Cosmic Odyssey

AUTHOR: Starlin, Jim

ARTIST: Mike Mignola (illustrator); Carlos Garzon (inker); Steve Oliff (colorist); John Workman (letterer)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1988-1989

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1992

Publication History

Cosmic Odyssey was first published by DC Comics from 1988 to 1989 as a four-issue prestige-format comic book miniseries. It was later released in a single-volume graphic novel format by DC Comics in 1992. Cosmic Odyssey was an early part of a recurrent practice at DC Comics to gather numerous superheroes together in a crossover miniseries. The writer of Cosmic Odyssey, Jim Starlin, had illustrated and written numerous comic book series for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics since the early 1970’s. At the time of the writing of Cosmic Odyssey, Starlin was best known for his work on Captain Marvel during the 1970’s and on the “Metamorphosis Odyssey” story line in Epic Illustrated for Marvel Comics during the 1980’s. By the time of the writing of Cosmic Odyssey Starlin had largely transitioned to working primarily as a scripter rather than an illustrator. The artist, Mike Mignola, had a fairly limited background prior to Cosmic Odyssey, having worked primarily as an inker and artist for low-profile series such as Rocket Raccoon (1985), Alpha Flight (1983-1994), and The Hulk (during the 1980’s).

Plot

Cosmic Odyssey tells the story of Darkseid’s attempt to control the power of the legendary Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid, the malevolent ruler of the planet Apokolips, discovers that the inquisitive New God Metron has been rendered catatonic after piercing the veil that separates the dimension containing the Anti-Life Equation from the larger universe. Seizing Metron’s catatonic body and the knowledge Metron gained about the Anti-Life Equation, now contained within Metron’s Mobius Chair, Darkseid realizes that he needs to enlist the aid of his enemies if he is going to harvest the power of the Anti-Life Equation for himself.

To this end, he manages to persuade the ruler of the peaceful planet New Genesis, Highfather, to recruit a team of superheroes (Starfire, J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter, Batman, Superman, the Green Lantern John Stewart, and Jason Blood) to come to New Genesis. Once there, it is revealed that the Anti-Life Equation is actually a deadly sentient antimatter being that cannot travel safely to the superheroes’ universe. Darkseid tells the assembled superheroes that when Metron fled the Anti-Life Entity’s dimension the entity sent four aspects of itself into the universe along with Metron. These four aspects were sent to four particular planets (Earth, Rann, Thanagar, and Xanshi) in order to construct doomsday bombs to destroy the planets. Darkseid explains that the destruction of any two of these four planets will result in the destruction of the Milky Way, thereby allowing the Anti-Life Entity to cross over into their universe.

With the exception of Jason Blood, the recruited superheroes from Earth join forces with Forager, a humanoid member of New Genesis’ insect kingdom, and the New Gods Orion and Lightray to form four teams of two. Each team is responsible for traveling to one of the four planets, capturing one of the Anti-Life Entity’s aspects, and defusing its doomsday bomb.

The team of Superman and Orion and the team of Lightray and Starfire destroy the bombs and retrieve the aspects from Thanagar and Rann, respectively. On Xanshi, John Stewart ignores J’onn J’onzz’s warnings about the need for caution in approaching the Anti-Life aspect and uses the power of his ring to prevent J’onn J’onzz from intervening as he attempts to defeat the aspect by himself. However, the aspect has painted the doomsday bomb yellow, the one color against which a Green Lantern’s ring is helpless. Stewart watches in horror as the bomb explodes, destroying Xanshi and the millions of people who live on it; his ring is able to save only him and J’onn J’onzz. Back on New Genesis, upon learning about the destruction of Xanshi, a reluctant Jason Blood finally assents to being reunited with the Etrigan the Demon, thereby allowing Darkseid to implement his true plan to harvest the energies of the Anti-Life Entity.

