About the Piece:

Jack Kirby Created DC’s most biblical comic books. In 1971, Jack Kirby introduced an entire new collection of characters to the DC universe. These characters were the New Gods, and the name was more than just for show. Many of the stories about the New Gods that were written by Jack Kirby often were written almost as if they were excerpts from the Bible. The first sentence in his first issue of New Gods was “There came a time when the old Gods died,”. In New Gods, issue 7, he wrote, “in the Beginning- The New Gods were Formless in image and aimless in deed… their races had sprung from a survivor of the old [Gods],”. Jack Kirby wrote many of the stories as biblical stories of old, and some of the stories feel straight out of the Bible, yet still completely original. These stories were about brothers betraying brothers, babies being switched at birth as a peace treaty between good and evil, prophecies of Darkseid's death by the hands of his son, two planets representing heaven and hell, a Source wall at the edge of time and space that holds the answers to everything. These are just a few of the ideas and stories told in Jack Kirby’s Epic, The New Gods. Even with him coming up with all of this deep lore of these new Gods, he was still able to connect it seamlessly to the DC universe. It has been a staple and a huge aspect of the DC universe’s lore ever since. If it were not a Comic book based on the existence of superheroes, this could have been a religion. Its lore is deep, intricate, and thought out enough that it is probably just as believable as Egyptian or Greek religions of old. 

Jack Kirby was very good at telling stories on a cosmic and biblical scale, and his art was nothing like any other artist. His designs are highly detailed, while also being very blocky, which made his work easily stand out in a crowd of other artworks. I used a lot of his art techniques in making my monument. My monument depicts Three hands and symbols, representing, (from left to right) Darkseid and the Omega Symbol/ anti-life equation, Highfather and his staff, Orion with a symbol of a sun. In the middle is a Motherbox, which are sentient devices that are used by all New Gods for many uses, including teleportation, healing, answering questions, and alerting someone of danger, among many other things. The many circles around the mother box and the symbols are known in the comic book industry as Kirby Crackles as he often used those in his art. There are many other references hidden in the piece, but I have set it up in a way to reflect a religious monument or proficy. It is Highfather and Darkseid who traded their sons for peace, and it is Orion who is prophesied to someday kill his father, Darkseid.  

Jack Kirby is a master storyteller and artist. He truly opened a well of countless stories and possibilities with the New Gods.