Born On The Fourth World: Part II
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134, December 1970
The next chapter, The Mountain of Judgement, begins with the Newsboy Legion, Jimmy Olsen and his motorcycle gang, The Outsiders, revving their engines in fevered anticipation. They’re all itching to leave their tree-city, ‘Habitat', and head out into the Wild Area, onto the Zoomway, and begin their dangerous quest to find the titular arbitration hill.
The Outsiders seem content “to live or die on the Zoomway - the drag-strip that leads to the Mountain of Judgement.” The Newsboys are filming this expedition and broadcasting it back to their employer, the “head cat” of Galaxy Broadcasting, Morgan Edge. Still dressed in his wetsuit, Flippa-Dippa gets excited about the possibility of a swim, when he overhears an Outsider comparing the Mountain to, “A howling white whale! The mammoth Moby Dick!” But Jimmy puts a dampener on this notion, by suggesting that, “The white whale may only be a symbol of death!”
Superman has had enough. He tells Jimmy that the Mountain does indeed mean certain death, and implies that he has further information; but before he can elaborate, the Outsiders decide that they have also had enough of this “Super-drag.” They blast the Man of Steel into unconsciousness with Kryptonite-enhanced guns, which, they reveal, were designed by the same “wizards” who also created the Wild Area and Habitat. A mysterious group, who have since vanished, abandoning their amazing, scientific creations to the Outsiders. A group known as, ‘The Hairies’!
Jimmy and the Newsboys not only allow Superman to be violently subdued in this way, they also film the whole thing - like some prototype TikTok ghouls. Finally, with the Last Son of Krypton out for the count, the quest for the Mountain of Judgement can begin!
What follows is a white-knuckle road race, delivered in Kirby’s signature, kinetic linework (with a detour into some abstract collage) where Outsiders are crashing left, right and centre, along the hair-raising Zoomway. There’s a real sense of danger here, as the Whiz Wagon careens along, barely keeping its wheels on the asphalt. For all Kirby’s beautifully outlandish designs, his machines always possess a sense of momentum and heft.
Superman recovers, more quickly than the Outsiders would have expected, and flies after them, following the trail of wrecked motorcycles along the Zoomway. He spies the Whiz Wagon, then notices something massive hurtling towards it. A colossal, green, twelve-wheeled behemoth, carved into the shape of some grotesquely-tusked monster, with a horrifying gaping maw. This… whatever-it-is, is the thing they have all been looking for - the Mountain of Judgement!
“It’s a giant missile carrier, converted by the Hairies to frighten intruders,” realises Superman, as he swoops down to lift the Whiz Wagon out of the path of the diabolical machine. But the Mountain of Judgement is not so easily escaped! Both he and the Whiz Wagon find themselves magnetically drawn into the monster’s eye!
Inside, they meet Jude and his fellow hipster-wizard compadres, The Hairies, who frantically scan the Whiz Wagon and find an alpha-bomb, hidden in the Newsboys’ video camera! With no time to defuse it, Superman smothers the bomb, just as it detonates, saving everyone’s lives.
Morgan Edge had duped Jimmy and the Newsboys into secretly delivering the Hairies’ annihilation! That’ll teach them to trust the first CEO of a global media conglomerate who comes along and buys them a sweet ride.
And so, as Jimmy and his friends enjoy the Hairies’ hospitality, this issue closes with two panels concerning the villain of the piece. No, not Morgan Edge. He is present, but it is revealed that Edge is merely an acolyte of the true villain. The ultimate villain.
In the penultimate panel, we see a grey face on a screen, chastising Edge on the failure of his plan. To look upon this face is to feel the temperature in the room drop by degrees. It is the face of purest, most concentrated malevolence. Evil given physical form. This is the first sighting of one of the New Gods and it is Darkseid.
Darkseid is control
Darkseid is subjugation.
Darkseid is.
The photo-insert-collages in this series are really impressive--Kirby clearly likes the gimmick but also knows that it's a sometimes food.