In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

A notable aspect of Tom King and Mitch Gerads' recent Mister Miracle series was the use of the phrase "Darkseid Is," right from the beginning of the series...

to the end...

In a great interview with Paste Magazine, King and Gerads discuss the phrase a bit...

King: Darkseid isn’t just a big guy who wants to take over the world. He’s not Mongul. He’s not even Thanos, a guy obsessed with death. He’s the evil inside of us. He’s the darkness. He’s the thing inside of us that calls us to do the wrong thing or be warped the wrong way. That’s inescapable: Darkseid exists. That’s there.

Gerads: He’s the only comic book villain that I’m legitimately afraid of. When I was a kid, Darkseid scared the heck out of me. I don’t think it ever went away. My mom brought home a Burger King happy meal, and it had this little cup holder. Different DC characters have their arms outstretched, with cups that go in front. My mom brought home Darkseid and I just started crying. I wanted no part of it.

King: I want to credit a webcomic artist named Julian Lytle. He’s an old friend of mine, and we met at a con. I was telling him about Mister Miracle, and he said: “Darkseid is.” And I said, “What do you mean Darkseid is?” He’s that thing that you can’t deny is there, that’s pushing you toward darkness. And he kept saying “Darkseid is” over and over again, and as I was talking to him, I saw the black panels. It’s always there in the background. It comes from that conversation with Julian.

Well, a reader wanted to know when the phrase was first used. I can't find the request right now, or else I'd credit the request-giver. In general, folks, it is best to send your requests to me via e-mail, because if you ask on Twitter or Facebook, there's a decent chance that, like here, I will lose it. But hey, I at least remembered the suggestion itself, which is something! The other day I totally forgot a suggestion and I drove myself nuts for the next day trying to remember it (that is why I typically write stuff down as soon as either I think of it or when someone suggests it outside of my e-mails). Anyhow, enough of that, what is the answer?

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As Tom King actually notes correctly in that above interview (I cropped it out for the suspense), the debut of "Darkseid Is" is right where people think it debuted, the "Rock of Ages" storyline in Grant Morrison's JLA run.

The conceit behind that run is that the JLA are fighting against the Injustice Gang in the present, but the events of the past in the JLA defeating the villains directly lead to the later conquering of the Earth by Darkseid.

We then cut to the future, where we see the world conquered by Darkseid and there are posters saying "Darkseid Is"...

The villain himself shows up on Earth at the end of the story...

In the next issue, we see the future remnants of the Justice League actually find a way to kill Darkseid, but back in the present, the League is stopped from setting off the chain of events that were set to lead to that future in the first place.

If anyone else has a question about a notable comic book first, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!