The award for most bondage covers during a comic's run by a male hero
would have to go Scott Free aka Jack Kirby's "Mister Miracle".  On almost
every cover of his 18 issue original series back in the early seventies he was
strapped to some new shining example of Kirbyesque technology, facing a grisly
end and having to demonstrate that he was indeed the "Super Escape Artist"
the comic's subtitle claimed.  However as you can see from the example above
Big Barda also got into the act on occasion.  At least on the cover, on the
iside you get to see her pinned down by increased gravity after Kanto, one of
the many colourful characters Kirby populated Apokolips with, got hold of
her mega-rod.  Kanto then gave Scott the choice of surrender or watching Barda
get squashed under increased pressure.  Hence the death trap which he escaped
in a typically flamboyant fashion.
     Before continuing with more of the happy couple's adventures here's a
brief recap of Scott Free and Big Barda's origins.  Scott was born on New
Genesis while Barda hailed from Apokolips, the light and dark worlds of Jack
Kirby's New Gods mythos.  From the names you can probably guess which world
was good and which was evil.  Scott was exchanged for Orion, son of Apokolips'
ruler Darkseid as a sign of sincerity in a peace treaty between both worlds.
For more on Darkseid and Orion I'd recommend Walter Simonson's 25 issue
"Orion" which has almost concluded as of this page's writing (March '02).
     Growing up on Apokolips failed to break Scott's spirit and he escaped,
aided near the end of his attempt by Big Barda.  The name being a reference to
both her size and superhuman strength.  Barda was the leader of the Female
Furies, an elite squad of Darkseid's Special Powers Force, a position that she
had sweated blood (or at least spilt plenty of it) to earn.  Why risk throwing
her rank and status on Apokolips away for a New Genesian?  It seems she was
impressed by his independent spirit and refusal to give up despite not having
powers to rely on.  So much so that when assigned to hunt Scott down she
turned against Darkseid and stayed by his side.  As time progressed it seems
that their relationship deepened during the few quiet moments their adventures
allowed.  So much so that in the 18th and final issue (Feb-Mar 1974) when all
their enemies united against them and were hunting them down Scott took the
time to propose to Barda in a hastily dug tunnel.  She accepted then they
broke through to the surface for their final battle.  Unfortunately they lost
against the combined might of Virman Vundabar, Granny Goodness, Kanto and
Doctor Bedlam and faced one final deathtrap alongside Scott's assistants for
his stage escape act, Oberon and Shilo.









     Fortunately the cavalry had arrived in the form of a New Genesian strike
force/wedding party and the explosion they had seen simulated by Lightray.
Scott's dad and New Genesis's ruler Highfather officiated at a hastily
organized wedding.  The reason for the speed was they wanted to complete the
ceremony before a disgruntled gatecracher arrived.





    It was too little to late and with the wedding concluded Scott and Barda
took the first Boom Tube to New Genesis before Darkseid arrived.  However he
took this defeat philosophically musing that while he hadn't stopped the
service he had spoiled it.  Or to quote DC's best bad guy, "It had deep
sentiment yet little joy.  But life at best is bittersweet".  And of course
there's also tomorrow.  Or in this case the resumption of the series three
years later with Mister Miracle 19 (Sept. 1977)






On to Steve Englehart's continuation of Mister Miracle







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