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upagainstthesunset · 3 months

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Okay I had saved last rb in my drafts for a time when I was at the computer to type up my own thoughts that this brought up.

It would make sense that if Darkseid/Apokolips is "evil" (read: villain), then the opposite being Highfather/New Genesis is "good" (read: hero). That stands to reason for like 90% of super hero comics in DC. But interestingly, it's not a perfect 1:1 for New Gods. Yes Orion stood against Darkseid and swore to take down his own father if it was the last thing he did, but he would do so with his own hands. Not with weapons or armies. The Fourth World publication history became a bit of a mess, but in-universe that seemed to be the original plan.

And what's interesting is even that good vs evil thing isn't quite exactly right. It's more that the evil is oppression, and the opposite of oppression is free will. That is what those on New Genesis represent.

[ID: Two comic panels from New Gods (1971) #1. In the first Highfather and Orion bow to a group of children who had been singing. Highfather says, "First we boy to the young -- they are the carriers of life! They must remain free, Orion! Life flowers in freedom!" Orion replies, "In this cause I live as well."

In the second, the two walk through a darkened corridor. Orion says, "There is danger, then! Life and freedom are threatened--" To which Highfather says, "On a scale never before attempted! Come! We go to the chamber of the Source!" /END]

And as OP mentioned, it also wouldn't have been Highfather to fight against Darkseid anyway, because long, long ago Izaya the warrior had already done that. For many years! To the point of tearing apart all the universe around them. He looked at the destruction, the broken life and festering remnants of war, and saw that his actions were no better than Darkseids since in the end it all led to ruin. So he sought to find himself, and he did.

[ID: Two comic panels from New Gods (1971) #7 of Izaya. The first with his face in his hands. He wears gold, red and black armor and says, "We are worse than the old gods! They destroyed themselves!! We destroy everything!! This is Darkseid's way! I am infected by Darkseid!! To save New Genesis -- I must find Izaya!!"

In the second he rips off the shirt of armor and throws his staff. He yells into the sky, "I tear off my armor! I reject this war-staff as a weapon!!! I reject the way of war!!" /END]

That was all back in 1971. Since then several others have written Highfather and Orion, and even more have written Darkseid. Now for comparison, let's jump to 2013 and 2014 to see what New 52 gave us, since that seems to be what a lot of newer canon is based off of, and what many fans are familiar with...

If I recall correctly, the New Gods make an appearance first in Wonder woman. You can see even from a cover from this arc that the Highfather described above doesn't really seem like the one they're portraying. This cover would have you believe he is a dictator.

[ID: Cover of Wonder Woman (2011) #22 with the tagline "For the Glory of New Genesis" written in a blocky font with backwards R's. The image is a giant bust of Highfather with Wonder Woman and Orion flying in front. It is colored red and yellow and highly stylized to look soviet in appearance. /END]

Then In Superman we see Orion acting kind of like a jerk to be honest. In the past he had acted honorably and wanted to protect innocents. Yes he has violence and destruction running deep within him, but the whole point was that he could be something more. I don't remember a single time where he was vying for "the throne", so I really don't know where that line came from.

[ID: Two panels from Superman (2011) #18 of Orion. The first is after defeating a monster. He says with an angry wrinkled face, "But seriously... You can't even muster a 'thank you'?"

In the second he has a smoother face and thinks "Is this why I'm so angry? Because I'm tired of being treated more like an errand boy than an heir to the throne?" /END]

And the last item to point out is from Godhead (my beloathed) where Highfather and all of New Genesis is portrayed as a warring planet that attacked OA (if I remember right, I try not to think of this story as much as possible). Here you can see Highfather is shown as an armored leader of thousands of troops. This to me is the antithesis of what Highfather stands for, and a slap in the face of the character building Jack Kirby did. Was this meant to be before he denounced war? I can only hope so given the armor colors. But it doesn't seem to be the case since this is taking place when Orion is already a full adult.

[ID: A comic panel from Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead #1. Highfather stands on a balcony far above thousands of troops standing in formation. He wears heavy gold, red and black armor. Narration reads, "Every since -- for time beyond measure -- we have readied for the next battle with Darkseid. We know not when the final confrontation will come... only that it will." /END]

So in all of the above you can see how newer readers (if you can call 2014 new), might really think that Highfather is meant to actively fight Darkseid, and that Orion is his warrior son who is next in line for some great throne. And that's really a shame because New Gods was a story about real human emotion and choices, even if it was about gods. Jack Kirby explicitly wanted to make a story for modern audiences where the gods represented the people of today!

Anyway, I've been meaning to express this whole concept of N52 New Gods and why it's such a disservice for a while now, and that last ask/reply gave me the courage to sit down and do it. There's so much more than this that we could go into, so consider this scratching the surface. And like OP of that reply, I too don't really know what tf is going on with New Gods right now, especially if their horribly out of character appearance in Action Comics from just over a year ago is canon. I think once again they're off in limbo and writers don't really know what to do with them. Sadly all too common.

#katetakes #new gods #fourth world #highfather #darkseid #orion #newgodsmeta #wow this post took me literally an hour to put together jeez

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