The Death of the New Gods is a Terrible Idea
Nothing like getting my opinion right out there. I am also going to reveal some rather drastic Spoilers here, so if you haven't read it yet, stop now.
I'm not quite sure why I picked this up. I'm rather sorry that I did, except that I'm quite fond of Barda and Scott Free, and even like Metron. Orion is a bit of a jerk, and to be honest I don't have the foggiest idea who half of these people are. Oh, and a whole bunch of villains show up with Darkseid.
As has been rather painfully depicted lately in various other books, SOMEONE is going around killing off New Gods. Light Ray has already kicked the bucket, and so did poor ol' Knockout. No real reason for all of this of course. I'm not quite sure why exactly DC thought it was a good idea to kill off the New Gods. I'm not sure why DC thinks that it is a good idea to kill off ANY of their creations, other than for a quick jolt of outrage. It seems quite counter-productive to me, not to mention it is foolish to piss off fans of those creations. (Oh Ted! And Ralph and Sue! And Max!)
So the "Killer" manages to off the guy who is the Black Racer. Not really sure why,a nd I really don't care. Jimmy Olsen shows up and wanders around for a while. We end up on New Genesis, and get a long drawn-out explanation of the whole creation of the New Gods, and New Genesis and Apokalips and so on. We see Scott and Barda foil a robbery while out shopping for groceries. Metron is having bad dreams. I think that the narration switches between Darkseid and Metron, but it is rather confusing as to which is which.
Clark and Lois are supposed to be coming over for dinner, so Barda goes into the kitchen to prepare, while Scott is sitting in front of the computer. He gets up and wanders into the kitchen to dicover Barda's lifeless body lying on the floor, with her heart gouged out of her chest. Scott has angst and cries and goes through all five stages of grief in thirty seconds.
This is the WORST death of a superheroine since Katma Tui got offed by Star Sapphire. Oddly enough, ALSO in her kitchen and off-panel.
There is no battle, it doesn't even look as though Barda lifted a finger in her own defense. No property damage, nothing out of place except for a few groceries lying on the floor. No crashing, no banging, so screaming, no nothin. Hell Knockout at least got to fight back a little.
I like Barda. I like Barda a lot, and I've been especially enjoying her over in Birds of Prey, not to mention she and Scott were always fantastic in the old JLI. This sucks. They killed BIG BARDA of all people, off panel, and in her kitchen.
Thanks SO much.
posted by SallyP @ 8:10 AM
15 Comments:
Speaking as someone with an actual Apokolips / New Genesis tattoo, I'm *not* liking this. Not one bit. Starlin, or no Starlin... no sir, I don't like it.
But, I made the mistake of reading it while in the store.
Nice way to put me in a foul mood, DC.
They sold out of this comic when I went yesterday, so I didn't get to read it.
I don't care why it happened, but that has got to be the worst way to kill one of the greatest comic book warriors. Barda deserved a huge fight scene that takes out half of the town she and Scott live in, not an off panel death that implies she was totally helpless.
Damn them.
I am utterly incensed by Barda's death. She should have gone out swinging in a blaze of goddamn glory, not stuffed into a refrigerator for her hubby to find so he can go on a quest for vengeance.
I'm not one to invoke the word "misogyny" easily, but... yeah, that was pretty fucking misogynistic, Starlin.
I thought the issue was well written, but I also think it's a terrible idea. I've always liked the New Gods. When I first discovered the internets years ago, my screen name was "Metron".
What I'm hoping, and it may be a pipe dream, is that the New Gods aren't really dying. Since no disturbance in the Source is felt, maybe the bodies are dying, but the spirit is just being removed. That way they're still kind of alive.
All signs point to the fact that the Infinity Man is doing it. So unless he went evil for some odd reason, perhaps he's doing this to prevent the Gods from dying in the Great Disaster?
Also, question about the Newsboy Legion. Flippa Dippa is here in Death of the New Gods, but he's nowhere to be seen in Countdown. I'm not really sure where the Newsboys were last seen before Countdown, but whats the deal with Flippa Dip?
