Orion flanked by Barda on his right and Barda's husband Mister Miracle on his left. © DC Comics Inc. (click to increase in size).
Continuing with our mini-series on Big Barda, it's time to give some background and clear up the character references. The story of the New Gods involves two planets, the good one New Genesis and the bad one Apokolips. To avoid war between them, Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, gives his son Scott Free (Mr. Miracle) to Darkseid, the ruler of Apokolips, while Darkseid's son Orion (mentioned by Lashina below and pictured at left) went to New Genesis to be raised by Highfather.
Lashina, art by New Gods creator Jack Kirby. © DC Comics Inc.
Our spanker is Lashina, who first appeared back in Mr. Miracle #6 (January-February 1972). Raised in the orphanage of Granny Goodness, who is in charge of training warriors for Darkseid, she eventually becomes leader of GG's elite force The Female Furies after Big Barda manages to escape the group and Apokolips. There is therefore a sort of a history and rivalry between these characters, as Lashina was not only Barda's enemy but her husband's (Mr. Miracle) as well. And we'll see more of him next time.
Granny Goodness, art by Jack Kirby. © DC Comics Inc.
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Lashina takes her lash to Big Barda. Art by Tim Phillips. Characters © DC Comics Inc. Posted by the Web-Ed on 08/31/2018 (click to increase in size).
Now we should at least understand the references to "Orion" and "Granny Goodness" that take place in our featured drawing. Lashina seems to have discarded most of her costume and thoughtfully lowered Barda's bikini to bare her bottom for the belt. It's a very good scene overall by artist Tim Phillips, making his first appearance in CSR here but not his last as he has done some other superhero work (in fact he's done another with Barda that we'll see shortly).
The belt isn't our favorite implement, but we like it better than the whip, and despite her name, Lashina uses an implement that looks more like a belt than the lash. Incredible as this may sound, we don't think that Jack Kirby had any intention of catering to spanko tendencies - Lashina and her belt-lash was just another gimmick, like Gorgon and his hooves (of The Inhumans, which Kirby co-created with Stan Lee over at Marvel). Kirby was the best, but super-types are usually going to be somewhat gimmicky (like strippers, now that we think of it - see "Gotta Have a Gimmick" from the musical Gypsy). No OTK position either, but still a fun and well-rendered scene, much in the style of an actual comic book.