Darkseid takes the Demon to the Anti-Life Entity’s dimension and tries to use the Demon’s mystical powers to steal part of the Anti-Life power for himself, only to realize that the Anti-Life Entity is far more powerful than he imagined. Highfather, Orion, and Doctor Fate, the latter of whom has been monitoring the situation at Batman’s request, appear in the Anti-Life Entity’s dimension and collectively form a “cinque of cosmic power” with Darkseid and the Demon. Using the collective power, Dr. Fate destroys the Anti-Life Entity’s dimension, imprisoning it. Returning to New Genesis, Batman informs them that Forager has died while successfully destroying the last doomsday bomb (and saving both Batman and Earth), thereby ending the threat of the embodiment of the Anti-Life Entity. In the aftermath of these events, John Stewart contemplates suicide for his complicity in the destruction of Xanshi. The story ends with Darkseid returning to Apokolips in possession of a secreted shard of pure Anti-Life energy.

Characters

•Darkseid, the antagonist, is a physically powerful New God with gray, rocklike skin and glowing red eyes. He rules over the harsh world of Apokolips and is constantly seeking to expand his power throughout the universe. His attempts to harness the power of the Anti-Life Equation, escalating the threat posed by the Anti-Life Entity.

•Highfather is the white-haired, white-bearded, father-figure ruler of New Genesis. Wise and powerful, Highfather seeks to find peaceful means to resist Darkseid’s attempts to conquer New Genesis and the universe. Highfather’s decision to form an alliance with Darkseid in order to stop the Anti-Life Entity is the central conflict in the story.

•Superman is a human-looking Kryptonian who was sent to Earth from his dying home planet. Possessed of enormous physical superpowers, Superman embraces a strong moral code centered on a deep compassion for life. This belief will place him at odds with Orion’s merciless approach to conflict.

•Lightray is a white-garbed, youthful New God who pursues life with optimism and hope. He successful teams with Starfire to defeat one of the Anti-Life aspects.

•Metron is a somber New God who travels the universe astride his Mobius Chair, a technologically enhanced throne that serves as both a means of interdimensional travel and a powerful scientific instrument. Noncombative and contemplative, Metron seeks to learn the secrets of the universe. His attempt to probe the nature of the Anti-Life Equation will precipitate the threat from the Anti-Life Entity.

•Batman is an exceptionally well-trained and muscular male human. A master of strategic thinking and hand-to-hand combat, Batman is hypervigilant in planning for every contingency. His secret recruitment of Dr. Fate will ensure that the Anti-Life Entity is defeated.

•Starfire is an orange-skinned super-powered female from the planet Tamaran. Starfire embodies the warrior tradition, while maintaining an ebullient personality. She teams successfully with Lightray to defeat one of the Anti-Life aspects.

•John Stewart is an African American man who has been recruited to be a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Stewart is arrogant and boastful of the power he possesses as the wielder of a Green Lantern ring. His arrogance results in his failure to stop the Anti-Life aspect from destroying Xanshi.

•J’onn J’onzz, a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter, is a green-skinned member of the Martian race. Possessed with both telepathic powers and great strength, he has often served as a mentor for other superheroes. John Stewart’s failure to acknowledge his ability to help will lead to the destruction of Xanshi.

•Jason Blood is an elderly male human who has a long history of being bonded to the large yellow humanoid demon Etrigan. Blood longs to be separated from the demon but agrees to be rebonded with Etrigan in order to defeat the Anti-Life Entity.

•Orion is a physically powerful New God who wears an armored helmet and a metallic harness. Orion is battle-hardened, ruthless, and devoid of compassion for whomever he fights. These traits lead him into using extreme levels of force, resulting in the slaughter of innumerable Thanagarians, putting him at odds with Superman.

•Forager is a clever, nimble, and strong humanoid member of New Genesis’ insect kingdom. He dies stopping the threat of the last Anti-Life aspect.

•Etrigan, a yellow-skinned demon, is an enigmatic, chaotic being that is able to tap into deep wells of mystical power. This ability is central to stopping the Anti-Life entity.

•Dr. Fate is a yellow-caped, golden-helmeted man possessed of tremendous sorcery skills. He destroys an entire dimension in order to end the Anti-Life Entity’s threat.

