What's a publisher to do? Marvel is reprinting Marvelman/Miracleman but some readers are familiar with different prints. Take this scene from Miracleman #4, out this week.

A few folk shouted foul: why had Big Ben replaced Garguanza? Was it down to the Fu Manchu reference? From the Miracleman 3D Special…

But no, when Eclipse published the Miracleman 3D Special, which reprinted this story from the Marvelman Summer Special, Eclipse were on the outs with Warrior publisher Dez Skinn and they didn't use his Big Ben story, instead switching it to a Mick Anglo Marvelman story. The original version from the Marvelman Summer Special was like the new version from Marvel.

But there's another change that some folks found worrying, but it also shows you how things have changed over the decades. Take Mr. Cream's last line from this page, in a monologue addressing himself and his own perceived weaknesses in a rather frank fashion, as printed by Marvel last week.

The original wasn't so coy.

Nor was the Eclipse reprint.

While this kind of change may have been expected for the Mass Market Digital version sold by Marvel and offered from ComiXology alongside the Parental Guide version (And yes, no idea how they're going to deal with the birth issue – the covering up of Warpsmith nipples this week was particularly strange,) this is the first time such an act of censorship has been applied to the printed copy of Marvel's Miracleman intended for an adult audience.

Of course, Marvel never used to be quite so reticent either… take this all ages panel from an earlier issue of Uncanny X-Men…

While modern cultural mores have moved on, Marvelman/Miracleman is a period piece reflecting different attitudes at different times. The above X-Men panel is still reproduced in collections and trade paperbacks, why was the change made in Miracleman?

Should it have been?