The Darkseid War starts out with a flashback showing an Amazon named Myrina giving birth to Grail, the Daughter of Darkseid, on Themyscira on the same day that Diana was born. Menalippe, who witnesses this birth, foresees a war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor that the child will bring about so she and Penelope try to kill the child. Myrina, however, refuses to let them do this and kills them both, fleeing Themyscira.
Meanwhile Metron relates persuading Darkseid and the Highfather of New Genesis to exchange sons in order to prevent further wars between the two planets. He also recaps the emergence of the original Anti-Monitor and his defeat in Crisis on Infinite Earths along with other major DC crossover's including Flashpoint, the results of which, according to Metron, have not yet solidified. This Anti-Monitor, we learn was the named Mobius was the first to sit in the Mobius Chair. Metron approaches Mobius and offers to undo his curse. He warns him of Darkseid's ambitions but Mobius wants a war with Darkseid so he can destroy him and break his curse, ending the age of the New Gods once again. It is then revealed that Grail is aiding Mobius and she attacks Metron, causing him to flee so he can try to prevent the coming war.
The League, meanwhile, is investigating the boom tube opening created by Lashina and Kanto. As they search the scene of Myrina's murder, Grail emerges from inside Flash and takes him out. A fight breaks out between her and the League and she tells Wonder Woman who she is. She then takes Jessica Cruz's power ring and summons Anti-Monitor and an army of shadows. With the rest of the League incapacitated, Wonder Wonder is forced to fight Grail and Mobius on her own. Then Metron arrives and uses his chair to transport the League away.
Arriving on Earth, Mister Miracle finds another woman named Myrina murdered and Lashina and Kanto, who are still on the scene, fight him. He teleports away from the fight and encounters the real Myrina. He warns her about Kanto and Lashina and she informs him off her plan to destroy Darkseid by having Grail manipulate a war between him and Mobius. Shocked by this revelation, he refuses to cooperate with her plans and uses his Boom Tube to escape when she tries to kill him.
On Apokolips, Steppenwolf informs Darkseid that Superman has arrived and pledges to kill him. But Darkseid wants his to destroy his spirit as well as his body. He orders his slaves to kill Superman, offering them their freedom if they so. This will show Superman that Apokolips is a world without hope. He also sends Steppenwolf and Kalibak to capture Grail and Myrina. Superman and Luthor are attacked by hundreds of beings from the slave camps and Superman finds that his powers are fading because of the lack of sunlight on the planet. Luthor flies him away from the oncoming slaves and they are attacked by parademons. Desperate for help Luthor drops Clark into the Fire Pits of Apokolips in order to charge him with solar energy.
Back on earth the war has begun. Kalibak fights with Grail while Mobius fights Darkseid. Darkseid then summons the Black Racer and together they start to beat Mobius down. The Anti-Monitor then uses the Anti-Life Equation, which he reveals to be inside him, to take control of the Black Racer who then bonds with the Flash. With this combined power, the Racer kills Darkseid.
On Apokolips the Fire Pits have transformed Superman into a dark god and he now wants to kill Luthor. He rips Luthor's suit in half and leaves him to rot on Apokolips. Ardora and the Forgotten People then find Luthor and tell him of a prophecy which said that a human would walk through the ashes if Apokolips after Darkseid's death. This prophecy refers to Superman but Lex claims that he is that man. As a result, Ardora attemps to contain the Omega effect inside Lex to see if he's worthy to claim it's power. He survives the process and becomes the new god of Apokolips.
The members of the League still fighting on earth decide to regroup in the face of Darkseid's death. Volthoom attempts to take over Jessica Cruz again but she resists him. Kanto tries to kill Scott Free but is stopped by Barda's arrival from Apokolips. Scott Free then reveals that they're married. Wonder Woman decides to question the Syndicate about Mobius but Steve Trevor informs her they are Level Zero inmates at A.R.G.U.S., so they'll have to break into Belle Reve to question them. Jessica, Barda, Scott and Cyborg teleport away to do this while Diana and Steve go to locate the other Leaguers. Before they can leave, Superman shows up and attacks Steve. Wonder Woman intervenes, using her Lasso to calm Superman down, and he accepts his identity as Clark Kent, restoring him to his normal mental state. Batman then returns to earth and tells Superman that his mental state has only been restored temporarily and that the solar energy from Apokolips is breaking down his cellular structure and will eventually kill him. He then detects that Mobius is returning.
Grail then teleports in and takes Steve Trevor while Wonder Woman is occupied helping Superwoman to fight Mobius. Both woman are beaten by the Anti-God and Ultraman and Superman then attack him. Ultraman punches Kal El away, attacking Mobius himself. He is killed by Mobius and then Lex Luthor teleports in, leading an army of parademons.