Artistic Style

In Cosmic Odyssey, Mignola employs a representational art style that renders characters in a highly stylized manner. His use of such techniques is somewhat inconsistent throughout the series, but the overall effect is often to tilt his characters toward a figurative rather than literal representation. He achieves this effect through the use of softened detail that emphasizes particular features of a character, as opposed to elaborating a dense representational form. This technique is enhanced by the frequent use of heavy black character outlines and dark shadows and shading, often for extended sequences.

With frequent use of panels that extend to the edge of the page (called “full bleed” in publishing terms), inset panels, sequenced panels emphasizing small actions and moments, and panels layered upon and exploding into other panels, Mignola’s art creates a dynamism that engages the reader in not only the actions but also the emotions of the story. The frequent use of interior monologue narration boxes also serve to maximize the emotional intensity of the story, as the reader sees the story as interpreted from multiple perspectives.

Mignola’s page-filling art also reflects the epic nature of the story. In the first half of the story, panel backgrounds are often densely composed with highly elaborated and stylized detail. As the story shifts toward its end, Mignola emphasizes the otherworldliness of its interdimensional setting through the extensive use of gold, yellow, and white compositions of explosions and force lines. Indeed, throughout the series there is frequent fluctuation between compositions emphasizing dark tones of blue and black and those emphasizing shades of gold and yellow. Through these techniques Mignola attempts to direct the emotion of the story, suggesting an almost elemental narrative of competing mythical forces and creating a sense of recognizable otherworldliness. This dynamic art style is reminiscent of that pioneered by Jack Kirby, the creator of the New Gods and many of the other characters appearing in Cosmic Odyssey.

Themes

The major theme of Cosmic Odyssey is the consequence of arrogance. The central plot of the story revolves around the repeated attempts of arrogant individuals to control the power of the Anti-Life Equation. The story shows that arrogance is folly whether pursued for noble causes, represented by Metron’s search for knowledge, or more sinister causes, represented by Darkseid’s attempt to empower himself. This theme is further emphasized in the John Stewart subplot of the book. Stewart’s arrogance about his own power leads to his failure to plan or to use assistance, leading to the destruction of a highly populated planet.

Cosmic Odyssey also contains a strongly related theme about the nature of compassion and humanity. At several points in the story characters are pitted against one another based upon their stance regarding the humanity of others. The character of Orion, who sees the ends as justifying the means and who has little compassion for those he perceives as being weaker than he, is set in opposition to Superman, who believes that all life has value and should be protected. By the end of the story, Orion is humbled by the fact that Forager, a mere “bug” from Orion’s viewpoint, sacrifices himself to save the universe. By this act, the story reinforces for the reader the viewpoint expressed by Superman that all lives have value and that people should be measured by their deeds and not their station in life.

Impact

Cosmic Odyssey’s most lasting impact was on the characterization of several important characters within DC Comics. Most important, John Stewart dealt with the repercussions of his action on Xanshi for years to come. His struggle to accept what had happened and to overcome his guilt and self-doubt over his part in the events became central features of his character. The destruction of Xanshi was also integrated in the DC Comics continuity as the precipitating event leading to the creation of the villain Fatality. Cosmic Odyssey also made significant changes to the New Gods continuity. In particular, Orion became a more compassionate character after Forager’s death.

The success of Cosmic Odyssey served to bolster the trend toward epic crossover events at DC Comics, helping to establish such multiepisodic crossover series as near annual events. Cosmic Odyssey also served to raise the profile of artist Mignola, who later created the Hellboy series (beginning in 1993) for Dark Horse Comics, and writer Starlin, who scripted The Infinity Gauntlet (1991), Infinity War (1992), and Infinity Crusade (1993) crossover miniseries for Marvel Comics.

Further Reading

Mignola, Mike. Hellboy (1993- ).

Starlin, Jim, George Perez, and Ron Lim. The Infinity Gauntlet (1991).

Waid, Mark, and Alex Ross. Kingdom Come (1996).

Bibliography

Greenberger, Robert. Introduction to Cosmic Odyssey. New York: DC Comics, 2002.

Starlin, Jim, and Mike Mignola. “Pro2Pro.” Back Issue! 9 (April, 2005).

Voger, Mark. The Dark Age: Grim, Great, and Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics. Raleigh, N.C.: Two-Morrows, 2006.