Kirby/Royer Road to Armaghetto page 22

In the early '80s Jack returned to DC and produced three different conclusions to his unfinished masterwork of ten years before, The New Gods. The first one, from which this page comes, was never published. Its pages were instead incorporated, with unattractive changes (not on the original artwork, thank goodness), into "Hunger Dogs." The Road to Armaghetto, in its original form, is a late masterwork of disillusionment and mortality. Much of it is a dialog between the aging Darkseid and his young, disfigured weapons master, Metron's apprentice, Esak. Nearly every page has some astonishing bit of writing: "There's no need for intrigue or great strivings--the cosmos lies open to button-pushing babes!""By the dark infinite! Is there no end to the casual arrogance of your wonders?" "Drooling infant! A new age is precisely the time--to settle old scores!"

Esak was a minor character in the original series, a boy who embodied youth and promise. The Road to Armaghetto (the title an oddly whimsical reference to a popular series of Bob Hope/ Bing Crosby musical comedies of the '40s), is Esak's tragedy. Given a shot at bringing the series to a fitting end, Kirby puts off the obvious confrontation between Orion and Darkseid, and opts instead to destroy an innocent. This page gives the back story.