreed but unfortunately an Apokoliptian attack leveled their house so to rebuild they took Oberon's offer of employment at a circus. With Barda as their strong woman and Scott as an escape artist the failing circus was revitalized and saved from bankruptcy. Of course these relatively simple escapes worried Barda but she could endure them. What she couldn't stand was that when longtime con artist Funky Flashman re-appeared to say he had an unbeatable trap and a million dollar contract Scott couldn't resist the challenge. Infuriated Barda stalked off to think things over leaving her husband torn by indecision in the choice of his wife or his art. Both Scott and Barda were unaware that the deathtrap Flashman was promoting was actually the creation of Granny Goodness. She was under orders from Darkseid to destroy Scott's spirit and the trap was her answer. But to ensure he walked into it she needed the right bait.It turned out Granny's precautions were wise as Scott had realized Barda was more important. But backing out was no longer an option. But despite not having any tricks up his sleeves(or anywhere else) Scott survived everything the deathtrap could throw at him and made it to the end. As you might have guessed they managed to reconcile thei differences. As Barda put it, "I've finally begun to understand why my husband has to keep risking his life. I don't like it but I can live with it." So she could also live with his career in the Justice League, she even entered the action herself on occasion. But after a lifetime spent fighting Barda longed to try a more domestic lifestyle. Which she finally got the chance to experiment with in the new Mister Miracle series in 1989. Written by J.M. DeMatteis in a similar style as his Justice League and (initially) drawn by Ian Gibson the series worked while Gibson's art remained in the book. After his departure with DeMatteis the only regular things fell apart. However the comic lasted longer than I expected thanks to J.M. DeMatteis' popularity at the time. Anyway Scott and Barda moved to Bailey, New Hampshire in hopes of having actual secret identities with normal lives but as you might guess trouble kept finding them. Case in point; Lashina, Barda's old comrade from the Female Furies and her replacement as leader, had been hanging around Earth with the Suicide Squad under her Duchess alias. In Suicide Squade 32 (by John Ostander, Kim Yale and Grant Miehm) she was finally ready to go home and needed to recruit cannon fodder. Barda was first on the list as Lashina needed her Mega-Rod. Sadly despite the promising scene on the last page of #32 we didn't get to see Barda wrapped in Lahina's straps. When Barda showed up in #33 she was restained purely by the drugs of Poison Ivy which kept her sedated and unable to tear Lashina's head off. The Squad lost a few people but Barda returned to Scott without any major problems and they resumed their occasionally normal life. Eventually all the weirdness got too extreme and they left Bailey before one of their enemies levelled the town. They moved to New York City which was handy for the JLI embassy and, until tragic reality intruded on September 11th 2001, comic writers were regularly blowing parts off without any qualms so Apokoliptian attacks passed almost un-noticed. Scott and Barda are currently residing in Metropolis though if they're appearing regularly anywhere I have no idea. Apart from Walter Simonson's Orion I haven't seen them around much lately. But they'll be back. It's hard to keep any of Jack "King" Kirby's creations out of the limelight for too long. Back to Barda in the late Seventies
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