The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Punchy]

Just like a lot of the Villain’s Month books, I think this one is mis-titled. Yes, Darkseid was the villain of the first arc of this book, but this issue was written by Greg Pak and ties heavily into the first arc of his Batman/Superman run, so really, readers of that title should be directed to this issue, not readers of Justice League. Man, this is getting confusing.

This issue starts with the origin of Darkseid, we see him before he became a New God, as Uxas, and we see how he kills the Old Gods and steals their powers, becoming Darkseid, as well as how his brother-in-law became Highfather. I’ve never actually read the original Jack Kirby Fourth World stories (I know, I know, I’m going to rectify that soon) so I don’t know how much of this was a re-telling or a massive retconning, but either way, it was interesting and Paulo Siquera’s art was fantastic, that one splash-page where we see Uxas transformed into Darkseid was awesome. I’ve always quite liked Siquera’s style, but here, with no inks, it looked spectacular.

After establishing Darkseid and Apokolips, Pak then shows us why Darkseid has attacked in books like Earth 2 and Justice League. Kaiyo, the trickster and current villain in Batman/Superman has been leading him through the multiverse, where he kills the heroes he sees, until he comes across the New 52 and is defeated, as we saw in Justice League #1 to #6.

I did find a little weird how the reason the New 52 JL were able to defeat him was because they were ‘younger, rougher and crazier’, that just shows how EXTREME and 90s this new era of DC can actually be.

Once again, this book made me realise that I really do have to get around to reading Earth 2 soon, and the last page was also very interesting, as we see that Darkseid has imprisoned a Superman. Which Superman? Is Earth 2 Superman still alive? Who knows.

Darkseid is one of the best villains in comics, so I for one was glad to see his origins, now to read the original stories and see how furious I can become at DC changing them.

[IvCNuB4]

I think you're getting confused by the Villain issues because you're trying to tie these specifically to what's currently happening in the DCU when the point of these issues is to also give back stories and origins to the villains. Darkseid's first appearance was in "Justice League" and now we know it was because he first discovered Earth 2. There was a one-off line by Superman in "JL" way back when he was captured by Darkseid about seeing alternate Earth versions of himself. And I believe Darkseid made a comment then about finding a mate for his daughter. The last page of this issue shows that Darkseid has been

[Reveal] Spoiler: Click to Expand

"collecting" alternate-universe Supermen and,if I'm interpreting that last panel correctly, possibly building one of his own.

[Victorian Squid]

The Kirby background was a lot more esoteric. This issue felt like the Cliff Notes to the new mythology. I didn't really enjoy it much as a comic book, though.

[eltopo]

so darksied is basically Kratos from god of war ? I know nothing about the new gods is this close to the same origin as the Kirby original ?

[Draco x]

so darksied is basically Kratos from god of war ? I know nothing about the new gods is this close to the same origin as the Kirby original ?

The Kirby origin is way better, trust me.

[eltopo]

The Kirby origin is way better, trust me.

I trust you

[Victorian Squid]

This did not feel mythic or epic in scale at all, neither the art or writing gave it any gravitas considering the subject matter.

I would hate to be in the position of having to rewrite Kirby in one issue, that's for sure. But I hated reading someone else do it too.

My favorite Darkseid is in the cartoon Galactic Guardians Super Powers Team, where Darkseid talks like Cookie Monster and tries to bang Wonder Woman.

[Victorian Squid]

That cartoon has a classic Cyborg intro too where he is walking to the b-ball court with a kid who has a prosthetic leg who says, "I can't wait until one day I can play basketball again!"

And Cyborg says--no lie--"Pssh, yeah, haha. Magic Johnson, look out." He could make the kid a new leg like his own, but instead he delivers a burn.

[MrBlack]

That cartoon has a classic Cyborg intro too where he is walking to the b-ball court with a kid who has a prosthetic leg who says, "I can't wait until one day I can play basketball again!"

And Cyborg says--no lie--"Pssh, yeah, haha. Magic Johnson, look out." He could make the kid a new leg like his own, but instead he delivers a burn.

[fieldy snuts]

so darksied is basically Kratos from god of war ? I know nothing about the new gods is this close to the same origin as the Kirby original ?

The Kratos analogy actually seems spot on =O

[holtom2000]

that lex has such an evil laugh ....

[Victorian Squid]

There it is! It'd take him, what, 10 minutes to put together a decent leg for that kid?!

[Victorian Squid]

that lex has such an evil laugh ....

Everyone is nuts. It's probably my favorite iteration of the DCU right after the Sea World waterski show.

[eltopo]

The Kratos analogy actually seems spot on =O

reading this comic it was the first thing that came to mind

[fieldy snuts]

reading this comic it was the first thing that came to mind

leave it to dc to give their version of evil incarnate the geoff johns sympathetic villain treatment