We Could’ve Had It All, But Then DC Comics Rejected the One Series the World Deserves

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These days, DC Comics seems committed to letting writers explore characters that haven’t typically gotten the spotlight. This is a stark change from the 1970s, when DC was less likely to give niche characters, especially women, their time to shine, which unfortunately resulted in them passing on what would have been a classic comic.

As one Reddit user reminder readers, Jack Kirby once pitched Big Barda and Her Female Furies! to DC, and even delivered a sketch of the cover for the first issue. Kirby, creator of DC’s New Gods, was an influential voice at the publisher at the time, but he wasn’t able to make this Big Barda solo series happen.

Big Barda has subsequently gone on to become a fan-favorite character, confirming that DC made a mistake by rejecting Kirby’s pitch for the character’s own series.

DC Rejected The Pitch For Big Barda And The Female Furies #1 – Written By Jack Kirby; Art By Frank Fosco

Big Barda is one of the best female characters in the DC Universe, despite the fact she doesn’t get anywhere nearly enough attention, compared to characters like Wonder Woman or Black Canary. This is a shame because there’s so much potential for a Big Barda comic. While it’s nice that Jack Kirby didn’t give up on the idea, instead folding Big Barda and his plans for her story in the Mister Miracle series, it still would have been spectacular to get the story from Big Barda’s own point of view, instead of just through her relationship with Scott Free.

Judging from the title of the book, this series would have taken place during her time on Apokolips, when she was in charge of the Female Furies. Big Barda was one of Darkseid’s elite soldiers and was in charge of his most powerful soldiers. When a job truly needed doing, Darkseid would call on Granny Goodness to dispatch the Female Furies to handle it. One of the main jobs that they had was capturing Mister Miracle every time he escaped and returning him to his prison.It was through this interaction that Big Barda fell in love with Scott Free.

Big Barda Has A Long Character History In The DC Universe That Is Overdue For Deeper Exploration

From Serving Darkseid To Saving The World With The Justice League

Unfortunately, Big Barda has never received her own solo comic, despite Jack Kirby pitching one nearly fifty years ago. Her appearances have been restricted to team books, such as The Justice League, Birds of Prey, and most books starring her husband, Mister Miracle. While it is great that she has appeared in such a variety of content, it is unfortunate that she’s never been given her own title. Considering her connections to Darkseid, and her long character history, a solo book exploring how she feels about life on Earth, away from her connections to Scott, would be fascinating.

Although she’s currently appearing in Mister Miracle’s book, there is little reason she couldn’t show up elsewhere in the DCU as well. As DC fans know, if Batman can appear in four titles in a single week, there’s no reason that Big Barda can’t be in two books at the same time as well. Especially now that the New Gods are in disarray from the death of Darkseid. With Apokolips needing a new leader, and Big Barda being Darkseid’s greatest soldier, it would be nice if she had at least some inclusion in DC’s latest, revamped New Gods series.

Even Lois Lane Got Her Own Book Separate From Superman

It is great that DC is proving to be willing to give smaller characters their own books so that they can try to shine. The fact Fire and Ice, characters who haven’t been prominent in anything for several decades, are finally getting a book is amazing. But it really would be nice if DC brought that same energy to Big Barda and finally gave her the chance to shine without being directly shackled to her husband. Scott Free is a fantastic character, but he’s had several solo books already, and has proven he can be apart from Big Barda.

It’s time for Big Barda to prove that she can be an independent hero, without the need to rely on her husband to be involved in a story. Big Barda is apowerfulcharacter. She’s managed to stand up against the likes of Wonder Woman, and lived on Apokolips for years. There is so much potential in her character’s history for fantastic stories, but it’s all potential that DC simply hasn’t been interested in exploring so far. While DC Comics rejected Jack Kirby’s pitch for a solo series so long ago, there’s no reason why Big Barda can’t have her own story now.

Source: Reddit

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