Kalibak is the son of Darkseid and Suli. Suli appears to have been a relatively normal-looking woman, so apparently Kalibak’s good looks come purely from his father’s side of the family.

A member of Jack Kirby’s New Gods, Kalibak is a bruiser who is constantly seeking his father’s approval. He hates his half-brother Orion, whom Darkseid admires despite the fact Orion has sworn to destroy him. Most appearances of Kalibak, in both comics and cartoons, involve him getting into a knock-down, drag-out battle with Orion or Superman, with lots of property damage. One of my personal favorite fights is in the Justice League episode “Hereafter, Part 2,” where Lobo piles car upon car on top of Kalibak until he cries uncle.

Kalibak is the Collect-and-Connect figure for DC Universe Classics Wave 6. (more…)

I’ll admit I’m still trying to figure out what Jack Kirby was trying to do with the New Gods. Once I got past some of the goofy names, I realized there was a lot of interesting stuff going on. My impression of his overall project is that he was attempting to create a modern mythos for our times, a contemporary update of the Greek and Viking pantheons with a distinctly American flavor–a sort of American Iliad.

I think the problem was that this pantheon of American gods was already established. Their names were Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-man, Captain America, the Fantastic Four. Of course, Kirby had an integral role in creating that pantheon. But I think readers–particularly readers of mainstream superhero comics–weren’t prepared for the motley crew of new superheroes introduced in the Fourth World comics. (more…)

As a kid, I loved figures like Dr. Impossible–characters who had virtually no characterization in the cartoons or comics, and were basically an open template for whatever I wanted them to be.

To the best of my knowledge, DI has had one single appearance in the DC Universe, in the Justice League of America storyline “The Tornado’s Path.” His real name, origin, and even the extent of his powers are unknown. And now that Grant Morrison has shipped the New Gods off to Earth-51, it’s possible we may never get the lowdown on DI (yeah, right…). (more…)

Since his first appearance in 1938, Superman has inspired countless similar characters (“knock-offs” would be the unkind term), from Captain Atom to Supreme to the Sentry. But the first and greatest Superman clone is undoubtedly Captain Marvel.

Created a year after Superman’s debut by artist C.C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, Captain Marvel was Fawcett Comics’ answer to the Man of Steel. Unlike Superman, though, Captain Marvel’s alter ego wasn’t a mild-mannered adult like Clark Kent, but a well-behaved twelve-year-old named Billy Batson who transformed into the superhero by saying the word “Shazam!” (more…)

What is there to say about Killer Moth? He’s probably second only to Kite-Man as Batman’s goofiest foe. He makes the Rainbow Creature look menacing. It wasn’t until his 1990s transformation into the monstrous, Mothman-like Charaxes that Drury Walker finally got some respect. (On a side note, the Internet seems to believe Killer Moth actually inspired the name of Mothman. I’m skeptical myself.)

Packaging: The usual. Here’s KM’s bio from the cardback:

Drury Walker was an unsuccessful career criminal who took on an even more unsuccessful career as a costumed villain. What he became was a joke, both to his fellow criminals and the crime fighters alike. Disgusted with being laughed at, KILLER MOTH made a deal with the demon NERON for greater power in exchange for his soul… powers that changed him into the fierce, half-man/half-insect, all-mad CHARAXES! (more…)

Starfire and Adam Strange might seem an unlikely couple for Mattycollector’s first exclusive DC Universe Classics (DCUC) two-pack. Other than the fact one’s an alien from outer space and the other one spends a lot of time in outer space, what do they have in common? Turns out they both hung out a lot in DC’s 52 maxi-series. That’s about it. (more…)