Highfather
1066 - Izaya the Inheritor 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. Izaya is the god of wisdom. His wife is Avia, the goddess of building.
1161- Izaya and Avia are attacked by Steppenwolf and Darkseid during their hunt. Avia is killed by Steppenwolf, but Izaya is secretly spared by Darkseid to spark a new war between the planets. Izaya leads New Genesis against Apokolips, confronting and killing Steppenwolf, but after avenging Avia he sees the destruction they have wrought, abandons his weapons and wanders New Genesis searching for meaning. He receives a message from the Source in burning words writ upon a wall, and becomes Highfather. He leads the Gods of New Genesis to end their war, and to rebuild their home as a paradise.
1167 - Highfather and New Genesis are pulled into a new and endless absolute war when Darkseid stages a coup and becomes the new ruler of Apokolips. He begins endless attempts to forge a route to peace.
1752 - Highfather's son is born. His proposed non-aggression pact with Apokolips are accepted by Darkseid, ending 600 years of shed godblood, but only if they exchange their sons. He sends his newborn son to Apokolips where he is given the mocking name Scott Free, while he takes in Darkseid's son Orion, raising him to control his fury.
38 years ago - Highfather hides a next generation mother box from the grounds of the Academy of Higher Consciousness. When Vykin the Brave discovers that Doctor Bedlam is hiding on New Genesis to steal it, Serifan & Beautiful Dreamer help him find the mother box, with secret assistance from the groundskeeper Big Bear. Mark Moonrider tries to stop them and find it for himself, but ultimately they all work together, and Vykin is able to bond with the mother box, Maya, and stop Doctor Bedlam.
25 years ago - Highfather commands that no one pursue Glorious Godfrey to Earth when he kidnaps Beautiful Dreamer, but the Forever People defy his commands and save her.
9 years ago - Highfather and New Genesis avoid being plunged back into war when Scott Free escapes Apokolips and survives.
6 years ago - Highfather and the Gods of New Genesis descend from Supertown to assist the Justice League in freeing the Bugs from the minions of Glorious Godfrey. He saves Forager from death, elevating him to godhood. He finally meets his long lost son Scott Free, and is able to preside over his marriage to Big Barda
4 years ago - Highfather is alerted to the invasion of earth by Jimmy Olsen, He asks The Forever People to return to New Genesis to help navigate the Boom Tube inversion field around the planet, and is able to bring the warriors of New Genesis to Earth to fight the Parademon wave. He names Earth as a protectorate of New Genesis, making the invasion a violation of the non-aggression pact by Apokolips. A new non-aggression pact is made, with the stipulation that Scott Free & Big Barda can earn their freedom.
2 years ago - Highfather is warned of the coming of Mageddon by Metron. He asks Orion and Big Barda to assist the heroes of earth on the Watchtower to help them prepare.
Jack Kirby was an extremely religious person. Lots has been written about how his faith influenced his work, and it's clear that his interest in the mythology of gods has appeared in so much of his work, not just in the New Gods but also over at Marvel in both the worldbuilding of Thor and in the Eternals. The leader of the Gods of New Genesis clearly derives a lot conceptually from Kirby's faith, from the complexity of his devotion to the unnamed "Source" to the simple fact that his name is Izaya, the relevance of which I'll just let you work out.
Highfather's Comic HistoryWhen Highfather first appears in New Gods #1, he's introduced as the father figure of the gods. If you look at nothing other than his role in the plot structure, he's really just Orion's quest giver, the person outlining the path the hero's adventure needs to take. Taken only on that level, Highfather is a fairly perfunctory part of this story, but there is so much more going on here. When we meet him, he's listening to a children's choir, and would almost always be shown prioritizing teaching the young. His totem of power, the Wonder-Staff, is a shepherd's hook. He doesn't claim to know how things will happen or why, but he devotes himself to the word of the Source, a concept that remains fully unknowable for all of Kirby's Fourth World. Even if his specific role in the narrative is a simple one, the concepts at play in his design clearly speak to the role the New Gods are meant to play in their world.
We are also treated to New Gods #7, a fantastic flashback issue that shows the history of the enmity between Apokolips and New Genesis, showing a young Izaya before he became Highfather as he loses his wife Avia and fights to get revenge for her, only to learn the emptiness of violence and to set down his weapons to become a teacher and leader of his people. As a story to come from the pen of a man who fought in World War II, this is an incredibly profound idea to build into the bedrock of the Fourth World. |
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Our Highfather StoryJust like in the comics, we find ourselves using Highfather in a very utilitarian way, as the framing device for the adventures of other characters. In particular, we wound up using him quite a bit in setting up the adventures of the Forever People, as they are sort of meant to be the rebellious next generation of Gods, and to do so need to have an older generation to rebel against, but that generation still needs to be someone who we know loves and supports them, and Highfather just fills that role perfectly. .
Other than being the Forever People's Dumbledore, we made sure to include the details of Izaya's early interactions with Apokolips and his journey to become Highfather. His impossible choice to trade sons with Darkseid to try to end the generations of war is a core part of this story, but we get to make it a little bit more complex by saying that maintaining the non-aggression pact is actually still active even after Scott Free's escape because he survived. Because of this change, the further interactions between Highfather and Darkseid come from a very different place, with the former actually having a bit more of a position of power. It's a very small change, but we like how it makes this very thematic character feel a little more active. |
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