Any new Orion depiction worries me when I know a "true face" reveal is coming. One of the main things about him is that he hides his real face because HE believes it is too monstrous to behold. In universe it does shock people, but out of universe the concern is how the writer or artist decides what he will look like. Saying that he is a beast, shameful, must be hidden away and then showing a face that some people may identify with would be terrible. And to a certain extent there is no avoiding it because someone somewhere might share some traits.
But a lot of us prefer the in universe reading of his true face being nontypical and definitely not fitting the norm for New Genesis (everyone is traditionally beautiful in an irl western sense), but the key difference is that it's not actually as bad as Orion thinks. All of the ugliness is internalized and projected, he struggles to unpack and separate where he is from, his nature, who he is, and his face.
I've gone on about this before, but like it or not, our faces are the thing most of us identify with. And they're certainly what strangers see us as first and foremost. We are human, and our human brains make snap judgments. And Orion would be shocked if anyone was able to look past that initial judgment. Even to his closest friend, he fears showing what he thinks represents the worst aspects of himself.
And so from a writing point of view, it has to be a balance. It has to be handled so carefully. Orion should not have a face meant to scare the audience. If anything, he should be written to be complex, to not fill the role of movie monster, to be more than what he looks like. And if the writing is strong, it will swing 180 and instead of putting facial differences in a negative light and leaving it at that, it can show the value in looking beyond someone's face to see who they truly are.
At long last, it is done. I've put together not one, but TWO Fourth World guides.
The New Gods: Quick and Dirty (A Reading List)
This contains a very brief history on Jack Kirby rejoining DC, a bare-minimum recommended reading list of 5 issues and some change, and a more thorough list for all of Kirby's Fourth World works.
This list is really my way of saying, "Here's how to get your foot in the Fourth World door." So often the advice is to read all four of Kirby's 1971 comics, but even just a single 11 issue series might be more than some can commit to. Instead, 5-ish is what I'm putting down with the hopes that it'll intrigue you enough to go on and continue to check out more.
I only got into comics at the very end of 2021, so compared to most fans, I’m a relative newcomer. Certainly new enough that I still remembe
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The New Gods: Cheap and Easy (A Publication Guide)
This contains a chronological list of all major Fourth World stories from main continuity, including not just the title series but also some events and important arcs with summaries for each. And because I kept finding comics that didn't quite belong in the guide but I wanted to include anyway, there's a list of honorable mentions.
This guide was an especially huge undertaking that I have poured hours into. And now I'm glad I have it to use even for my own reference, so please do use it too! I hope it can help you unravel the history of the Fourth World and maybe even find something you haven't read before!
This is a follow up to my previous article, New Gods: Quick and Dirty (A Reading List). If you’re looking for Jack Kirby’s original New Gods
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Let me know if you ended up using either of these, I'd love to hear which comics you took a gander at 💛
Okay so I usually read RCO even when I have physical copies because it's easier, but it really doesn't do some books justice. Like, I knew these panels were parallels, but oh man I hadn't realized just how impactful the page turn is to reveal Lightray!
[ID: Three photos of pages from the Orion trade paper back. The first shows a panel of Orion with his back to the reader, standing above a large crowd that he addresses grandly. The second photo is the page turning. The third is the next page of Lightray in the exact same pose. /END ID]
Can't help but thinking about Highfather offering young Orion his open hand and now sending Orion out to be his closed fist.... Much to think about
You are so, SO right. And let's not forget about this panel from New Gods (1971) #1
Highfather goes out of his way for him and Orion to bow to the children of New Genesis after they finish singing. He says, "First we bow to the young - they are the carriers of life! They must remain free, Orion! Life flowers in Freedom!" To which Orion heartily agrees, "In this cause I live as well!"
And this is leading into the whole premise of life vs anti-life. Freedom vs the ultimate evil. Kirby makes a point of how important children are, and it's the first of several times.
