Forever People

Young Justice – How Far We’ve Come

The Forever People from Jack Kirby’s Fourth World #17 (July 1998),
artists Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding

The Forever People are a fictional group of extraterrestrial superheroespublished by DC Comics. They first appeared in Forever People #1 (February–March 1971), and were created by Jack Kirby as part of his “Fourth World” epic.

Fictional History

The heroes are a group of young New Gods from New Genesis who were on a mission to oppose Darkseid on Earth, and talked, dressed, and acted much like the flower children of the 1960s.   In addition to the individual abilities and equipment of the members, the group can join together using the technology of a Mother Box to summon the powerful hero known as the Infinity-Man.   The group travelled by use of their Super-Cycle.

They first appeared in their own title, The Forever People, in 1971, which lasted eleven issues. They mainly fought Darkseid’s forces such as Glorious Godfrey in issue #3.   They helped the hero Deadman track down his killers when a mystical coincidence brings him into their lives.

The series ended on a cliffhanger. In the last issue, they summoned Infinity-Man, swapping places with him on a distant planet named Adon. Infinity-Man was apparently destroyed in combat with Devilance the Pursuer, leaving the Forever People stranded on Adon.

In 1988, a six issue Forever People limited series by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Paris Cullins was published, showing what had happened to the Forever People on Adon. During this series, all the things that happened to them on the planet were reversed, and they were restored to our part of the universe. This series revealed that the Forever People were Earth born humans – infants doomed to die, but brought to New Genesis instead, and gathered to protect the human race. They returned to Earth to oppose ‘the Darkness’, a sentient but disembodied force of hopelessness. They were aided by a mysterious being namedMaya, who was ultimately revealed to be the consciousness of their Mother Box.

During the events of Death of the New Gods, one of the mini-series that attempted to lead into Final Crisis, the human origin of the Forever People was retconned, and it was hinted that the five were to have been the first of the next evolution of the New Gods – godlings becoming more than the sum of their parts. In the Death of the New Gods, Superman and Mister Miracle discover that the Forever People were murdered several months prior to the discovery of their bodies, and it is later revealed that an impostor posing as Himon has been murdering the New Gods as an agent for the Source; but ultimately, the murderer turns out to be none other than the Infinity Man himself.

In the Final Crisis Sketchbook, the Forever People, along with other members of the New Gods are shown to be given updated looks, which Grant Morrison calls “more gothic art school student than flower power”. In the event itself, Japan’s pop culture team, the Super Young Team are revealed to be the Fifth World incarnation of the Forever People.

Original members

During the original Kirby run, Beautiful Dreamer had been linked romantically to Mark Moonrider, although outside of hand-holding, the exact nature of their relationship was never directly specified. In the 1988 miniseries, it was established that Dreamer had been married to Big Bear, and together they had a child, named Maya after the spirit of their old Mother Box. Since then, however, their marriage and daughter has been voided by a retcon during John Byrne‘s Jack Kirby’s Fourth World series. When last shown, Dreamer was romantically involved with Takion, the new Highfather of New Genesis.

In Superman & Batman: Generations 3, she marries Superman, and has his children, Lar-El and Vara. All three are killed by Darkseid.

Beautiful Dreamer has psionic powers, with which she can create illusions. She is extremely long lived, also been able to sense fluctuations within the Source.

Big Bear

Big Bear had been married to Beautiful Dreamer, and she had been pregnant with their daughter. A shift in time resulted in the marriage never happening and the child never having existed. This traumatized Beautiful Dreamer for a time. A skilled hand-to-hand combatant, Big Bear is also among the strongest of the children of New Genesis, making him superstrong by human standards, capable of bending steel and hurling giant redwood tree almost effortlessly. Big Bear’s atomic structure is reinforced by a constant flow of so-called high-density atoms, and he is also able to store an excess of free-flowing atoms which he can direct at will to reinforce the power of his already awesome punch. InForever People #7, he was shown to have been responsible for the historical event that led to the legend of King Arthur.

Mark Moonrider

During the original Kirby run, Beautiful Dreamer had been linked romantically to Mark Moonrider, although outside of hand-holding, the exact nature of their relationship was never directly specified. In the 1988 miniseries set on Adon, Mark was shown to have fallen in love with, and later married one of the natives, Mina. They had 3 children together – Merry, Wendy and Starbright – but when the shift in time, caused by the Darkness’ actions, undid the events which ‘evolved’ the natives, this marriage now never had occurred, leaving Mark with only his friends.

In addition to his extremely long-lived, Mark has a strong body, keen mind, has good leadership skills and is well trained in hand to hand combat. He possesses a Megaton Touch. With it, he can cause a tremendous explosion, and no doubt he could easily kill with it if he and his companions were not sworn never to take a life. Used at low intensity, it can cause a severe shock. On one occasion he used his megaton touch to turn solid rock into molten lava.

Serifan

Serifan is the youngest member of the group. With no super-powers, he is usually the most vulnerable. The Dark saw this and possessed Serifan, using him to conquer Forevertown and plague the Forever People. After the Dark was defeated he returned to his normal self.

Serifan is a sensitive possessing limited telepathic powers. In his hatband Serifan carries “cosmic cartridges” that serve various purposes. For example, the cartridges can be used to create a protective shock-repelli-field, to create an anti-gravity effect, to generate high gravitational force, to generate intense heat, to power a vehicle, or to stun opponent. Although all of the cartridges have never been catalogued, those seen in action have uses such as being able to generate an anti-gravitational force, create force fields, tune the wielder into the “cosmic Harmony” that is linked to the Source, and, in the case of the “Blue Cartridge,” allow Deadman to merge with a “Follower” and have a body of his own once again.

Vykin

Throughout the Kirby run, Vykin was referred to as “Vykin the Black”. He was the first black super-hero to appear in a DC comic book, preceding Kirby’s Black Racer by approximately 7 months. When the Forever People were stranded on Adon, Mark Moonrider thought it would be advantageous to civilize the people of the planet. When Vykin used their Mother Box to do so, it overloaded and was destroyed, killing Vykin in the process, but managing to create Forevertown. When the Dark overtook and reversed the effects of the Mother Box, Vykin was brought back to life. Recently he was reunited on New Genesis with his mother, Valkyra the Commander, who rode a winged robotic horse. Later on, she sacrificed her life to save her lover Orion.

Vykin the black possesses “magna power”, which enables him to project magnetic energy. He can also mentally trace atomic patterns, and is therefore good at tracking. Vykin is stronger, more agile and resistant than a human, has a keen mind and is a skilled hand to hand combatant. It is Vykin who carries the Forever People’s Mother Box a kind of living, sentient computer.

Infinity-Man

Infinity-Man is Drax, the older brother of Uxas, who would later become Darkseid of Apokolips, and became the Infinity-Man after treachery at the hands of Uxas while attempting to harness the Omega Force for himself. No explanation was given as to why he was involved with the Forever People other than Big Bear’s offhanded comment to Superman in the first issue of “we’ve got an arrangement with the Infinity Man.” The Infinity-Man’s powers were never fully cataloged other than having some direct link to the Source. He was shown capable of flight, super-strength, enhanced vision powers, and the ability to negate gravity and convert it into a repulsive force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_People