Some thoughts about New Gods Special #1

Can Orion realize where he truly belongs?

Kalibak is planning to impress his father preparing an attack in New Genesis and is up to his brother to stop him one way or another.

The Jack Kirby anniversary continues and here we have a celebration in one of his most inspired creations, the New Gods. I think I've mentioned this before but I'm not really much of a fan of this franchise in particular, I mean, I appreciate the ideas behind as well as the big scope the stories but as characters themselves, I never found the New Gods that compelling but despite of this I found this story semi-decent.

Shane Davis handles a classic theme of Orion trying to defend New Genesis from Darkseid's forces and proving himself to be more than just the son of the ruler of Apokolips. It has a pretty classic feel in its premise and while Davis doesn't really offer anything unique beyond it, I think the execution was acceptable at the very least. I enjoyed the writing presentation during the early pages and Davis touches most of the relevant and usual aspects of the nature of these characters as well as their relationship. Mind you, I believe that Davis doesn't really have enough depth in his skills to show some of the most complex ideas that have been explored in the past by other writers but still, his work is serviceably by being straightforward.

His art follows that same route I believe. Davis has never been an actually "great" artist in terms of beauty or polish but he has an appropriate enough style and storytelling to depict the plot. Again, pretty serviceable.

There's also a little story by Walter Simonson which is logical considered he has a history with the franchise but surprisingly enough, his segment is even less memorable than Davis. Not only because it has very few pages but also because is not that interesting. His art is adequate at the very least.

Not a great anniversary issue but not an offensive one either, readable enough.