Tuesday, August 4, 2009

"Keep talking--and court death!"

New Gods #8 is pretty awesome, all about the collision between the cosmic and the human. You've got Orion and Lightray going up against Kalibak, with "Terrible" Turpin getting in the middle, and his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds forces me to cheat with today's Fourth World panel, and excerpt two of them:


There's plenty of that here, with Turpin being the fearless human getting mixed up in godly affairs. He's not the only one; two of Orion's human pals face off against Kalibak when he comes calling:


I love the dynamism of that page. Who even remembers these characters' names (which is presumably why they have to state them so often)? But they still put up a good fight, shooting Kalibak in the face ineffectually and then doing the old "throw the empty gun" trick, which Kirby sells with his crazy perspective.

There are a couple other nicely amusing bits, when Orion and Lightray getting ignored by a young couple in love:


And Orion wrecking some guy's apartment when trying to watch TV:


But then it's all action, and all awesome, as Turpin keeps throwing himself into the battle with Kalibak, and Kirby sells the hell out of it as he gets beaten beyond recognition:


I love the excitement here; having seen the power levels of these characters and the damage that they can do, a mere human rushing in and getting in the middle of the fight is astonishing, and Kirby really makes us feel the danger he's in. It's an excellent depiction of bravery and heroism, showing that while the events of the Fourth World saga are cosmic in nature, humans won't let themselves be counted out.

And the battle between Orion and Kalibak is amazingly chaotic and hard-hitting; I don't think it's been revealed that Kalibak is also Darkseid's son yet, so the two of them are still figuring out why they seem to have a connection and be so alike in their savagery. I love the almost stilted style of shouted language Kirby has them use in the middle of battle:


And the battle itself is just brutal, with the combatants both having mangled faces by the end. Man, this is just awesome stuff (dammit, I'm really overusing that word). Hell, yeah.

Next: the final Jimmy Olsen. I hope it goes out on a high note.

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