Jack Kirby, with Inks and Colors by Al Williamson.
This is awesome. Is that The Watcher?
Yes.
Unpublished sketch by Kirby of Uatu, before he took up residence on the Moon.
Kirby had a lot of ideas for Uatu, and a lot of them never saw publication because he went to DC in the 70s and he was pissed at Stan.
TLDR explanation: Stan was being… Stan.
Also, Jack Kirby was obviously a creative genius… BUT he NEEDED an editor.
Think of Jack Kirby like a fire hydrant on a hot day, with a couple of kids twisting one of the ends off of the nozzle: EVERYBODY in the neighborhood has fun in the water. And there is plenty of water for all of the kids in the neighborhood to get a chance play.
But… the water is not exactly drinkable. Some of the water is crystal clear. Some of it… not so much: Kirby.
Jack needed an editor, but that does not mean that he shared all of his ideas.
this pencil drawing of Uatu is a crystal clear glass of pure Kirby Gold.
I wonder what he had planned for him?
for one thing, Uatu was kind of bad at the whole “Sworn to not Interfere” Schtick. he was quite fond of interfering, actually.
I wonder what his end game was?
and why protect the Earth?
Uatu was supposed to watch the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy, but he spent the entirety of his tenure as the Watcher on Earth’s Moon.
So, again: WHY?
not the obvious “because the comics take place on Earth” answer. seriously, an in story-answer. does anybody know? because I sure as shit don’t, and I would like to have that knowledge.
Earth X got pretty close to answering my question, but Marvel decided that it is not canon. so… I will continue to wonder.
One more thing, anybody else notice that Jack’s Fourth World had one sizable difference from his Marvel Cosmic work:
DC’s Fourth World has boundaries.
The source wall is the edge of existence. It is also where the Gods are sent to die. when the Fourth World Ended (Final Crisis), all of the New Gods rejoined with the Source. They were then reborn in new forms, but their older forms became part of the source wall.
Darkseid kinda looks like one of the Easter Island Statues, right? The Prevailing Theory is that the Easter Island statues were created as memorials for loved ones that passed. Tombstones. Darkseid is a Tombstone. His entire goal in existence is to end all of existence. Fitting, isn’t it? That Darkseid would want to end the Fourth World.
So… What happened to the First, Second, or Third? The Source Wall is where the relics of those Worlds are kept. A Wall.
A wall around existence. Meaning that it is finite. Maybe Jack was feeling sad when he made the New Gods, or maybe he just came to grips with his own mortality. I dunno.
But, Marvel does not have a wall around it. Just an endless expanse of questions and wonder.
I am not saying these things to give answers.
I am saying them to provoke questions for which I do not have answers.
If you want the answers, a good place to start would be to read some more comics.
Come on in, the water feels awesome.
…
Technically speaking, the Source Wall was a post-Kirby addition to the mythos?
Pretty sure Jack’s version of it was just a wall out in space, but later writers took the ball and ran with it to expand its significance. I think you’re right that Jack didn’t intend it to be a boundary, but that’s really the purpose that it serves.
“The source wall is a solid barrier surrounding the multiverse, beyond which lies the source.”
It’s the wall at the end of the New Gods’ existence. So, maybe Jack meant it as giving his New Gods a sense of mortality.
Regardless of Jack’s intent, it does raise the same question. Why does DC have a boundary wall around its existence?
I’m…pretty sure Kirby’s version didn’t have a wall, just the Promethean Galaxy, a vast reach of space filled with folks who’ve tried to cross it bound to the remains of their equipment:
Metron notes that he has no idea what’s beyond it, and WANTS to give it a shot someday, but he hasn’t the guts.
“This one tried to engulf the Barrier… …beyond it lies the source.”
So the Promethean tried to eat his way through the source wall, and wound up chained to a rock and floating through space. A barrier at the edge of all space and time, beyond which lies the source.
Mister Miracle was created by Jack Kirby in 1971 and was included as a part of Kirby’sFourth World storyline which was introduced in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970). Mister Miracle’s first ongoing series lasted 18 issues from 1971 to 1974, and was then revived again for another 7 issues from 1977 to 1978. It would appear that the Fourth World interest had fizzled out by the end of the decade and Mister Miracle and the rest of the New Gods went into comic limbo after a 1980 Justice League of America appearance (issues #183 - 185).
Kirby’s Fourth World characters experienced a revival in the mid-80s, thanks in part to Darkseid’s appearance in the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Great Darkness Saga storyline (1982) and Kenner deciding that Darkseid and his crew would make the perfect villains for the Super Powers Collectiontoy line (and accompanying cartoons and comic books) in 1984. Part of the revival included a deluxe format reprint of the 1971 New Gods saga in 1984 and a Hunger Dogs graphic novel in 1985.Kirby’sFourth World characters really hit their stride in 1986 when Darkseid was revealed to be the villain responsible for the Legends cross-over event, and it wasn’t much later that all of the New Gods became integrated into the DC universe and Mister Miracle became a member of the new Justice League (written by Kieth GiffenandJ.M. DeMatties) in 1987. Coinciding with Mister Miracle joining the Justice League was a one-shot special published in 1987 reminding readers who Mister Miracle was.
