Quote:
King Snarf said:
I think a big WTF is the Black Racer. No particular storyline, just the character concept. Death is a guy on SKIES.


I both liked and disliked the Black Racer when Kirby created him, in NEW GODS 3, and his later appearance in NEW GODS 11.






Here's another WTF, as you can see from this enlargement of the cover for NEW GODS 3...

http://fullsize.3.GIF

...the car putting along in the background, as the Black Racer sweeps into action, is a Model T !
Not exactly a current photo Kirby used to make this photo-collage cover.



I like the aspect of the Black Racer (from issue 3, that introduces him) that he is an amalgam of individuals who are quadraplegic, and even virtual vegetables. People who are helpless, powerless, who in contast to previously not even having power to move their own bodies, are given near-omnipotent power by becoming the Black Racer.

In Black Racer's later appearance in NEW GODS 11, he has developed into a role similar to a Valkyrie from Norse mythology, or an angel of death, who takes away individuals in combat at the moment of their death.

I think the NEW GODS 11 cover was possibly the best of the series, and a terrific story:
http://fullsize.11.GIF

I just wish Kirby could have continued this series for a few more issues, and brought this battle to its epic conclusion in 1972.



Despite the concept of the character and his power being great and coming from the combined consciousness of many helpless people, Black Racer's costume is really goofy, I think. It looks like something assembled from leftover items at a thrift store.
The only other Kirby costume that matches Black Racer's in sheer goofiness is that of Flippa-Dippa in Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN issues.