Back on Earth, Lex uses his newfound power to fight Mobius. Superwoman is about to give birth and Diana wants to take her away from the battlefield but Owlman won't let her. Batman reveals that the child is the weapon the Syndicate wants to use to kill Mobius. Lex gains a temporary advantage when he sends the parademons to attack Mobius but he is quickly overwhelmed by attacking shadow soldiers and Barda and Mister Miracle come to his rescue. Barda wants to return to Apokolips and lead a rebellion in Darkseid's absence but Scott Free insists on staying and aiding the League. As Mobius begins to converge on Batman to take his chair back Superman releases a Solar Flare, gaining energy and hurting Mobius. Mobius then tries to kill Luthor when Grail and her mother arrive with Steve. As Superwoman's baby is born Grail forces Steve to kill Mobius.
Grail then commands Steve to kill Diana and the the rest of the League. Steve asks Diana to stop him but he can't control himself. Luthor tries to kill him but Superman intervenes. Mister Miracle chains Grail and the Green Lanterns try to imprison her but she breaks free. Superwoman channels Luthor's power into her child by saying "Mazahs", only to be killed by Grail. Then Steve tries to kill Diana but Barry resists the control of the Black Racer and pushes her out of the way. Grail tries to steal his power but she is unable to as the Black Racer is a sentient being. The Racer separates from Flash and tries to kill him. Grail takes Shazam's powers instead.
Cyborg attempts to tap into the Volthoom ring's supernatural technology. He finds that's there's a third quantity other then ones and zeroes: Fear. Jessica controls her fear helping Vic to bypass it. She tries to save Barry from the Black Racer and is killed in the process. The League, depowered, face Grail and the baby. Scott Free asks Batman how to stop her. He tells him that Steve wasn't the first man on Themyscira and that Grail made a mistake by choosing him. Overhearing this, Grail takes the Anti-Life Equation back from Steve and gives it to Superwoman's son instead. The child is reborn as Darkseid, but he must now do Grail's bidding.
This story is really dense. So much plot and backstory are packed into a mere 12 issues that the book can barely handle the strain. The book must establish the backstory of both Grail and Mobius as well as recap much of Jack Kirby's New Gods for readers who are unfamiliar with that material. It must also tell the main story which involves the battle between Mobius and Drakseid, Mister Miracle and Barda's resistance against Darkseid on Apokolips, the Crime Syndicate's attempted return to power and their quest for revenge against Mobius and, finally, Myrina's and Grail's plot to destroy Darksied once and for all. With all of this the book's main charterers end up feeling oddly sidelined. With the exception of Batman, all of the League members who gain godlike powers have them thrust upon them unwillingly and then they lose them without any effort on their own part. Batman is the exception, as he takes the Mobius chair in a moment of urgency and is able to give it up with help from Green Lantern, which is one of the standout moments of the run.
The relationship between Hal and Bruce, in general, is really solid. Other character relationships are also given focus. Early on, there's a lot of interaction between Superman and Lex, as the two must learn to trust each other better. This doesn't really go anywhere but it's nice while it lasts. Diana and Steve have some time to bond again, as we find out that they still have feelings for each other. Jessica Cruz probably gets the most character development as we see her finally overcome Volthoom's influence when she breaks free from the ring. Her friendship with Flash is stronger then the fear that has held her back for so long. It may be a plot contrivance that she is chosen by the Green Lantern ring, as there's already a Green Lantern for earth, but it does feel that she has earned it.
This arc is influenced both by Jack Kirby's New Gods and by Greek mythology. It presents itself as an epic battle where old guys die and new one's are reborn. In the end, plain old heroism wins the day. There's a general theme running through the story of using violence to end violence. Myrina, trained as an assassin, can only see a violent path to defeat Darkseid but, as Diana later says, "You don't start a war to end a war. Violence begets violence, unless someone breaks the cycle." Ultimately, her actions only lead to the creation of a younger, stronger Darkseid. It's by giving her own life, not by taking life, that Myrina ends the war. There's also a lot of undermining of the current status quo. Between Superman's impending death, Wonder Woman's discovery that the Truth about her heritage has been covered up, and the tease of Dr. Manhatten at the end of the story, it feels like the writing was already on the wall for the New 52.
The influence of Jack Kirby's New Gods on this story this extends to the artwork. Pencillers Jason Fabok and Francis Manapul both channel the legendary artist's penchant for dynamic action and they do their best to replicate the burly, muscular look he always drew characters with when drawing the characters from New Gods. Despite this, both artists have dramatically different styles with Manupul's pencils being much more expressionistic then Fabok's more realistic renderings. Despite this discrepancy, The Darkseid War is an awesome looking book filled, with epic splash panels and striking imagery. Oscar Jimenez did the artwork for The Darkseid War Special, which goes over the Grail's childhood with Myrina and it's a little more rough around the edges but this fits the darker, murkier storyline and, as it is essentially a diversion from the main story, its not overly distracting.
Overall, The Darkseid War is a little overly ambitious. Attempting to simultaneously wrap up all the loose ends from the run and to lay the groundwork for Rebirth it ends up feeling a little rushed and the main characters are somewhat sidelined. Nevertheless it's a pretty good event comic, filled with epic moments and telling a grandiose story spanning many years and echoing the history of the DC Universe going all the way back to 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Definitely worth a read.
Score: 8/10
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