Black Adam #4 - "Theogony, Book Four: Power"

[laughing_tree]

I wanted to create a kind of Asgard for Black Adam, and have the gods become a thorn in his side. But the Egyptian gods have appeared in various forms and I felt it would be too heavy a lift to definitively wipe out all of that established stuff. To be honest, I wanted to use the Kirby New Gods but my Deathstroke experience taught me that editors tend to be extremely protective of their franchises and I doubt we’d be granted the level of agency I would seek. So the Akkad are our own private set of New Gods. Ta-daa! I asked Rafa to ‘Kirby it up’ with the Akkad, a decidedly nonwhite pantheon of super-annoying meddlers, and Rafa just went berserk. -- Christopher Priest

Comments

[numeronone]

[donnblake]

Hmm. Assuming he's got the usual Marvel set, I'd argue that his powers are only tangentially lightning based, but I guess the iconography's there.

[mastermahan]

The Marvels tend to have more lightning powers than just the transformation bolt whenever they get adapted these days. Zachary Levi and Dwayne Johnson shoot lightning bolts. Injustice Shazam shoots lightning bolts. Black Adam had lightning punches in that Superman/Shazam animated film. I'm sure that'll filter back if it hasn't already.

[numeronone]

I suppose, outside of Morrison's...interesting experiments with Mary in "Final Crisis", we've never seen a Shazam-type deal with the 'sponsors' in the acronym being New Gods.

[laughing_tree]

They're not actual New Gods. Priest just means they're his take on a New Gods-like thing. They're actually either (a) the Mesopotamian gods or (b) cosmic space particles that have shaped themselves from Black Adam's memories of Mesopotamian religion, depending on who you believe.

[shakalooloo]

And they also have teleportation technology that makes a loud BOOM noise.

[remial]

what? boom tubes?
yeah, most pantheons have them. once you out grow the whole flaming chariot across the skies thing, you go to the local dealer. you head towards the source wall, take a north at the screaming goat guy, go a light second, and there he is.

sure they have different brand names but they are all basically the same thing, like the differences between a Buick and a Caddie. Different brand names but owned by the same parent company, you know?

He mostly deals in new, but if you really push the issue he can set you up with a used system. Avoid the Yugo equivalent, everything he tells you about those is 100% true. Major gas guzzler, low mileage, always gonna be in the shop, etc.

[repto]

Gotta admit, the idea that godlike magi-tech teleportation always converges into the form of a boom tube is kind of a cool idea. Like Kirbytech is just a fundamental force of the universe.

[cainofdreaming]

Mother Boxes do tap into the Source, yup.

[numeronone]

I mean, I know that. I'm just saying that the opening quotation made me think about Shazam/Kirby's New Gods that way.

[blueprintstyles]

Priest has complained about his editors on Deathstroke before, but when you hear about the choices he would have made I', absolutely on their side. Sometimes you need a filter.

[windleopard2]

Why exactly was he so insistent on Slade being Damian's father?

[blues32]

How would that even make sense? As if the first thing Bruce didn't do upon being told this brat was his son was a bunch of tests.

[mastermahan]

They'd probably say "Batman knew the whole time but went along with the lie to try and reach Damian."

Which doesn't make 'Damian Wilson' any less of a bad idea, mind.

[blues32]

This guy has certain problems, doesn't he? He can now fly, is super strong, can summon lightning, the whole nine yards. But this weirdo clinging to his ceiling, fire visible in his mouth and telling him to fly has to be some guy in a costume? It's like the concept of superheroes and villains refuses to click in his head. It's what got him shot in the first place.

Speaking of heroes and villains, he may want to find some veteran heroes to vouch for him or he's going to be stuck with cops pulling guns on him all the time. Shazam would be the obvious choice, but Black Lightning or John Stewart would really put the cops in their place. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid like antagonize the police. I mean, he's certainly in the right, but the body cam footage isn't going to show it...

ANU?! Oh cripes, I'm getting La-Mulana 2 flashbacks...

[laughing_tree]

Nah, what got him shot was not wanting to accept a ring from the creepy supervillain.

[blues32]

A dying supervillain offering him super powers.

[windleopard2]

And that means he should accept it? For all he knows, Adam was trying to hi-jack his body.

[blues32]

Okay, THAT'S a fair point, but that wasn't what seemed to be bothering him.

[laughing_tree]

He doesn’t say anything about powers, though. He just starts demanding the kid take his ring, without explanation. (And even if he did, why trust the word of the creepy supervillain?)

[windleopard2]

Is it okay to post links to articles here? There is a series of articles about Black Adam I'd like to share.

[redmagpie]

Oh that sounds interesting. What sort of articles?

[windleopard2]

They are about how Johns developed Black Adam's character over the years, with the fourth one discussing how Priest sees the character.

[redmagpie]

I'd be interested anyway!

[windleopard2]

Here you go:

https://www.comicbookherald.com/black-adam-and-geoff-johns-bastards-part-i/

https://www.comicbookherald.com/black-adam-and-geoff-johns-bastards-part-ii/


https://www.comicbookherald.com/black-adam-and-geoff-johns-bastards-part-iii/

https://www.comicbookherald.com/black-adam-and-geoff-johns-bastards-part-iv/