So it really has me wondering what's going to be revealed with the impetus and plot in this new run. Either Ram V missed this detail about Highfather from Kirby's writing and based too much on Morrison (completely plausible), or Highfather is troubled (why have that moment where Metron calls him Izaya otherwise?). I really hope it's the latter. And i know the part where Lightray is subtly disheartened by not being the "champion" Highfather seeks was written on purpose, so those moments are full of intent. I have hope for some of these others. But yeah i also know Morrison's writing and King's were influences and those are hmm well not always carrying on some of the best parts of Kirby.
But Orion chose the hand! And Highfather would not tell him to pick up the weapon against a child! Unless something important was going on right..?
So here's what I've got so far for the characters used in New Gods (2024) for Metron's prophecy and Himon's Prometheus Codex quote. Just missing J, Q and Z. The big spiral thing from the Metron page has nearly the whole text, but it cuts off at "the great steed shall" because I guess the rest didn't fit. I'm glad that's what it was though, because I was 100% prepared to reverse engineer what was written there if it wasn't that. 😅 Anyway, once I've got the rest of the letters I might turn it into a little font for myself I guess? Just for funsies? Because that's a totally normal thing to do?
EDIT: Okay wait there's more writing on the acetate variant! Here's what some of it says.
On the back cover:
The light of a lantern which may never be extinguished
The truth be bound eternal corded round my arm
The winds (wings?) of darkest scarab wrought anew
Shall follow the beckoning of gods
(black paper added under the cover to see the symbols better)
The front cover is Mother Box Anatomy and a lot harder to figure out because of all the other designs going on. I've got it mostly done but I'll have to post it later.
Actually I should make my own post instead of talking in the tags of others.
If youre curious about New Gods or Fourth World, but don't know where to start OR have a limited bandwidth for picking up older comics, I've put together a list
I only got into comics at the very end of 2021, so compared to most fans, I’m relative a newcomer. Certainly new enough that I still remembe
I plan to follow this up next weekend with part two that explores publications beyond Jack Kirby's works. It'll be more of an ala carte list about various titles and a few major story arcs. But definitely start with the Kirby stuff.
I think one of the things that gives New Gods so much potential is that they were specifically designed to be gods of a modern era. Like, very intentionally. This is a new generation, fresh, not the ancient fables of Thor and his kind.
Ive talked at length about how Metron is a stand out in this area, so I'll spare everyone the ted talk. But its really so fascinating how he surrounds us more and more each day. The use of AI is a fantastic example. I dont think theres anything more apropos right now. The potential to do good is so incredibly valuable, but of course people take advantage and use it for unscrupulous means. But can you blame the technology itself? Should you? That is Metron. And like it or not, it's here to stay.
But what about the others? What do they embody form our current modern lives? I think thats a harder question but its really entertaining to think about.
Darkseid is fairly easy to clock. As Jack Kirby said he's every bully. And to me thats something that is timeless. But its how he goes about it. One of the things about Apokolips is its technology and how it's used. Like DeSaad always hooking people up to bizarre and torturous machines. Darkseid and his ilk are the kind to use weapons of war. They are the kind to commit atrocities and war crimes. And they are the kind to do it all in the name of Darkseid. Live for Darkseid, kill for Darkseid. And those are also timeless concepts, so much so that they're happening in big ways even today.
The Forever People are also a clear symbol of youth growing up in the wake of world wars, wanting peace but knowing they must stand up for ideals even when it becomes too much for them. They were written so clearly as hippies back in the 70s, but that movement never went away, and maybe we dont call them flower children now, but young people are still out there speaking up about whats going on in the world. They still protest and fight for their causes. They still call for peace.
I think the others are so much more challenging to pin down. Who are Scott and Barda and Lightray and Orion today? What do they represent that the old gods did not? I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on it.
Or: An exploration of possible inspiration for Metron's chest design in the new New Gods
For those of you familiar with my blog, you know I have a lot of posts about Metron. One shining example is this deep dive into how the design on his chest has changed over the years, and some theorizing I did on which artists may have been inspired by past depictions.
