Where was the real Black Racer during this? For that matter, where is that slacker now?

Damn--or rather, 'goddamn' in this case, I suppose--I thought I had a full set of these, but grabbed this one to blog and it wasn't familiar...unless, of course, the Anti-Life Equation wiped that knowledge from my mind. Well, guess that's what the blog is for! From 2001, Orion #15, "At the Edge of the Abyss" Story and art by Walter Simonson. (His birthday was just this week, and he's the best!)

With the Anti-Life Equation, Orion had brought peace to the universe...by controlling it. And yet he was still furious, as he discovers his father Darkseid was still alive: currently, along with Metron, they might have been the only free wills left in existence. Orion sends Lightray to find them, and he's able to even through their cloak, discovering Darkseid and Metron as they scrambled to work on a simulacrum replica of the Black Racer. Using the Equation, Orion is able to command Darkseid and Metron to appear before him, as well as to force answers from his father: Orion's mother, Tigra (not that one!) had tried to convince him that Darkseid wasn't his father, in the hopes that Orion would then kill him. Darkseid admits he was Orion's father; while irked at Tigra, Orion feels the deception had been unneccessary: he was more than willing to kill Darkseid. Darkseid warns--or perhaps blusters--that whoever killed him, would be cursed, and their children would be cursed, and their children's children, for a thousand generations. Orion scoffs at that: he was already cursed.

Back at the abandoned faux-Black Racer, an unseen figure (with green gloves...) uses a Mother Box, to disguise himself as the Racer. Meanwhile, Orion reviews Darkseid's history, as a sort of indictment. He then uses the Father Box he had received from his father's, ahem, "close personal friend," Mortalla; to create a gun to kill Darkseid. Orion pulls the trigger, on an empty chamber: a flourish, learned from years of watching Desaad. (Orion mentions, offhand, having killed and resurrected him with the Equation.) Figuring everyone's hands would be clean and uncursed if Darkseid was his own executioner, Orion gives him the now-loaded gun, and with the power of the Equation tells him to kill himself.

Before Darkseid can pull the trigger, the Black Racer interrupts them, claiming Orion had affected the cosmic balance in "setting (himself) up as the equal of fate." That could either be working from a script or prophecy, or a bit of improv; but also seems to imply Orion has to kill Darkseid himself and be cursed...(It's also why I'm always less than enthusiastic about stories with Superman or the Justice League fist-fighting Darkseid: they aren't part of that narrative!) The Racer then takes it to the gathered crowds, seemingly killing hundreds: Orion is furious over the loss of life, but the Racer points out Orion had taken their wills, so what was left? Tyranny. The Racer opens a Boom Tube, and Orion gives chase. After they disappear, the collected gods are freed from the Equation: Lightray thinks that means Orion was gone, perhaps dead; but Darkseid says their Racer had been a ploy, he wasn't sure what had happened. (We do see Desaad collapse with Orion's disappearance, seemingly returning to death.) The intent had been to lure Orion into a Boom Tube with no exit...and, it's noted, those supposedly killed by the Racer, were merely stunned. Darkseid gives truce for the day, in his son's memory; and the gods of New Genesis return home. (If there was still a New Genesis at this point, I forget!)

I love the little guys at the bottom of this page: I think Simonson did a metric ton of those, little throwaway background characters and cameos, for Orion #5. He could've put those on every page! Some distance away, the "Black Racer" removes his disguise, having escaped from the Boom Tube. (Escaped, you say...he also has a very distinctive cape and aerodiscs!) And Orion seemingly crashes somewhere else, that appears to be the roots of a massive tree...The last few issues here had very much been "absolute power corrupts absolutely," and while Orion had good intentions, he also was riddled with what charitably could be referred to as "anger issues." It's very telling, in that faced with a universe of everyone's problems, Orion's answer is, let's everyone shut the hell up for a minute.

Also this issue: another "Tales of the New Gods," "Greater Than/Less Than" Written by Kevin McCarthy, art by John Paul Leon. Canis Major had been one of Darkseid's mightiest Dog Soldiers, but his son Canis Minor, with the aid of a salvaged, damaged "Step"-Mother Box, had developed an interest in art. Having long feigned an interest in war, today Canis Minor rebels against his father, knocking him out, taking his armor, and leading the Dog Soldiers to a victory against New Genesis. Then, in the aftermath of battle, he frantically sculpts a rider slumped over his mount, to the roaring approval of the Dog Soldiers, who appreciate "the art of war." Unfortunately, Darkseid does not: "I may not know art, but I know what I like...and I don't like this." He orders Canis Minor killed, noting "sons have always plagued me." Ah, everybody's a critic.