Day 19: Darkseid!

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Posted in Apokolips, Day Entries, Jimmy Olsen #134, Villains.

Such a low-key introduction for the most important figure in Jack’s Fourth World mythos, the Master of the Holocaust, leader of Apokolips, the Revelation and all-round Tiger-Force of All Things… ladies and gentlemen, I give you: DARKSEID!

Jack’s closing caption in the last panel of JO #134 (that’s right, Kirbyheads: 19 entries and already two issues down, 53 to go!), doesn’t begin to allude to the cosmic epic to come: “‘Darkseid!’ With the mention of that name, the outline of a vast, ominous intrigue begins to take shape!…”

Darkseid (pronounced “Dark-SIDE“), breaking the Pact with New Genesis, has surreptitiously arrived on Earth seeking nameless earthlings who unwittingly retain in their minds the secret to the Anti-Life Equation. Once decoded, the equation will make the malevolent ruler master of the entire universe, with the hellworld called Apokolips reigning supreme. His agents on our planet assigned to do his bidding include corporate snake Morgan Edge and Inter-Gang, an worldwide network of mobsters…

Here, in the early stages of the Super-War to come, Darkseid hopes to destroy the threat of Superman and, in the process, the Man of Steel’s allies, Jimmy O. and the New Newsboy Legion (as well as The Hairies, The Project, The Outsiders and Habitat, and whoever else is in the Dark Lord’s way or has something he wishes to possess)…

Darkseid just might be the greatest comic-book villain of them all. Galactus is a superb candidate, except there is an ambivalence, a melancholy about that “God” stand-in which allows for a modicum of sympathy. Not so with the ashen-faced, stoic, helmeted nemesis of all that is good… Empathy? Not a chance! But respect? You betchum, Red Ryder! Ol’ Darkseid doesn’t have to scream and stamp his feet (though he’s known to bellow a little at times), he just stands there, cold as stone, and that’s enough to scare the poop out of anyone in his presence. An inspired and resonant creation, created by an artist seeking answers to deeply profound questions — The Meaning of It All — in the pages of that much-maligned art form, the comic book. Who’da thunk it?

5 thoughts on “Day 19: Darkseid!”

  1. J.A. Fludd

    I actually think of Doctor Doom — Jack’s other great villain — as the true figure of Ultimate Evil in comic books. But Darkseid sets the standard for all universe-threatening cosmic villainy. He can be a whole galaxy away and still pose as much of threat as if he were there in the room; now THERE’S a bad guy…

  2. patrick ford

    Jon,

    Sorry about the length of this post, but…

    Darkseid is a rational villain. Kirby may have based Darkseid on the notion:

    “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

    As seen in Kirby’s great work “Street Code,” Kirby felt that violence was part of man’s basic instinct, that it required a conscious, contemplative effort to recognize, and hold the animal impulse in check.

    Kirby described his own inner battle in “Street Code,” and spoke about man’s and his own potential for violence in TJKC #52:

    “I wouldn’t want to be in a position of leadership where I could hurt somebody, because I feel that I’m capable of it. A lot of people in my generation are capable of it. It’s done all the time in business… That’s what competition means: One man symbolically killing another.”

    In Forever People #3, on page 21 (hate to say but beautifully inked by Vince Colletta), Darkseid says:

    “I am the revelation. The tiger-force at the core of all things.”

    These words echo Kirby’s view of human (and alien) nature. That it is in man’s instinctual programing to mark his territory, to protect it, and if possible to expand his domination.

    Kirby wrote of the “road-map” to our galactic doorstep included on the Pioneer Plaque:

    “I would have included no information other than a rough image of the Earth and its Moon. I see no wisdom in the eagerness to be found and approached by any intelligence with the ability to accomplish it from any sector of space. In the meetings between “discoverers” and “discoverees” history has always given the advantage to the finders. In the case of the Jupiter plaque, I feel that a tremendous issue was thoughtlessly taken out of the world forum by a few individuals who have marked a clear path to our door. My point is: who will come a-knocking — the trader or the tiger?”

    Kirby compared Darkseid and Doctor Doom in issue #47 of Amazing Heroes, May 1984.

    “Darkseid is like Patton, he would sleep with his troops in a field. That would never bother him. It’s his goal that counts. He’s an ultimate figure, his goal is to take your mind. Darkseid is a majestic figure. He’s dangerous because his decisions affect all of us. He’s a driver, a ruler, and a shaker. He’s the biggest boss. You never get to see Darkseid. He prefers to remain behind the scenes, and have his minions act for him. You don’t know the real scenario of who runs the world. Nobody gets to see the boss of the corporation, but they’re there, and they’re in positions of great power. That power has an effect on all of us.”

    By contrast, Doctor Doom is a neurotic little man. Kirby describes him as:

    “A perfectionist is a guy who will find fault with everything, who will drive you mad, who will drive himself mad. His trouble is a scratch on his face, that makes him imperfect, and he wants you to have a scratch just like him. The same principal underlies his hatred of Reed Richards. Doom can not tolerate the idea Richards is his intellectual equal, or superior. Doom is a frustrated competitor, because he has imperfections, and the imperfections drive him mad.”

    Kirby’s most ominous villain might be Darius Drumm, who combines a power greater than Darkseid’s with the irrational madness of Doom.

    1. JonBCooke Post author

      Bravo, Patrick. MUCH appreciated, your commentary and research regardless of length. You and all those kind enough to reply are making this blog exactly how I intended and I cannot thank you guys enough.

      You took the words out of my mouth regarding the Latverian monarch — petty, vain and paranoid, no personality defects of Darkseid. I never shined to Victor myself; too broad and arch, though Wallace Wood’s version was extraordinary.

      I’m going to confess that I never read Silver Star. That shortcoming will be rectified. Now that I’m back full-time in Kirbyland — and I will be writing for John Morrow again, slowly but assuredly getting back into the game — so I have a lot a acquainting and reacquainting to do!

      Before, when I first started out with the Kirby Collector, I approached the subject of Jack Kirby with a passionate fervor and intense loyalty, partially from still being upset at his passing, partially because I was still angry about the “Get Jack His Art Back” fight. I knew the work was deep, resonant, rewarding, but I felt I had time to study it later. At that time I felt it was time for reporting.

      Now, for what it is worth, it is beginning to feel immensely rewarding to give his text (so to speak) a deeper, more measured consideration. Piece by piece.

      I haven’t lost my love for the man or his work, but the enormity of it is just starting to reveal itself to me. Not the many, many thousands of pages and stories so much as the IDEAS.

      I am firmly convinced, long after we’re dead and buried, Jack’s work, his artistry, will endure and resonate and instill passion and loyalty in generations to come. Marvel and DC will elicit nothing; Kirby will be recognized and appreciated.

      Kirby will have his due.

  3. J.A. Fludd

    I think Dr. Stephen Hawking would agree with Jack about sending messages to extraterrestrials. He’s been quoted as saying very similar things about contacts between civilizations in our own history.

  4. patrick ford

    J.A. is correct; great minds think alike.

    Kirby: “I would have included no information other than a rough image of the Earth and its Moon. I see no wisdom in the eagerness to be found and approached by any intelligence with the ability to accomplish it from any sector of space. In the meetings between “discoverers” and “discoverees” history has always given the advantage to the finders. In the case of the Jupiter plaque I feel that a tremendous issue was thoughtlessly taken out of the world forum by a few individuals who have marked a clear path to our door. My point is: who will come a-knocking — the trader or the tiger?”

    Hawking: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach. If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

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