It's a big post with a lot to look at, and it's also becoming a bit dated. So with the current New Gods run in full swing, I figured I'd do a little mini version geared towards the sleek design we see Metron sporting today!
Ram V and Evan Cagle have touched briefly on this in interviews, and I get the gist that Cagle isn't really a DC kinda guy, and didn't know Metron going in. So his inspiration is likely whatever he happened upon during research, plus what was handed to him directly. I also get the sense that they've decided doing their own take will provide a fresher experience, and I'm in agreement there. So while they're keeping the character designs recognizable and certainly based on more modern depictions with elements from the originals, they're definitely not limiting themselves to what came before.
Knowing that going in, we will be taking a look at past depictions. There's no guarantee that anyone from the creative team has seen these at any point, so this is just one Kate's musings. I'm not even saying this is what I'd put money on, just a possibility. Something to chew on. Could be, who knows! So let's dive in.
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First let's take a look at what we're working with. Apologies for the low res image, he's not drawn very big! His costume is all black with white curvy lines. It's very simplistic, but the main elements are there. Large circle at the top center, at least one circle connected to each side, long lines down the center.
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And just for good measure, let's see where we came from by checking out three classic Jack Kirby looks from New Gods #1, and DC Graphic Novel #4 (Hunger Dogs).
The first two are pretty similar, and the third is certainly different. But it's needed to establish a baseline because what we're going to look at next references it heavily. In fact, I go into detail about that in this post.
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So how do we go from old to new? One hypothesis I have is the following evolution.
Two of the earliest depictions of Metron were drawn by George Pérez in Justice League of America (1960) #185 in 1980, and by Walt Simonson in the Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans in 1981. You can tell right away both are based straight off of New Gods #1.
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Many years later, Simonson drew Metron again for the cover of Jack Kirby's Fourth World #13 by John Byrne. The lines down the center are a lot more angular, and it appears the circular shape near the waistband became a rectangle. Were these stylistic choices, or perhaps influences from Hunger Dogs? Either way, it looks like JH Williams III followed suit in New Gods Secret Files later the same year. Three years later, when Simonson drew Orion #15, the lines down the center began to elongate and connect to the square at the bottom near the waistband.
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With the lines down the chest elongating like that, a shape is starting to form. We can envision this with two more artists' work that looks to follow suit from Simonson's Orion but also melds in many elements from Hunger Dogs. We've got George Pérez back with JLA/Avengers #1 and Ron Garney with JLA (1997) #114.
I personally don't put too much heed into Garney's depiction given the way the rest of this particular panel looks (in fact, it's shown up in my list poking fun at weird depictions of Metron). I think Garney probably followed what was already done in other League books, and if I were in those shoes I'd pretty much do what Pérez did, so that might be why these are so similar. Although it's funny, this is a rare time someone drew the tab inside the big circle.
Regardless, the lines coming down from the circle are now making an enclosed shape. Imagine if the shape was smoothed out, and maybe take away a set of the side dots, shifting the horizontal lines up. Here's a really, really bad photo manip I did to mock up what I mean followed by the 2024 version for comparison. Do you see my vision?
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Okay one last thing to mention is Kevin Maguire's art from Justice League (2011) #40. I think this is where many modern fans know Metron from since it's the same storyline where Batman briefly sits on the Mobius Chair. It's also the first time Metron has a fully jet black costume with white lines and no colored chest panel. And of course that look went on to influence the depiction in Mister Miracle (2017) #11 by Mitch Gerads, which Ram V has stated he's familiar with.
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And that's about all I've got! Most of this was already known to me from putting together that big tree of all the chest designs, but it was really fun to really pick apart one or two branches of it in more depth. It does make me wonder how close to reality these guesses are as far as the thinking that went into the 2024 design. I have a feeling a lot more outside inspiration was involved though! After all, the best artists are bringing their craft and creativity to the table first and foremost, not just copying off what came before. So even though I personally wasn't the biggest fan of Metron's new look at first, I've really have to admit I've grown an appreciation for it. Plus, he's a weird character. He can have a weird design. As a treat! ;)
