Technically speaking, I already reviewed the first Darkseid appearance in Jimmy Olsen #134.
But let’s be fair, a single panel shouldn’t be considered his REAL first appearance, so…
Forever People #1 (1971)
by Jack Kirby
You might remember from my Jimmy Olsen reviews that I’m not exactly fond of Kirby’s work at DC Comics. In fact, over the years I’ve started to believe that the VAST majority of those who praise the Fourth World have never actually read the Kirby stories.
Forever People is in an even worse position. At least “Jimmy Olsen”, “New Gods” and “Mister Miracle” (the only Kirby series that I liked) had a lot of impact on DC Comics.
The Forever People, however, are barely ever mentioned.
But who exactly are the Forever People? Well, the narration handily describes them once they exit a Boom Tube™.
Well that makes everything clear.
Their first order of business is almost run into another car, but luckily their Super-Cycle™ can turn intangible.
So let’s meet these Forever People.
First we have the awkwardly named “Vykin the Black”.
He’s arguably the first black superhero in DC Comics; another contender is Black Racer (also from Kirby’s “New Gods” series), but I wouldn’t exactly call him a hero. For reference, Jon Stewart won’t be introduced in Green Lantern until a year later, and Black Lightning won’t debut until 1977. DC was seriously behind Marvel in terms of black representation: Black Panther is from 1966 and Falcon is from 1969.
Theres also Mark Moonrider, who despite the name I don’t think is supposed to be Native American. I’m mostly confused by the fact that he’s the only one in the team to have both a first and a last name.
We also have the very annoying cowboy Serifan and Big Bear.
I trust that I don’t have to specify which one of these is Big Bear; he’s the only one whose name makes any sense.
Of course this guy doesn’t find anything particularly weird about the Forever People… he’s in the DC Universe, there’s people like the Metal Men running around.
All we know at this point about the Forever People is that they’re looking for someone called Beautiful Dreamer, and that they’re on the run from Darkseid.
Then Serifan faints because he’s receiving a telepathic message from Beautiful Dreamer.
The Forever People have just arrived, but they’re already the target of Intergang. The only reason why they’re not shot on the spot is because they give their leader “the whim-whams” (WTF!?)
And that’s when Darkseid is contacted. He sure looks A LOT more like his future self than in his Jimmy Olsen cameo.
And then we move to Clark Kent, who is interviewing a boxer who is upset by the very existence of Superman.
While I think Kirby’s Fourth World stories are seriously overrated, I enjoy the way he writes Superman. A pithy that he didn’t get the chance to write his regular series, I honestly think Kirby would’ve written him just fine.
At least he would’ve saved us from the meandering two-dimensional characters he wrote in the other series.
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot the usual warning.
The kids who took pictures of the Forever People earlier are friends with Jimmy Olsen, who informs Clark of the newcomers.
They even took pictures of the Boom Tube™, which Clark examines with his microscopic vision.
Look, I can believe Superman’s eyesight can enhance an image millions of times, but this is beyond ridiculous.
Superman decides to investigate, mostly because the Forever People mentioned a “Supertown” and he’s so desperately lonely that he hopes to find someone similar to him there.
Of course Superman feels so lonely. It’s not like there’s ANYONE who is both a survivor of his planet and has his same powers.
Intergang spots Superman patrolling the area, leading to another Darkseid cameo.
Superman finds the Forever People just in time to be attacked by Intergang. Not that he’s damaged by their Sigma Rays™.
Superman easily takes care of Intergang’s helicopter, and he finally meets the Forever People.
You would expect him to care about these kids… wonder why they’re under attack by an unknown enemy, for example… but nope, he only wants to “gain their confidence” because he’s exclusively interested in reaching Supertown.
Because never forget Silver Age Superman is just. The. Worst.
At least he has experience on his side, whereas the Forever People just rush into danger and they’re immediately knocked out.
Our protagonists have already been made completely irrelevant by the guest star. We’re definitely off to a good start, considering this is page 17 and we don’t know ANYTHING about them.
They’re so irrelevant, in fact, that the only way they can contribute to the plot is to fuse together into Infinity Man.
And Infinity Man is… a guy with no personality who can do whatever the plot needs for him to win.
To summarize: the Forever People did NOTHING except Captain Planet themselves into a new character that can solve everything in two panels flat.
