Anybody read this comic book series or is familiar with it and it's similarities to Star Wars? I thought this was quite interesting as i'd never heard the comparison before - this is from an article by Jonathon Ross in The Times (UK); "I’m trying not to get too nerdy on you here, but in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World stories published by DC between 1970 and 1973 we meet a bunch of characters who draw much of their power from an invisible Universe-wide power called The Source, while a bunch of Gods battle to save us from the Dark Side — represented a tad literally by the villainous Darkseid, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Darth Vader. Oh, and in a bombshell revelation near the end of the series he turns out to be the father of the main hero. The first Star Wars movie came out four years later". (Not provided link to main article as it's a pay site and is an article about Star Trek anyway. ) Looking over the few mentions there are on the net about the connection, there is also a character named Mark Moonrider. Jack Kirby is an influence on Star Wars, because comic books are .The direct comparison may be nothing more than coincidence but every other blockbuster movie is co-conceived by Kirby so why not Star Wars? This is a link to an interview with Mark Hamill where they mention it but don't discuss it. http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/28hamill.html
Awesome interview! That's really cool that Mark met Kirby and some of the other comic greats! I never made that connection(except for Darkseid and Dark Side) until I read Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier. The book also mentions how Captain Victory was Kirby's answer to Star Wars (hoping Image eventually collects that book, so I can read it).
Into the rabbit hole, flyboy: http://secretsun.blogspot.ca/2011/01/star-wars-symbol-cycle-other-source-of.html The name Skywalker originated in Ojibwe mythology, by the way. Direct influence or parallel research? The guys linked above assume, as the proverb goes, too much. Many more mysteries to uncover here.
Just ordered King of Comics, thanks for the heads up, it looks really good. I'm a part time comic book fan nowadays but I love anything like this, cheers. Interesting read. I really liked the Fantastic Four comparison and even if it is somewhat tenuous, it's neat. His take on Campbell as an out of touch intellectual and Lucas as a plagiarist pseud seems a stretch though, but now I'm talking about things I know even less about (edit: also I am exaggerating a little) What doe's "double sigh" mean anyway?
