James Nicoll Reviews

Ngozi Ukazu’s 2024 Barda is a stand-alone superhero graphic novel, set in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. Although perhaps superhero isn’t the correct term.

Apokolips is Darkseid’s domain, a grim planet entirely devoted to tyranny and cruelty. To live on Apokalips is to serve Darkseid, either as a minion or as an example of the consequences of disappointing Darkseid.

Barda leads the Female Furies, an elite band of warriors trained by the saccharine-sweet sadist Granny Goodness. Barda has a dark secret: on a planet where love is not merely unknown but forbidden, she has fallen for someone. Who?

Why, none other than Orion of New Genesis!

Spoilers for the last fifty years of New Gods continuity.

New Genesis is Apokolips’ mirror image, home of (ostensibly) benevolent gods under Highfather. Orion is Highfather’s son, the very last person in whom Barda should be interested. She finds his ferocity irresistible and enjoys their frequent clashes.

Each member of the Female Furies — Barda, Stompa, Bernadeth, Lashina, Mad Harriet, and Auralie — have their particular talent. Auralie’s seems to be disappointing Granny Goodness. Aware of the potential consequences, Barda does her best to protect Auralie from the consequences of her poor choices.

Sensing that Barda still has seeds of goodness in her, Granny Goodness assigns Barda to a very special task. One of Darkseid’s subjects refuses to break. Worse, the miscreant Scott Free¹ persists in endless escape attempts from the top security prison, the X‑Pit. Barda is to reduce the prisoner to a loyal servant of dread Darkseid. By doing so, Barda will also turn herself into a loyal servant.

The assignment will transform Barda, but not in the way Granny Goodness intended.

~oOo~

I have no idea if Darkseid is pronounced Dark Side or Dark Seed, or if in Jack Kirby’s exotic Lower East Side accent those sound the same.

An odd absence I’ve never before noticed. Dread lord Darkseid has never invented or stolen the idea of bureaucracy. This could be because he doesn’t trust underlings unless he has frequent face-to-face meetings in which to terrorise his minions. There are multiple factions on Apokolips, but the lowliest mook is surprisingly few steps away from their grim lord.

At the risk of heresy, I prefer Ukazu’s art to the Kirby art that appeared in Mister Miracle #1.

Jack Kirby first published stories set in the Fourth World of the New Gods half a century ago. This presents an interesting challenge for Ukazu, because long-time DC Comics fans are familiar with the New Gods and know how Scott Free and Barda’s story plays out. Or at least, they think they do. The fact Barda is pining after the wrong man at the beginning suggests that perhaps Ukazu plans to revise a significant element of DC history.

In fact, the creator has a very clear idea of the essential dark seed (ha ha!) behind Kirby’s original story. Ukazu’s Apokolips is based on Kirby’s². Kirby³ intended Apokalips as an exemplar of bad governance. Ukazu follows in those footsteps.

At the same time, Ukazu does not settle for a simple retelling of a familiar story. She embellishes and expands on the original. Furies previously presented unsympathetically appear in a more favorable light, as victims of a system most of them won’t escape.

The result is a story that both readers unfamiliar with the New Gods and readers extremely familiar with the setting can enjoy.

Barda is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: The New Gods have many amazing powers but subtle naming is not among them. Subtle anything is beyond them. THE NEW GODS DECLAIM BOLD STATEMENTS IN ALL-CAPS, ENDING ALL SENTENCES WITH AT LEAST ONE EXCLAMATION POINT! PERHAPS SEVERAL!!!!!!! HERO POSE NOT OPTIONAL!

2: Two thousand increasingly incoherent words about DC’s fumbled attempts to rewrite their universe’s history go here.

3: Kirby was hostile to Nazis long before that was fashionable. Thus this famous Captain America cover.

This earned him death threats, and also an invitation to a fist-fight with American Nazis… but while Kirby showed up, his challengers did not.

Kirby also served as one of Patton’s scouts in WWII and as a result had a number of first person anecdotes about killing Nazis. The lesson here is to keep an eye out for way to monetize hobbies like telling stories or punching Nazis.