I agree there somewhat.
If you see the New Gods all of the time. They cease being something special and majestic.
For me. They have just become tiresome.
In many ways, Etrigan is the closest thing to The Hulk in DC's history. For that reason, he doesn't quite fit in any DCU.
I can understand why some don't like him. Still, he can play a unique and fascinating role if handled properly.
Even if you don't love Etrigan, why no love for Kirby's Demon comics or the rest of the characters and stories and art? Klarion's creepy, insistent entry, just showing up calling everyone "uncle" and saying he's there because he's hungry, give him food, give him a place to stay. The jump from Arthurian court to modern times.
Patsy Walker on TV! Patsy Walker in new comics! Patsy Walker in your brain! And Jessica Jones is the new Nancy! (Oh, and read the Comics Cube.)
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Respectfully?
They have been used nonstop since the very outset of the New 52.
Non-stop through Earth 2.
Non-stop while the Worlds Finest series ran.
Justice League started with a fight against Darkseid and his forces.
Wonder Woman had guest appearances of them during Azzarello's run.
There has never been a break from them since the New 52 started.
Why do you feel the need to be reductive, I wonder?
Rather than simply acknowledging a differing in viewpoint, you imply that there is something dishonest about the joy someone might take in that run. I'll refrain from doing in kind by accusing you of a need to be contrarian for its own sake. I accept that Kirby's Demon didn't connect with you. Perhaps you can accept that it did connect for me?
If you enjoyed Kirby's run on The Demon, then more power to you. I personally don't care. His take on the character just wasn't for me, plain and simple. Jack Kirby isn't the flawless writer that people make him out to be. I'm not going to say anything else about it, don't want it to escalate.
And I feel like I need to say this again. I LOVE Jack Kirby. Challengers of the Unknown, Silver Surfer, Fourth World, Kamandi & OMAC.
I am not going to love every writer or every book I come across. Everyone loves Morrison's JLA, but I don't and that is perfectly fine....even though I want to give it a second chance.
Last edited by Starchild; 11-01-2015 at 09:14 PM.
I don't believe that the Demon was a bad creation, but it's certainly second tier Kirby. The original series was pretty good and solid entertainment, but it certainly doesn't compare to the Fourth World stuff or Kamandi, which is, in my opinion, the single most underrated Bronze Age comic.
It took other creators to make Etrigan sing. If not for Veitch, Bissette, Totleben, Moore (I list them in that order because it was Rick and Steve's idea to bring him back) and Matt Wagner, I don't think the character would have been seen after the '80s. Even Kirby would admit the book was kinda a stretch-- he liked a battle helmet that Hal Foster drew in Prince Valiant and decided that should be the basis of a character.
Last edited by FanboyStranger; 11-01-2015 at 10:36 PM.
Etrigan's been rhyming for far longer than you'd think. I want to say it started in 1979. It developed a few years after the Kirby comic. It was actually Len Wein who started the rhyming stuff like three or four years after The Demon was cancelled. Alan Moore ran with it after Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette sent him a letter with all the stuff they'd like to do with Swamp Thing. It was really Moore who formalized it, having Etrigan speak in Elizabethean sonnets, and Matt Wagner ran with that, which lead to a feature in Action Comics Weekly and his own title.
Love Kirby's Demon. Hate the rhyming that came afterward though... IMO this is a character who has the makings of a great movie.
Kirby in general doesn't get love from DC. Most of his DC work is out of print.
BB
A lot of really great comics pros have taken a stab at Etrigan in cool ways, so each volume has its own flavor and style.
I've only recently read Kirby's original run, alongside my complete Fourth World read. And frankly I consider them almost part of the same story. On page one, Merlin refers to his books of magic as relics of the Old Gods and that draws a line between Etrigan and Morgaine and the Fourth World stuff happening in Metropolis. In fact, Kirby's Demon is about the only place you'll see Kirby's Gotham, and contrasting Kirby's Gotham with Kirby's Metropolis is a fascinating exercise, in as much as his Gotham is this old world city where strange horror-themed terrorism takes place. Witchboys. Operatic phantoms. Frankenstein labs. Constant attacks by Morgaine. Werewolves. It has a kinship to Denny O'Neil's Gotham that has nothing to do with street gangs.
Meanwhile, Metropolis has the biggest, meanest organized international gang of all time being given their weapons by Evil Space Gods who also have clone labs, brainwash evangelical seminars, theme parks, the works.
It's almost like his Gotham is more Boston-like.
Retro315 no more. Anonymity is so 2005.
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