2. Before getting to Kirby, I should say that Billy Graham was a complicated historical figure, whose trajectory my colleague @onesarahjones traces here:https://newrepublic.com/article/147164/billy-grahams-circus-left-behind …
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3. Kirby's most remarkable work is the "Fourth World" cycle of stories he did from 1970-1973, a kind of cosmic allegory for the battles between Nixonian hard-hat reactionaries & the youthful counterculture.
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4. In the course of the the Fourth World cycle a multiracial group of young people fight a cosmic villain, Darkseid, whose earthly minions are plutocracy & authoritarian religion.pic.twitter.com/1ZIfRgIMCE
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5. One of Darkseid's chief human servants is Glorious Godfrey, a hell-fire preacher who uses fear to bind together a conformist cult.pic.twitter.com/Plm6cPpyG7
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6. Visually, Glorious Godfrey owes something to Burt Lancaster in "Elmer Gantry" but also, in showmanship & pizazz, to Graham. As Kirby biography Mark Evanier explains.pic.twitter.com/5mFBei7akE
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7. Key to understanding Kirby's satire on Graham is Graham's relationship with Nixon. Kirby really, really hated Nixon. Darkseid is a Nixonian villain & his henchmen echo Nixon's cronies (Desaad = Kissinger).
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8. The strange thing is when you read transcripts of the private conversations between Nixon & Graham, they do sound like super-villain & lackey.pic.twitter.com/zwFLzB7zaP
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9. Here is my favorite moment between Glorious Godfrey & Darkseid.pic.twitter.com/AGWqFMwuJ8
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10. "I like you, Glorious Godfrey! You're a shallow, precious child — the Revelationist — happy with the sweeping sound of words! But I am the Revelation! The Tiger-Force at the core of all things! When you cry out in your dreams — it is Darkseid that you see!"
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11. Kirby's satire was aimed not a religion but religion allied with power. Godrey made himself a servant of "the Tiger-Force at the core of all things" not knowing where it would lead.
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12. Kirby's "Fourth World" cycle was a commercial flop (perhaps too strange for 1970s audiences) yet hugely influential: it provides narrative undergirding of both DC & Marvel cinematic universes. Alas, they've denuded the visionary satire.
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