Drax
1066 - Drax and the New Gods come into being on a higher plane of existence on the twin planets of Apokolips and New Genesis after Ragnarök, the fall of Asgard. Drax is the son of Yuga Khan, the god of evil and ruler of Apokolips, and Heggra, the goddess of malice. His brother is Uxas.
1157 - Drax's father Yuga Khan is absorbed into the source wall. His attempt to fulfill his inheritance and take control of the Omega Effect is sabotaged by Desaad, and he is killed by his brother Uxas.
The origin of the character Drax was built around an existing character that did absolutely appear in the original Fourth World comics, but we're not actually USING that character. Instead we're just using Drax, a character invented in a later series. I think this will make perfect sense pretty quickly, and I'm pretty sure you'll agree that this was the right choice for this character. These characters. You get it.
Drax's StoryTechnically, the first appearance here would be Forever People #1, but that's not really where this starts. Drax, the brother of Uxas, the New God who would one day become Darkseid, first appeared in the backup stories of John Byrne's Fourth World series in 1997. These backup features, which often were the best part of the series, showed events in the past, unfolding to give context to the New Gods stories as we know them, something that Kirby himself did in his original books to expand the ongoing mythology. In Byrne's tales, we saw Darkseid steal the Omega Force from his brother. leaving him cast into Oblivion. Eventually, we find that Drax is actually alive, but lost in an untouchable realm, gaining a connection to Infinity. This was Byrne creating an explanation for how the Forever People's connection to Infinity Man worked, tying it into the larger mythology.
We actually aren't using the Forever People's connection to Infinity Man at all; we just find them more interesting without him. But we do like the idea of Darkseid usurp the rightful heir to his throne and commit fratricide to gain his power, So we'll be including Drax as one of the earliest New Gods. |