New Gods #3

[iamrman]

Writer: Jack Kirby

Pencils: Jack Kirby

Inks: Vince Colletta

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The Black Racer is one of the sillier-looking anthropomorphic personifications of Death.

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The Black Racer flies off in search of his quarry.

The fellow in the suit is Orion in disguise.

Comments

[metadronos]

Wait, I can't be the Black Racer's next quarry. I haven't done anything! Help!

[full_metal_ox]

I’ll give Kirby serious kudos for originality: “Black” and “skier” is not an autopilot combination of attributes. (I’m trying to remember if Alpine from GI Joe included skiing in his skillset.)

[thanekos]

(Don't Fear) The Racer

[michael_ellis_day]

I get why people find the Black Racer silly looking, but it helps to look at the character as an in-joke or meta reference to the Silver Surfer. There are quite a few callbacks or visual references to Marvel characters hidden in the Fourth World books, for example, Superman fighting a giant green Jimmy Olsen clone. These references aren't meant to be satire or a commentary on the Silver Surfer or the Hulk, just little nods to the reader, like "yeah, I'm the guy who did those things!"

Also, I tell you what, Willie Walker himself was by far the scariest thing in the story. Showing a character in that condition was really shocking and unheard of in comics at the time. The plight he was in really terrified me when the book came out.

[scorntx]

Death is whoever does Death's job.

The notion of the Black Racer manifesting through multiple people is an interesting one, and not something I think any other writer's ever touched upon? (If they have, the internet's kept very quiet about it.)

Though I am a little mystified over what the Racer / the Source gets out of the arrangement? Can it not act without a host?