Shilo Norman is the third escape artist to bill himself as "Mister Miracle"...
- Thaddeus Brown
- Scott Free
- Shilo Norman
Shilo first appeared in the 15th issue of the first series.
Police Lieutenant Driver arrived with Shilo in tow while Mister Miracle Scott Free was reheasing a new act with his team. Young Shilo had witnessed the murder of his brother, an innocent truck driver, at the hands of Mr. Fez. Shilo was not cooperating with the police in their investigation, so Lt. Driver arranged for Mister Miracle to provide protection for him, freeing Driver to pursue his own investigation. No sooner are introductions made than a masked man hurls a hand granade at them. At the risk of his own life, Shilo throws the grenade out of the window. (Mister Miracle had already neutralized it, but shilo didn't know that.) Scott's wife Barda catches the would-be assassin, but he had already been executed from afar by a homing device he was wearing.
Scott and Barda both know that Shilo plans to bolt at the first opportunity, which he does. They allow him to do so, and follow him to the Ajax Warehouse, Mr. Fez's hideout. Mr. Fez has a "jammer" aimed at the hotel across the street. The weapon would "jam" hotel guest's brainwaves, then Fez and his men could loot them at their leisure. Shilo arrives and is immediately set upon by five masked men. Mister Miracle and Barda save him, but are then taken by surprise by the jammer themselves. By the time they awaken, Shilo is tied in front of the barrel of the jammer, thus killing two birds with a single shot. Mister Miracle and Barda quickly free him just before the police arrive.
Actually, the whole set-up was planned in advance so that Shilo would lead them to Mr. Fez. Impressed with Shilo's quick thinking and reflexes, Mister Miracle takes him on as his protégé.
As Shilo settles in to his new life as Mister Miracle's apprentice, he keeps seeing an insectoid creature that no one else can see. Soon, it kidnaps Barda and Oberon. When Scott Free and Ted Brown return, they see it, too, just before the thing shrinks Shilo into an insect world. there he encounters many other dangers, including Professor Egg, whose goal it is to create a new race of "insecto-sapiens" by combining insect and human DNA. the situation grows increasingly dire until Shilo screams and... wakes up. Soon upon awakening, they are visited by a showbiz celebrity: Professor Exe ("Professor Egg"), Master of Illusion.
I can't believe this is the type of story the bean-counters at DC preferred to Kirby's "Fourth World" stuff.
In this issue, Shilo gets his own costume... which Scott Free must have bought second hand from Wesley Dodds because it looks exactly like the one worn by Sandy the Golden Boy, with the addition of a red cape. Mister Miracle, Barda and Shilo are traveling cross-country when their car breaks down, forcing them to seek refuge in "Murder Lodge" (presumably it's not actually named that). The Manager, Peppi Lamoko, shows them to their rooms. Barda has a room to herself while Scott and Shilo share. Little do they know that Lamoko racket is running a hotel for fugitives, and them selling them out for the reward money. Scott, Barda and Shilo closely resemble the "Tricky Trio": Mad Merkin, Della the Dinosaur and Little Bullets. In this case, the mob just wants them dead.
As Barda is falling asleep, the is gassed and electrocuted, then the trick bed dumps her in the basement. In the other room, Shilo witnesses the saem thing happen to Scott, then he himself is attacked by Lamoko weilding a sledge hammer. Shilo uses the skills he has learned from Barda to subdue him, but he is soon caught in a doorway/guillotine. His newly-learned escape skills save his life, but he is then attcked from behind by Lamoko's confederate, Mungo. they then trown him in another trap, which he also escapes. He frees Barda and Mister Miracle just as the real Tricky Trio arrive. Five ordinary criminals don't present much of a challenge, and, after turning them over to the police, they are soon on their way.
After that, Scott and Barda very quickly decide to get married. The wedding ceremony is disrupted by "Wild, Wild Wedding Guests," but the happy couple are soon honeymooning on New Genesis. Darkseid arrives on the scene after the fact, causing Oberon and Shilo to flee in mortal terror. And that's the last wee see of Shilo Norman for quite some time.
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It's a shame Shilo, in his costume, wasn't recruited for the Titans West as "Minor Miracle". His outfit would have gone well with most of the Titans, and his Fourth World gadgets would have been handy. There were a number of references to Barda training him to develop strength like hers, but I couldn't tell if it amounted to anything. I recall one panel where he seemed to tear a metal door apart with his hands, but that could have been accomplished with the gadgets in his gloves.
You're remembering that accurately, Dave. In issue #17 alone he uses Big Barda's "special powers training" not only to burst through that metal door you mentioned but also to shatter the sledgehammer Lamoko attacked him with. (How can someone be "trained" to have super strength?)
Well, the Amazons supposedly get their super strength from training, although if this was something taught at Granny Goodness' orphanage, you'd think more Fourth World characters would have Barda level strength, including Scott himself.