But please, go head and explain me that Kirby is an amazing writer and this is going over my head.
The reason why Darkseid has kidnapped Beautiful Dreamer is that she has the chance to understand the Anti-Life Equation. Whatever the heck that is.
And that’s when Darkseid makes his full appearance!!!
I have to say that I don’t mind this look… the cape looks good on him, and he’s finally wearing pants. So I guess the fact he was wearing a cape at the start of the Great Darkness Saga didn’t come out of nowhere!
Darkseid has already decided that he has little use for Beautiful Dreamer, so he simply lets her go.
Credit where it’s due, Kirby does manage to play this while keeping Darkseid’s position as a larger-than-life figure.
He’s still a dick, though: if it wasn’t for Superman, the tanks placed beneath Beautiful Dreamer would’ve killed her anyway.
With Darkseid gone, Infinity Man splits back into the separate Forever People.
Superman is left with a ton of questions (join the team, buddy) and he’s still fixated on Supertown.
The Boom Tube™ returns automatically (I don’t think it will do that again), and Superman takes the opportunity for a quick trip.
However Superman has second thoughts: with the threat of Darkseid he doesn’t want to leave Earth alone, so he comes back.
Superman will get the chance to visit Supertown in Jimmy Olsen #147.
And that’s the end of the first issue!
So basically we learned NOTHING about the Forever People… this was a Superman story.
The second issue starts with them visiting a city on Earth for the first time… why wasn’t THAT the first issue!?
Not that it would’ve explained ANYTHING.
Historical significance: 7/10
This is a tough one. Darkseid is obviously MASSIVELY significant, but… there isn’t a lot about him that is introduced here, most of it will come later. Even the fact this is technically the first time he meets Superman is very understated.
Considering nobody has ever cared for the Forever People, this is as high as they probably get.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
That is probably the most ridiculous “zoom and enhance” moment in the history of comics.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Every time I critique Kirby I feel like I have to defend my position. There’s no denying he was a titan of the industry, a terrific worldbuilder and of course one of the greatest, if not THE greatest comic book artist… you don’t get the nickname “the king” for nothing.
But I’m sorry: Kirby’s writing just sucks.
To be fair, this is far from his worst work. Unlike most of the Fourth World stuff I can actually understand WTF is going on! The problem is that… barely anything is going on. If I didn’t know some of this stuff would be used by later writers, the ONLY thing that would make me continue buying the series is the artwork. If you only take what is shown in this comic alone, I don’t see anything all that interesting regarding the Fourth World and ESPECIALLY the Forever People.
That’s the reason why Mister Miracle is the only series I liked: at least there there was characterization, with Mister Miracle and Big Barda being the focus (most of the time at least).
The Forever People, Orion and the New Gods are just… there.
At least, as I said Kirby DOES write a decent Superman: there’s a hint of a deeper characterization here. Definitely more than the vast majority of Kirby’s characters.
How close is this to the modern character?: 7/10
Darkseid debuts amazingly close to his eventual development. He’s surprisingly involved with minor players… I don’t see modern Darkseid micromanaging Intergang like that.
But him releasing Beautiful Dreamer and then leaving without facing any consequences is already definitely Darkseid, including using her as a booby trap.
I have to wonder if the cape was dropped to limit the similarity with Doctor Doom, because you can definitely see the resemblance. I kind of prefer the look he has in this story to his more traditional one… but then again I’m Doctor Doom superfan.
Maybe you will indeed be attacked by Kirby fanboys, but I’ll support you. It never fails to boggle my mind how many people seem to want to downplay Stan Lee’s talent and say that Jack Kirby (also Steve Ditko) was as much or more responsible for early Marvel than he was but that Lee takes all the creative credit for himself. I’ll always see Kirby’s solo output – including the Fourth World – as concrete proof that Lee deserves every bit of credit he claims. There is not a shred of the early-Marvel style that reinvented the medium in Kirby’s solo writing output, this being an excellent representative example.
Kirby’s writing struck me as being full of high-concept ideas; too full, in fact. Some of those ideas would persist and find a place in the larger DC/Marvel continuity, but others would be quietly forgotten or retconned, like for example, Kirby’s interpretation of Black Panther.
Crucially, those which survived were the ones adopted and adapted by other writers. I put it to you that without his appearance in Levitz’s LEGION, Darkseid would not have become the major part of the DC universe that he is.