Comic Book Review

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Issue: 1
Authors: Jim Starlin, Matt Banning
Publisher: DC
Price: $3.50

THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #1

Even Gods Can Die

By Kurt Amacker October 30, 2007

THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #1
© DC Comics

Many of Jack Kirby’s New Gods have died in the pages of Countdown and a handful of other DC titles. Now, veteran comics scribe and artist Jim Starlin brings the murders to a head as Darkseid and the other antithetical villains of Apokalips move to exploit the trouble on New Genesis. Not only have some of the New Gods been found with their hearts removed, but Takion cannot feel their souls return to the Source – the cosmic energy from which all living things are born. The issue concludes with the heartrending death of one of the most familiar of the New Gods, in a scenario similar to Sue Dibney’s murder in Identity Crisis. I’ll leave the surprise to you, should you pick this issue up. Starlin uses Darkseid to narrate the story, lending his cold, amoral voice to the proceedings, as he rallies his forces to Apokalips. Though not responsible for the murders, Darkseid intends to use the Anti-Life Equation to take advantage of a reeling New Genesis.

While the issue remains steeped in both Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga and DC’s painfully muddled continuity, Starlin does an admirable job of advancing the larger story begun in Countdown, while concisely explaining the origins of New Genesis and Apokalips via Highfather’s narration. That remains, in my mind, one of the greatest shortcomings of DC’s output – its complicated history and its writers’ frequent disdain for catching up new readers. Starlin rises above, cramming it all in and killing three more of the Gods (and a robot clone) in the process. This issue may still leave some readers perplexed, but it will go down easier than the end of 52 or The Rann-Thanagar War.

Starlin also draws this first issue. He does so with a pleasing mixture of Bronze and Modern Age art, allowing just enough excess to remind the reader that it’s a superhero comic, but with enough restraint to keep eyes from rolling. He also draws the murder scenes with surprisingly graphic violence. If you ever wanted to see a New God with a bloody hole in his chest, now’s your chance. But, Starlin proves that he’s still got the chops. This is a well-written, great-looking comic that looks to serve as a fitting conclusion for Jack Kirby’s New Gods. If you’re out of the loop on the whole Countdown debacle, this might seem a little out of left field. But, anyone that wants to see a writer and artist do justice to the characters’ creator, check this one out.

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