"Darkseid is very evil. He's the equivalent of a mass murderer, but he wouldn't waste his super-powers on just one individual. He wouldn't go out of his way just to kill one man; it would be ridiculous. He wouldn't do it. He'd just walk away. That's how my villains think."

"If someone took control of your mind and you were not able to think as yourself any longer, you would no longer be yourself. You'd be something in his command. You as an individual would be dead. That's Anti-Life. In other words, if you gave yourself to some cause, and gave up everything as an individual and you were at the beck and call of some leader, you would be dead as an individual. And that's what Darkseid wants. He wants control of everybody. If it was snowing outside and you weren't wearing any shoes and it was 38 degrees below zero and this guy says, "Go out and get me a bologna sandwich," you have to go through all that; you obey him automatically, you obey him meekly. You walk out without a coat and you freeze to death. He doesn't care. You do it anyway despite the fact that you don't want to do it. You're dead as an individual. You have no choice. You can't object and you have no stature as a person. You're dead. A slave is a dead man. That's what Darkseid wants. Darkseid wants complete subjugation of everything at a word - his word. He wants every thinking thing under his control. I believe it's an evil concept but he doesn't think so."

"Darkseid: I like you Glorious Godfrey! You're a shallow, precious child -- The Revelationist -- Happy with the sweeping sound of words! But I am the Revelation! The tiger-force at the core of all things! When you cry out in your dreams--it is Darkseid that you see!"

"Orion: Ruler of Apokolips! Wielder of Holocaust! Disciple of power and death!"

"Yes. And I shall be watching both of you closely. Very closely indeed, Superman."

"Perhaps too inventive. It is an admirable quality albeit driven by greed. As surely as Superman will fall, Lex Luthor's activities must be closely monitored. Do I make myself clear, Kanto?"

"The brilliance is in the victory, Kanto and now it is time to test the capabilities of this Earth man. Even with these weapons, I am curious if this mortal can actually complete his task. The eradication of the Last Son of Krypton."

"Darkseid constitutes the kind of men Kirby was acquainted with in his youth. The slum lords, made famous in Will Eisner’s A Contract With God, were men (perhaps women?) with agendas. They operated on morals dictated by their business mindset. The cost of rent, the living conditions, and the quality of life they allowed for their tenants was in line with their standards. To them, that standard was appropriate. To call them “evil” or “unethical” is an inaccurate assessment. They were gods within the worlds they created."

"Darkseid: To Darkseid there is value in anything that can turn a being of such power into quivering jelly. I think we owe this mother box a debt for relieving his dementia and preserving a record of it for us. Little mother box...you fear me, do you? Haven't you heard that Darkseid is a doddering old fool who spends his days working his cypher? That's right...adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing...I fear this: As long as the Anti-Life Equation is unsolved, as long as a scrap of free will exists anywhere in the universe--then Darkseid remains unfulfilled."

"Superman: Darkseid lives for manipulation. He has hypnotists, scientists and sadists whose only functions are to break your spirit. Darkseid is evil."

"(narration) Yet another takes his refuge high above the earth's surface... his self-made emerald city twinkling in the night sky like a verdant star. There, Green Lantern commands a lonely throne... ever vigilant, ever waiting for signs of threats extraterrestrial. He waits still."

"(re: Superman) After ten years he has finally unleashed a wrath that would cow Satan himself."

"(narration) Another of yesterday's guardians has since claimed the Pacific Northwest as his aerie. Some call him a savior... others, an environmental terrorist. He is feared, and justly, by those who would deprive the beasts and birds of their sanctuary. His name is Hawkman."

"I don't know what to do! You can see that, can't you? Every choice I've made so far has brought us here, has been wrong! So listen to me, Billy. Listen harder than you ever have before. There's a bomb falling. Either it kills us - or we run rampant across the globe. I can still stop the bomb, Billy. That much I'm sure of. What I don't know is whether I should be allowed to. Superhumans or mankind... one will pay the ultimate price. And that decision... is not for me to make. I'm not a god, I'm not a man. But you, Billy... you're both. More than anyone who ever existed, you know what it's like to live in both worlds. Only you can weigh their worth equally. You can let me go... or with a word, you can stop me. Do you understand the choice that can be made by you alone? Then decide. Decide the world."

