It’s now Day 18 of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, curated by Howard Simpson. The prompt for today is Big Barda, who first showed up in Mister Miracle #4.
She made an impact from her very first appearance on-panel, and continued to from that point on. Barda didn’t really look or act like your typical comics heroine. Arriving on Earth from the privation and harshness of Apokolips, it took her a little while to adjust.
Some months after she first appears in the comic, we meet several members of the Female Furies battalion she formerly commanded back on Apokolips. The reunion is, shall we say, a bit awkward at first.
I’ve drawn Barda for a couple previous Jack Kirby Tribute Months here and here. Jack gave her a couple of very striking costume designs. One is her uniform (the helmet feels vaguely Egyptian inspired to me, somehow). The other is a sort of bikini/workout outfit.
Since I’ve drawn her in her uniform the last couple times, I debated putting her in the bikini this time. But I couldn’t think of a scenario for that which would work all that well within the parameters I’ve placed for myself in doing these Kirby Tribute images.
From what I understand, Jack liked Big Barda and the Furies so much, he actually wanted to do a comic starring them. The layout for the cover is out there on the internet, if you look for it. At one point, artist Frank Fosco took the layout and fleshed out the pencils, then Mike Royer did a little further tweaking and inking. It appeared as a cover for The Jack Kirby Collector.
Hope you liked my take on Barda this time. As I write this, I’m still not sure whether I’ll make it in time to get through the whole list of prompts this month. Will I? You’ll have to come back tomorrow to see if I can pull it off.
ZOOM! BOOM! Detritis seems to be suspended in the air around Barda. She is seriously engaged. What did you have in mind she was battling? It certainly was not playing with kids at the daycare. I jumped over to YT to a clip of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse which I have never seen. Your coloring is so much better. I am also with Jack on a comic Barda and team in another one of those “shoulda-couldas.” Thanks Mark.
Glad you like the coloring! One of the things I reference when doing these is how the characters and their settings were colored originally in the books back when Jack drew them, so this reflects that.
As to whether she’s playing with kids in daycare or not, it’s possible she’s going up against some fairly nasty students in Granny Goodness’ Orphanage on Apokolips or something like that. Whatever is happening here, she’s able to let loose with a lot of her strength.
Nice illustration, you certainly capture the intensity of the character.
Side note: When Jack Kirby tells you your date looks like Big Barda, you should take it as a compliment.
Ha! Yes, hopefully we’ve established that fact by now!