The Darkseid Of Darth Vader?

Who created Star Wars? Well the easy answer is George Lucas and the myriad talents who he assembled to bring the incredibly influential little sci-fi epic to the screen  many decades ago. But some say to hold onto that for a moment and probe more deeply. Some suggest that to find the source of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker you need look no further than the Marvel Age and The Fourth World

They suggest the story of a son who doesn't know his true father and must battle against that father for the sake of the universe is a story told by Jack "King" Kirby in the pages of New Gods and beyond in the earliest years of the 1970's. Orion is a young man bartered for the sake of peace and so estranged from his true heritage but who is destined to rediscover that heritage and with the defeat of his father bring about a new order to the universe itself. Luke Skywalker must learn over the course of some time he is the son of Darth Vader and with that knowledge know also that he must do battle with this aspect of the dark side. 

And what of that "dark side"? In the Lucas saga we find that darkness hidden beneath an enigmatic mask, part of a full set of protective high-tech armor, which at once protects its wearer and obscures the true nature of the man beneath the mask. Where have we seen this before? Of course in the pages of Fantastic Four in the form of the grand villain Doctor Doom. 

So there you have it. George Lucas didn't think up Star Wars, at least not on his own. But do I really believe this theory? I confess that I don't simply because the ideas which motivate the saga are so broadly known and so generic that it's really impossible to suggest so close a connection. Rather I think it's a matter of two creative minds finding sustenance from the same sources and making similar repasts. There's evidence that Jack Kirby felt that Lucas might have been borrowing from him, but that doesn't constitute evidence really. Short of Lucas saying this is what he did there's little to prove the point, but like so many controversies about such ultimately insignificant things it's fun to ponder.

More to come tomorrow. 

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