When I was a kid, I think that Legends was my first major crossover that I really recognized and followed. I’d read a few books that were involved with Crisis on Infinite Earths before it, and eventually managed to collect that series, but it was the aftermath that hooked me in to the DC Universe. More than I was with Swamp Thing, the semi-regular issues of Batman and Detective Comics, and occasional other DC title when one of those or a random horror book wasn’t available. Darkseid’s wager with the Phantom Stranger intrigued me and I was quickly becoming engaged by the experiments DC was taking post-Crisis. Which is why a perfect-bound mini-series turning Darkseid into a protagonist, working with the heroes, was like catnip to me. Cosmic Odyssey by Jim Starlin, Mike Mignola, Carlos Garzón, Steve Oliff, and John Workman was a full-size cosmic event that had repercussions across the DC universe.
While not nearly as expansive as the three previous events, and without a line-wide crossover, Cosmic Odyssey still felt huge as Darkseid and Highfather were working together to save the Milky Way, and ultimately everything, from the Anti-Life Equation. It brought in the heavies like Batman and Superman, made sure other aspects of Jack Kirby’s DC creations were represented in Orion, Lightray, Forager, and The Demon, the Titans with Starfire, and more of DC’s cosmic heroes and the Justice League with Martian Manhunter and John Stewart, while ensuring that some of the DCU’s core worlds were crucial to the story in Thanagar, Rann, and Xanshi. With some surprises along the way, including a reinterpretation of the Anti-Life Equation and some catastrophic events that changed the landscape for some of our heroes. It’s the kind of epic scope that you’d expect from Jim Starlin.
But it’s the artwork that truly puts this story over the top. Mike Mignola is probably not the name you’d think would be associated with a big cosmic event, but his late ’80s artwork was a somewhat different animal. Late ’80s Mignola had the Kirby crackle and bombast, the Toth shapes, and many, many more lines than his more refined, deceptively simple style these days. You see more of what is probably the influence of artists like Walter Simonson, John Byrne, and Keith Giffen and it’s glorious. Part of this is also likely through the inks by Carlos Garzón. He did a fair amount of work on Star Wars inking Al Williamson and I feel that comes through in how some of the little details appear and the non-spotting black shading areas. The layouts and overall design of each page are incredible, even starting out with a beautiful BOOM-shaped sound effects panel. And one of the most ridiculously glorious disguises for Batman.
That sense of design is carried through with John Workman’s letters, particularly with the sound effects. Yet, there’s an ineffable quality to his work, something that’s distinctly present as his style—possibly just through association with The Mighty Thor and many of Walter Simonson’s epics—that elevates any story he’s working on. Likewise with Steve Oliff’s colours. Here much of the story is cast in bright primary colours, fitting Superman’s colour scheme. It makes some of the darker moments all the more stark in comparison, especially when Superman fights a giant robot.
Cosmic Odyssey from Starlin, Mignola, Garzón, Oliff, and Workman may be short compared to the events that came before and after it, but it’s mighty. It’s a cosmic epic that presents an enemy so vast, so total that even the traditional representations of good and evil have to come together in order to defeat it. There are twists and turns along the way, the stakes are suitably grim, the honours to Kirby are many, and the results are devastating for some of the characters and worlds. Including the scars that John Stewart will wear for decades since.
CLASSIC COMIC COMPENDIUM: Cosmic Odyssey
Cosmic Odyssey
Writer: Jim Starlin
Penciller: Mike Mignola
Inker: Carlos Garzón
Colourist: Steve Oliff
Letterer: John Workman
Publisher: DC Comics
COSMIC ODYSSEY assembles an eclectic group of heroes to race against time to stop a cosmic entity hell-bent on destroying the galaxy. Do they have what it takes? Or will one hero bring destruction to an entire world? Collects the original four-issue miniseries, featuring Superman, Batman, Orion of the New Gods, Darkseid and many more!
Release Date: February 28, 2017 (deluxe edition)