Mister Miracle would finally get another ongoing series in 1989 as the Fourth World’s involvement within the DC universe was at all-time high: the Cosmic Odyssey event was just wrapping up, the Forever People had just concluded a six issue mini-series, Mister Miracle and Big Barda had become prominent members of the Justice League International, Lashina (of the Female Furries) was on John Ostrander’sSuicide Squad roster, and another New Gods ongoing series was about to debut. It really was a good time to be a Fourth Worldcharacter.
The premise of Mister Miracle’s 1989 ongoing series was pretty simple - Mister Miracle and Big Barda want to escape all of the crazy superhero shenanigans and just settle down for a quiet ‘normal’ life in the suburbs. J.M. DeMatteis was the first writer for this series - which made sense since Mister Miracle (and Big Barda) had become a permanent fixture in DeMatteis’Justice League International and no other writer (save for Keith Giffen) probably had a greater hand in fleshing out the character since his 1987 return. As you can suspect, the new Mister Miracle ongoing series had many humorous elements as seen in DeMatteisandGiffen’sJLI and really played up the whole 'superheroes trying to settle in a small town without drawing attention to themselves’ aspect. Len Wein became the writer after issue #8 and, while he still kept the humor, the series shifted direction and started to move toward Mister Miracle heading on an intergalactic tours sans Big Barda. I’m not sure if I mentioned that Mister Miracle and Big Barda were heavily integrated into the Justice League universe, and just to demonstrate that point, Justice League Special #1 (which occurs between issue Mister Miracle v2 #12 and Mister Miracle v2 #13) is a pivotal issue in the series and Mister Miracle subscribers would not have received it unless they had ordered it (or sought it out at the local comic book shop). The series then focuses on Mister Miracle’s adventures across the galaxy all while a subplot about a robot Mister Miracle being introduced and killed off within the pages of Justice League America (also by GiffenandDeMatteis) ran subsequently. It should be noted that Doug Moench picked up writing chores at Mister Miracle v2 #14. The final big story arc in this series is about Mister Miracle returning to Earth, moving to Manhattan with Barda and company, deciding that he no longer wants to be a hero anymore and begins to train his old protegé Shilo Norman to become the new Mister Miracle. Ian Gibson illustrated the first 5 issues and was then promptly replaced by Joe Phillips who became the regular artist for the rest of the series (minus a few fill-in issues by various illustrators).
If I had to describe this series to someone, I’d tell them it’s veryvery good with many elements of Giffen’sJustice League incorporated into it (the humor, anyways). A gritty realistic mood was trending as far as comic books were concerned in the late 80s, and to have a series jump on the humor bandwagon (à la JLI) was a refreshing change. Many fans pointed out that this conflicted with the OTHER Fourth World series at the moment (The New Gods) which had a much darker tone, however this may have been done in respect to Kirby’s 1970s Mister Miracle series which also kept a light tone.
Big Barda plays just as much a role in this series as Mister Miracle does, and I’m somewhat surprised she didn’t get her name included in the title. If you are a fan of Kirby’sFourth World universe, I’d recommend checking this series out as A LOT of Fourth World characters make appearances. One of the interesting things about this series is that it picks up on a lot of the story lines and characters that appeared in the 1971 Mister Miracle series, meaning that Mister Miracle’s history/existence was NOT rebooted by the Crisis On Infinite Earths event. I guess there was no point in messing with perfection? While this series is being reviewed in a blog about DC comics from the 1980s (because the first issue was published in 1989) it really is more of a 1990s series - it even contains the obligatory Lobo cross-over (as Lobo was appearing EVERYWHERE in the early 90s).
This series ended at issue #28 (1991) and Moench managed to wrap up any loose ends by the final issue (although it was revealed that he did have plans to have Barda’s new Female Furies battle her former team, but plans had to be scrapped). Mister Miracle continued making appearances in the DC Universe until he got another ongoing series in 1996. Shilo Norman (who was reintroduced in this series) also made sporadic appearances throughout the DC Universe and is still a fan-favorite to this day.
listen, listen. I don’t give a shit about Darkseid and the new gods, but I cannot see the Female Furies as anything but the coolest roller derby team ever. I mean, the names alone:
Big Barda
Bernadeth
Stompa
Lashina
Mad Harriet
Gilotina
And, of course there’s Speed Queen, who actually wears roller skates
![Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0112e06e5b1fa50750979048c7a61b47/ae56bce13010ce53-ad/s1280x1920/640a2b30dadb63e2dd9c794a072b05df581b98e1.jpg "Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]")
![Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/b5a62fcc6dc01fcf4c17eacd228372ac/ae56bce13010ce53-f8/s1280x1920/fad5d895d3fb7fb3a0cfcf3af56627c19af7fd07.jpg "Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]")
![Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/717f436c3bcdc0c01993b36f62b24c22/ae56bce13010ce53-81/s1280x1920/30305b912ba82d31b21099c9d2664faaf274aa5f.jpg "Firestorm vs. Lex Luthor.[from Justice League of America: Wedding Special (2007) #1]")
