Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Paulo Siqueira & Netho Diaz
Darkseid has been a character that has intrigued me over the last few years, so I was excited to hear that he would be part of the Villains Month like he should be. Also given the recent events of Batman/Superman, and the talk of him playing a role in that I had to see what was behind this.
Plot
Uxas, a mud grubber on his home planet despises the Old Gods, eventually making a plan to rid himself of them, becoming a god himself. Now he has to live the life of a god, killing anything he dislikes.
Review
This was a very good issue, but not quite as good as I was hoping for. Greg Pak did however do a fantastic job of re-telling Darkseid's origin, and the way that he has managed to work this in with the work he's been doing on Batman/Superman was very nice, and extremely interesting. I did however feel that it all happened a little too quickly, as due to wanting to be both an origin story, as well as a story that sets up Darkseid for the future it felt like too much in one issue, jumping about a bit too much like a stone getting skipped over water. Pak did however manage to make this a very impactful story, as although it was a little too much for one issue it was still very enjoyable.
I loved the art in this issue, and I felt that Paulo Siqueira, and Netho Diaz did a fantastic job. I haven't seen much work from either artists, only having seen Siqueira's art alongside other artists on certain issues, so I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The way both artists work meshed with each other was brilliant, as although I usually dislike more than one artist on an issue, it's not a problem when they work that well next to each other that you can't tell which is which. I also loved the layout, and the emotion on Darkseid throughout, and love how imposing he looked. I also need to credit colourist Hi-Fi, as although it's the pencils that make the art great, it needs great colour to make it phenomenal, which Hi-Fi did.
This issue would start with Darkseid as a normal person named Uxas working as a mud grubber in the world before our world. I found this to be an interesting addition to the issue, as although due to most of it being an origin it was expected, it was still nice to see, and executed perfectly. I just loved how we get to see some proper emotion from this character, and that he was relatively normal prior to becoming Darkseid, just disliking the ways the Old Gods work, and how they were always laughing.
Becoming Darkseid was however what I was most looking forward to with this issue, and it didn't disappoint. It would show how as Uxas he got that angry with one god that he killed it, eventually killing more until he became one himself, becoming Darkseid. Again Pak executed this perfectly, as although I complained earlier about how I disliked the way it jumped from place to place, he did manage to make the sequences exciting, and interesting, and the transformation was probably the best being very impactful. I also loved seeing him living as a god, and how he would kill anything that he disliked.
This issue would also play of Pak's recent Batman/Superman story, having the Trickster have an involvement in the issue, forever teasing Darkseid. I really enjoyed this as following the disappointing appearance of Darkseid in Batman/Superman #3 (it wasn't actually Darkseid) it was nice to see where the idea to tease an appearance of him came from. I also liked how Trickster's involvement allows the speculation that he may very well make another appearance soon, whether in Batman/Superman or Earth 2.
Final Verdict
This was a brilliant issue, but overall it wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be, being too much for one issue. It did however re-tell Darkseid's origin nicely, and teased the possibility of him returning to the main pages of a DC series soon by tying this in slightly with the events of Pak's Batman/Superman series. Overall however I'd recommend this issue, as although I found it ever so slightly disappointing, you may love it, as it's very exciting, and entertaining.
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