"(narration) The Sandman had gone to his grave without one grain of faith in the future. And the saddest part was... he was far from alone. With each passing day, hope for tomorrow has become more precious a commodity among every day folk. Still, I tried to keep the faith... and hew to the scriptures. According to the word of God, the meek would someday inherit the earth. Someday. But God never accounted for the mighty."

"Secretary-General of the New United Nations: Listen to me and understand! There is nothing rational about dispatching tactical nukes into the heart of my own country – But these are not rational times! We are at the flashpoint of human existence! My God... You can hear the battle even here! At any moment, it threatens to spread forth and engulf the world! What then? What then?"

"(narration) In the time of Superman's absence, Keystone City has become a utopia -- a protectorate relentlessly patrolled by a gale force once human. No one sees him... no one hears him. He runs a lonely race... but all who live here have felt his presence. He is everywhere at once... a guardian angel who rights even the most harmless of wrongs with lightning speed. He lives between the ticks of a second. He is The Flash."

"(narration) What happens next is... for the first time... my own fault. I have overheard Flash described as a man too fast to be contained by one plane of existence. Apparently, entire strata of reality are open to him. So settled am I in my role as a spirit... that I have forgotten that fact!"

"The world's dying! Poisoned seas -- can't breath the air! The politicians -- the bankers -- the criminals -- they're sacrificing us all on the alter of their greed! Please... please don't kill our planet...!"

"I think Anarky's age is right now. He looks like a street protester. He looks like Anonymous. He's like one of these guys who wants to go out there and change the world to what he believes is the better, and I think of all the Batman enemies, and one of the reasons I'm most excited about Anarky, is he feels relevant today."

"Gotham City's corrupt CEOs and drug peddlers may look over their shoulders for the winged shadow of the Batman, but it is Anarky they truly fear."

"Anarky is one of the more interesting characters of the past fifteen or twenty years, not only because he's a teenager (which is a wonderful revelation in #609) but because of what he wants to accomplish. Anarky is a direct contrast to Batman. He is an active agent of change while Batman is simply a reactive agent, reinforcing the status quo (as all corporate superheroes do) and positioning himself as the opposition to Anarky even though Lonnie, the teenager under the mask, is trying to make the world better instead of simply stopping at beating up the obvious criminals... Lonnie is a fascinating character in that he has a sense of humor (as evidenced by the A-symbol he spray-paints on Batman's cape after the Dark Knight has captured him) and he's very smart. He is able to show how ineffective Batman is against the real problems of society, and although Batman stops his spree, we find ourselves sympathizing much more with Anarky than with the representative of the status quo... Grant obviously liked the character, and he is one of those creations that you wish was used better in the DC Universe. Anarchy as a concept is often dismissed, but it's worth looking at simply because it is so radical and untenable, yet still noble."

"Everyone always goes on about what a radical Ollie (Green Arrow) is and I wanted to show that maybe that isn’t the case … especially as Ollie’s radical credentials are pretty antiquated... Anarky as a character - and as a broader idea - is much more radical than Ollie... Also, Anarky is a terrorist! How can that not be interesting in the modern climate?"

"Anarky is my favorite comic-book character... Anarky represents an impressive voice for liberty in today's comics."

"In the age of the anti-hero, it only makes sense to have the occasional anti-villain as well. But unlike sociopathic vigilante anti-heroes like the Punisher, an anti-villain like Anarky provides some interesting food for thought. Sure, he breaks the law, but what he really wants is to save the world... and maybe he's right."

"[Anarky] became—even more than Batman—a more synergistic element between Alan and me. It was the fruition of our professional relationship in that we were discussing (through faxes) a lot of the philosophical issues, day by day, that Alan was putting into the Anarky storyline."

"Anarky, of course, was among the best, if not the best, of the characters Alan created. Alan really created him—along with the other characters—and I was just along for the ride and lucky to be there."

"We don’t have any conclusive evidence, but Alan and I can’t help but feel that Anarky’s philosophy grated on somebody’s nerves; somebody got a look at it and didn’t like it.... So I’ve generally gotten the impression that Anarky was nixed because of its philosophy. Especially in this age of post 9/11, Anarky would be a challenge to established authority. He’s very anti-establishment, that’s why he’s named Anarky!"

"I'm amused by Alan's originally grooming Anarky to be the new Robin; the Robin role now seems too small for him!"

