On Monday, DC Comics announced and revealed Jim Lee‘s newly redesigned Jack Kirby-created ultra villain Darkseid.
As you can tell by my writer profile, Darkseid is one of my favorite villains, so seeing that there was a redesign at all was a bit of a letdown, personally. You see, the current story arc in Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s mega popular Justice League is a story centering around Apokoliptian technology coming to Earth, which of course means that Darkseid is behind all of the madness torturing DC’s top heroes. Jim Lee and company have been busy redesigning a lot of characters, so it’s no surprise that they decided to touch Darkseid, as well.
We’re not going to see the new Darkseid in action until Justice League #4, which is scheduled for a release on December 21 and a good time for the character reveal, but we got an early look at the character this week. Now, just because it’s not a surprise, it doesn’t mean I’m excited or pleased with the result. Literally, no one is safe from The New 52 redesigns.
Well, let’s just have a look at the full image, and then we’ll talk about it.
Now, there’s a lot going on here, and it’s a bit different than the Darkseid that I know and love. The Darkseid that I know and love is a rock monster that rocks a blue tunic, which is pretty much the best thing in the world. He was able to be the most intimidating character in comics while being dressed ridiculously. He doesn’t need a suit of armor to fight the Justice League. He doesn’t need 25 inches between his legs. In fact, we never need to see anything between his legs. In fact, please go back and edit to the lower regions of this image to take this image out of my mind! Jack Kirby created a perfect villain with Darkseid, and that should be respected.
Anyway, this has been a bit of a to-do across the Internet, but one site that had the best idea in the world about the creative process was from the brilliant minds of Bryan Turner, Penelope Gaylord, and Jerry Gaylord from the incredibly hilarious web comic The-Gutters who gave us this gem of brilliance:
My Little Darkseid Is The Greatest Thing.
[Source: DC Comics]
Like: The face & Skin
Dislike: The cracked armor. Wouldn’t the all-powerful ruler of an entire world, and a God to boot be able to afford un-cracked armor?
Comment by Robb Nunya — November 17, 2011 @ 9:07 am
Shhh!!! Listen! That’s the sound of Jack Kirby spinning in his grave!
Comment by MadMike — November 17, 2011 @ 9:23 am
Is Parallax aware his costume has been stolen?
Comment by Joseph C Wren — November 17, 2011 @ 4:20 pm