This is probably extremely obvious, but it took me a while to notice, so I figure I might as well mention it. It's an "insight" I had a few years ago.
Kirby's Fourth World, right? Izaya the Highfather...Mother Box.
Mother Box has been referred to as a quasi-living device, a kind of sentient computer. This is reductionist, explanation-seeking; she is much more.
I think that, given the dichotomy noted above, that Mother Box--properly referred to as "she"--is and ought to be considered fully equal to Izaya in importance to the Fourth World, his thematic counterpart. As noted by Marc Singer, comics (especially the superhero comics for which Kirby defined the craft) are especially suited to concretizing metaphor. From that perspective, from the idea that she is the mother of the New Gods, I think one can wring a lot more interest from her appearances, especially those appearances where the New Gods are treated mythologically as they should be, not as slightly unusual superheroes.
It may be an open question whether there are multiple Mother Boxen or whether she has many manifestations and incarnations.
Anyway, I'm not fast on the uptake--my first exposure to the New Gods was JLA 183-185, back in 1980.
Posted by Greg at September 27, 2004 10:15 AM