"(Anarky is) a philosophical action hero, an Aristotle in tights, rising above mere "crime-fighter" status into the realm of incisive social commentary. In fact, Anarky exists primarily to challenge the status quo of hierarchical power, and he may be the first mainstream comics hero of his type to do it consistently and with such rational intelligence... "Although super-heroes' primary goal is to entertain, they also have the potential to meet this higher challenge, and I like to think that Anarky is leading the charge. After all, it's his very nom de guerre and purpose for existing!"

"Anarky’s world clashes as much with the traditional world of superheroes as it does with the world of crime. So the interplay between him and Green Lantern and him and Superman is not the usual kind of hero interplay."

"...Norm and I (like I said, we’re very different people) agree with Anarky’s perception of what’s wrong with the world. It is something we feel very strongly about. Although we want the book to be very entertaining, as all comic books have to be, we’re trying to say something else; there is another viewpoint of the world from another direction. You might see that you’re being conned. It is quite difficult to present that in an entertaining fashion. We’ve succeeded, I think, largely in part to Norman’s artwork. It’s as dynamic as anything I’ve ever seen him do. He draws Anarky as if he loves the character."

"I felt he was the perfect character (to express Neo-Tech philosophy) because he's human, he has no special powers, the only power he's got is the power of his own rational consciousness."

"He's fifteen years old, for pity's sake! Look at these books--! He should be sneaking copies of Playboy around, not Bakunin and Marx and Ayn Rand!"

"Actually, he may be right about a lot of things..."

"Oh, yes, I remember young Lonnie, all right! Sad boy, I always thought. Old before his time. Didn't make friends easily. Spent too much time in places like this. Reading, always reading. Far too serious."

"I know you alright — A 14-year-old genius who thinks his extremist ideals justify any crime."

"He's a straight-A student... Cocky -- confident -- thought he knew all the answers, had to do it his way. Yet I can't help but admire him."

"The Quest For Justice in Gotham City Is No Longer A Fight Between Good And Evil. It Is Now A War Over Who's Right And Who's Wrong. Batman. Anarky. Two dedicated idealists, two champions for two very different causes. If Anarky wins, what will Gotham stand to gain? If Batman wins, what will Gotham lose?"

"Democracy is The Tyranny of The Minority!"

"His Name is His Goal!"

"...I guess it's true what they say... the radical of one century is the conservative of the next!"

"Lonnie Machin: "Because I'm not normal, mom. I'm something special -- One day -- and soon -- everybody will be like me. Because if they're not, mankind will be extinct!""

"Roxanne Machin: "Oh, why can't you just be normal?""

"Batman's misguided. He fights the results of crime, but not the causes. He takes on individual cases... but he fails to see the wider picture!"

"The authoritarian system we live under is set to benefit a tiny minority — an all-powerful elite gets obscenely rich, while billions are cheated out of realizing their true potential. But the system is rotten. It's ripe for collapse. It's the duty of every revolutionary — everyone of us — to hasten that collapse... It's not a crime to fight injustice... The system's conditioned us — hypnotized nearly everybody into accepting that life has to be the way it is. We're hypnotized into believing war is natural — famine is natural — crime is natural... but they're not. They're products of the system and its all-consuming greed! People have become robots — zombies — too busy scrambling for day-to-day existence to be able to see they're really victims. It's up to us to open their eyes. From cradle to grave, we're taught — indoctrinated! — that happiness depends on always getting more. Buy — throw away — buy more! Doesn't matter if we destroy the planet on the way! Politicians say they can fix the world's problems. Just give them more power. Religions say do more of what they order and you'll be happy — but only after you're dead! They've been making the same hollow promises for thousands of years, and we, the people — the sheep — have listened. But it's time to wake up and smell the coffee — the days of external authority and force-backed power are numbered... that's the way the system is set up! A sham democracy that acts as a front for the elite's ambitions... It doesn't have to be like that. We can change it!"

"Society is rotten. It will only be changed when the people see the greed, arrogance and brutality of those who rule them! ...Democracy is a sham!"

"I'm against anything that's against people! Cruelty -- brutality -- exploitation... These are the enemies of the people -- The enemies of Anarky!"

"Democracy... Hah! There's a laugh. They pretend that it works -- pretend that the voice of the people, spoken through its elected representatives will be heard. Trash! The world is run by elites -- bankers, the military, government agencies. Criminals all. They prey like vampires on their victims...! I've been thinking a lot about elites lately. How they come to power -- How to stop them!"

""The essence of anarchy is surprise -- spontaneous action... even when it does require a little planning!"