Hey everyone! News has been a bit slow and chaotic today with the Spiderman: No Way Home leaks coming out and the release of Netflix’s The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. However, today we thought we would change it up a bit and talk about a film that we were thrilled to hear announced over a year ago and, then, disheartened when it was cancelled.
We’re talking about DC’s New Gods film.
Ava Duvernay was set to direct with comic writer Tom King helping pen the script. It seemed to be shaping up to be something cosmically spectacular. Then, Warner Bros. went through some restructuring and the project fell through with little hope of it ever returning…
This was a mistake. One, Rek and others at SeppinRek have decided would be important enough for a post.
Jack Kirby is one of the most brilliant comic book writers who has ever lived! He practically revolutionized the super hero story and has created hundreds of characters fans love today! His successful legacy in the comic’s world can not be overstated.
I never had the pleasure to read the Fourth World story released by DC in the early seventies and reprinted in the eighties. However, I discovered these stories much more recently. After Tom King’s Mister Miracle, I was astounded by the history and storytelling of these dynamic and unique characters that I had to know more. I read everything I could find on the New Gods by Jack “The King” Kirby. His cosmic epic showcases a science fiction world with biblical writing and prosaic art that merely attempts to show the grandness of these godlike characters. Beautiful, bright colors of hopeful heroes desperate to stop an encroaching evil the universe chooses to ignore. Darkseid.
Kirby and Kirby enthusiasts have often described how the writer attempted to draw parallels to the second world war. A planet of peace and, more importantly, ignorance revolving around the charred brimstone of Apokolips housing death camps. Not to mention, the bugs that live under Supertown is very Kafkaesque with Forager as a kind of Gregor Samsa hiding out under this great war between super powers. So much of Kirby’s own personality resonates in his writing here in these stories and that is part of why they are so interesting to readers today. These characters may be gods, yet some of their faults are so drastically human at the same time. Paternal rage, greed, and trying to find reason in our universe.
Then, you have the story of the two sons; Orion and Scott Free. A deal made between Highfather and Darkseid or God and the Devil. The exchange of sons and how character is shaped by the environments a person is raised in. There is just so much someone could explore there alone!
And Big Barda and the Female Furies! The fear of one’s image and the fear of becoming the same monster Granny Goodness became under Darkseid. Or perhaps, as a feminist study, the role of women like Barda who are raised only to kill under the rule of her leader with no upward mobility or chance of power.
Even Metron and this cold calculated science set to uncover every truth, especially those more dangerous discoveries. Again, like the Manhattan Project and the dangers its brought into modern lives.
It is… so much to explore! There are a multitude of stories that have been written by authors like Kirby, Conway, Starlin, Evanier, Simonson, and a dozen others! And still, so many avenues for future creatives to expand…
The world has been built. The characters are there. The New Gods film or films is a cosmic saga that would do wonders on the big screen. An epic that many are missing out on.
It just seems like a no-brainer!
Yet, most of all, it would take the amazing legacy of Jack Kirby and share it with others.
This is a story that needs to be told.
There came a time when the Old Gods died…
Until next time…
~Rek
~Seppin
SeppinRek 
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