Saturday, March 29, 2008
Comic Art
Even Jack Kirby, the master of all things comics, misfired from time to time. And as we review what many consider his greatest creations - Asgard for Marvel, and the New Gods for DC, we turn to what in my opinion is one of those misfires. That is the New Gods character of the Black Racer. As the link just provided says:More a role than an individual,...The Racer suffers from two serious drawbacks. One, of course, is political correctness. Note in the bottom illustration that the character is faceless and without apparent race, he quickly became a distinctively african-american character, for no apparent reason other than to make sure there was a character of such race somewhere in the series.
The other serious drawback is those skis. Designed to make the character look more kinetic, and an obvious homage to Kirby's creation of the Silver Surfer in the early days at Marvel, these just come off goofy.I think it is the poles and the crouch, a skier just cannot look majestic like a surfer can. Too bad snowboards had not been invented when Kirby cooked this one up. The Racer has appeared so infrequenly that people don't quite know what is up. Even the official DC wiki has little to say.
I find the character fascinating because he does point out that even the great creative minds turn the wrong direction every now-and-then.
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