Couldn't agree more.
By the Source, that was bad. I wonder whether it was meant to parallel his father's backstory...the murder of Avia setting off the character journey that turned Izaya into Highfather. Even if that was Starlin's intention (and I think I'm giving him too much credit there), he botched it big time.
Bad as it was, it might have been marginally better if Barda had been in civilian clothes going into the kitchen and in her battle gear when Scott found her...that would at least suggest that she had started to fight back, rather than being taken totally by surprise.
Who am I kidding? That wouldn't be marginally better at all.
Ack! Maybe there's a trick? Or a resurrection planned somehow? It IS issue one! *crosses fingers*
Wow :o
No matter what ppl may say about "oh but men die too" male superheroes on the stature of Big Barda DO NOT DIE OFF PANEL WITHOUT A FIGHT JUST LIKE *DEAD*. >:O
I'm mainly pissed because I read Countdown first this week and it totally blew the reveal at the end of New Gods.
That sucked.
God, I'm getting so sick and tired of the "Death of the Week!" tactic being used lately. What is the point of creating characters, with all this lovely backstory and history and gettting people fond of them, just to kill them off in the most ridiculous and gratuitous ways?
It's only being done for shock value, but it has been so OVERdone, that the shock value is all gone, and all that is left is weary resignation and disgust.
Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I'm REALLY getting ticked off here.
Crab crab crab.
While I'm very, very, very sad about Barda, I will say that her mega-rod is out & near her hand on the floor - maybe she did try to fight back - it's still a pretty weak defense... Barda should've gone down fighting to her least breath. :*(
No Barda didn't "deserve" a big fight scene. That's the whole point. The Killer is so powerful that no one is putting up a fight. Knockout noticed someone behind her, and turned around with a punch but she run the other way when she saw who her attacker was. None of the New Gods have put up a fight. Lightray was beaten then thrown to the ground, then exploded. Sleez died from a shot from heaven. The Black Racer died, helpless, in his hospital bed, then we get the nasty panel with his blood splatted all over the room. No point really, just saying.
"Ack! Maybe there's a trick? Or a resurrection planned somehow?"
Of course there is! I don't mean to snark or anything, but I'm a little surprised how many people are taking the title of this series at face value. I'm reasonably certain that in 1-2 years time, perhaps even sooner, the New Gods will be as exactly as dead as Superman.
There are several clues - for instance, the fact that the New Gods seem to be REALLY dead - as in annihilated, not merging with the Source Wall, etc.... That could mean, as the characters are assuming, there's someone out there who can absolutely obliterate New Gods... or that they're not really dead!
Also, the house ad for the series, with a pile of New Gods, who, indeed, appear to have met their Death.... But there's one guy who's "not quite dead yet," and his name is Orion? The guy prophesied to destroy his father and all that?
"No Barda didn't "deserve" a big fight scene."
Of course she did. And, regardless of how powerful this mysterious killer is supposed to be, you'll see Orion go out swinging. Even Granny Goodness won't just expire off-panel. Because those are major characters.
It all comes down to how you see the Barda character. If Barda is just part of Scott Free's supporting cast, then of course she can die in fifteen seconds. Lightray was a sidekick, and he died like one.
But, to many of us, Barda is the mightiest among the Female Furies, the former captain of Darkseid's elite legion. She's a major character in her own right. Major characters don't get chumped and wind up on a kitchen floor.
This offense against narrative logic happens a lot more with female characters. (Yes, it does. Look at the record.) Like all lapses in narrative logic, it's questionable at best.
Let me put it to you like this. Barda could trounce Scott in a straight-up fight, right? She's the fighter of the two of them?
Do you think he's gonna die off-panel?
The only reason the New Gods are still around was because DC got rid of Kirby before he could kill them all off.
So the only real problem with this storyline is that in a few years, they will end up bringing them all back anyways.
Precisely why would having the New Gods, alive and well, and having stories told about them a bad thing?
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