Newer Gods 14. Scott Free of Apokolips, or The Day Darkseid created the Terminators
Newer Gods is a monthly feature where I take a look back at the history of DC Comics’ New Gods from the era after original creator Jack Kirby. It’s a study of creators as they take a look back at work of the King of Comics and re-create it.
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Mister Miracle 21
This issue of Mister Miracle kicks off with an interesting credits box, as it declares the Englehart / Rogers team as direct from Detective Comics. It seems even during this low-selling era of Batman books, that title still sold better than our faithful New God hero. Vince Colletta returns for inks, immediately making me wonder how much better this might have looked with a better inker. Few could match Terry Austin on that Detective run, but Vinnie isn't exactly the best guy to embellish a detail-oriented artist like Rogers.
Our new tale kicks off on New Genesis. As you might recall before the insane digression into the Brave and the Bold alternate universe, Big Barda fell back under Granny's control. Now she apparently is dying, her mind damaged by the meddling inside her brain.
Scott storms off, adamant he must find a way to save her. This leaves Oberon and Highfather to have a fascinating conversation about the nature of their relationships with Mister Miracle. Oberon's weird father/sidekick role has always made him fascinating and it's used to great effect here.
Meanwhile, Scott confronts Himon about the secrets kept about the true nature of his powers. Himon reveals it was all pre-ordained. Orion needed New Genesis to tame his dark soul, while Scott would go to Apokolips to harden his soul before his powers flourished. It's an interesting take on the characters, although the scene is marred at the end, where Scott refers to Barda as his mortal wife. Sounds like no prize territory to me.
Time passes. We switch scene to Apokolips, where Granny Goodness reveals to Darkseid a mysterious flyer making its way around the lowlies. This leads to another very Darkseid speech as he talks of being above notions of good and evil. He shuns insipid morals for he sees the true nature of life. Typical megalomaniacal bad guy talk really.
Oberon accompanies Scott to Apokolips, making him about a thousand times braver than yours truly. He's there because Scott needs a friend, but he's also quite convenient for leading the camera they use as well.
Mister Miracle promises to take power away from Darkseid, but the slavish masses of Apokolips don't exactly trust him. He promises to show his worth the next day at the Terrorium, then vanishes in a puff of smoke - really just another one of his many tricks.
This continues perhaps one of my biggest problems with these comics: despite all the talk about his new powers, he's pretty much still just acting like his old trickster self. It's barely even nailed down what powers he gained when he combined with Mother Box.
Darkseid sends out his minions to track down Scott. They look quite a bit like Terminators (about a decade before that film) and like the Terminators they fail miserably at recovering Mister Miracle.
The next morning, Darkseid stages a public execution, just exactly the kind of event for Mister Miracle to interrupt with a shower of fireworks spelling out his name. Darkseid quickly detains Scott as he doesn't even put up a fight. And though Darkseid may be one of the vilest villains in the universe, he still hasn't learned to not put Mister Miracle in a death trap, no matter how hard it is to escape.
Apokolips is bad enough without a billion T-800s running around.
The Terrorium is a massive structure of swinging crushing blades, but Scott and Oberon easily escape through the tunnels meant to dispose of the mangled corpses afterward. The blades instead cut themselves, destabilizing the entire structure. Mister Miracle and Oberon rise from the damaged structure.
Mister Miracle declares, "I have challenged the power of Darkseid, and I have won!" He uses this fact as a rallying cry for the people, even as its broadcast back to New Genesis. Yet it might be his final words that might prove the most important. "This was for you, Barda."
Back on New Genesis, Barda shocks awake. The sight of her husband finally brings her out of Granny's brainwashing. At the same time, many of the lowlies start to rise from their own dark miasma of existence.
Next issue we are promised, "Mister Miracle attacks Darkseid within in his own layer." But the story title proves the most ominous: "Midnight of the Gods."
This was the weakest Marshall's work has looked on the book so far, almost certainly due to his time crunch on two books mixed with the pure laziness of Colletta's lines. Vinnie may be the world's most maligned inker, but he deserves a lot of flack for the loss of so much of what makes Rogers' art so vibrant and strong.
It's sad as this would prove the penultimate issue for Marshall's run with the character. For that issue, we're free of Vince Colletta but have two inkers in the place of one. Coupled with a sudden appearance by one John Harkness on the writing duties... an ominous sign for any fan that already knows that name.
But first, it's the return of the Return as the New Gods as they face "The Apocalypse Child!"
