| "Fourth World" thematic stories | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Created by | Jack Kirby | ||
| Publication information | |||
| Publisher | DC Comics | ||
| |||
| Formats | Multiple, thematically linked | ||
| Genre | |||
| Publication date | 1970–1973 | ||
| Number of issues | 59 | ||
| Main character(s) | Darkseid Mister Miracle Orion Forever People Highfather Lightray Jimmy Olsen Superman Morgan Edge Newsboy Legion Guardian Kalibak DeSaad Intergang Big Barda Granny Goodness Oberon Metron Dan Turpin | ||
| Creative team | |||
| Writer(s) | Jack Kirby | ||
| Artist(s) | Jack Kirby | ||
| Reprints | |||
| Collected editions | |||
| Fourth World by Jack Kirby Omnibus | ISBN 1-4012-7475-7 | ||
| Omnibus Volume 1 | ISBN 1-4012-1344-8 | ||
| Omnibus Volume 2 | ISBN 140121357X | ||
| Omnibus Volume 3 | ISBN 1401214851 | ||
| Omnibus Volume 4 | ISBN 1401215831 | ||
"Fourth World" is ametaseries of connectedcomic book titles written and drawn byJack Kirby and published byDC Comics from 1970 to 1973. Although they were not marketed under this title until the August–September 1971 issues ofNew Gods andForever People, the termsFourth World andJack Kirby's Fourth World have gained usage in the years since.Kirby created the Fourth World concept in the 1970s. The series is a science-fiction based mythology that revolves around ancient space deities known as theNew Gods. The New Gods are similar to the gods ofEarth lore.
As the newsstand distribution system for comics began to break down,Jack Kirby foresaw a day when comics would need to find alternate venues for sale.[1] Toward this end, Kirby envisioned afinite series that would be serialized and collected in one tome after the series had concluded.[1] He began the "Fourth World" inSuperman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (Oct. 1970).[2] DC Comics had planned to introduce the "Fourth World" titles in the November 1970 issue of their preview omnibus title,Showcase. Kirby reportedly objected to this, andShowcase was cancelled. This delayed the introduction of the "Fourth World" titles until the following year. The three original titles constituting the "Fourth World" wereTheForever People,[3]Mister Miracle,[4] andTheNew Gods.[5][6]
Unhappy withMarvel Comics at the time, as he had created a plethora of characters without having copyright or creative custody of them, Kirby turned to rival publisher DC Comics, with his sketches and designs for a new group of heroes and villains.[1] He had first showed them to Stan Lee, who liked them, but wanted to fold them into already existing titles. So Kirby decided to keep them for himself. WhenCarmine Infantino visited Kirby and his family forPassover, he showed him his designs and ideas. Infantino told him that he wanted to bring them to DC. Worsening conditions at Marvel and promises from DC made Kirby decide to switch company.[7] As author Marc Flores, who writes under thepen name Ronin Ro,[8] described:
The idea of theNew Gods had come to Jack years earlier, when he was plotting 90 percent of the "Tales of Asgard" stories inThor. He wanted to have two planets at war and end withRagnarok, the battle that would kill Thor's lucrative pantheon. Instead, he tried the idea in hisInhumans stories. Now he was presenting it in its original context. Though he wouldn't ever say it publicly, theNew Gods books started right after the gods inThor killed one another. The first page ofOrion of the New Gods showed the same scenes fromThor—a planet torn in half and armored gods holding swords and dying on a fiery battleground.[9]
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"The Fourth World" dealt with the battle between good and evil as represented by the worlds ofNew Genesis andApokolips.Darkseid, the evil lord of Apokolips, seeks theAnti-Life Equation which will allow him to control the thoughts of all living beings. Opposing him isOrion, his son, who was raised on New Genesis.[10] Other characters caught in the battle included the Forever People, an extension of the kid gang concept from the 1940s with a group of adolescents adventuring without an adult supervisor;[11] Mister Miracle, a native of New Genesis raised on Apokolips who triumphed over a torturous childhood to become the world's greatest escape artist; andLightray, the heroic warrior of New Genesis. Their adventures would take them to Earth where the war continued.
Comics historianLes Daniels observed in 1995 that "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and the Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured".[12] In 2007, comics writerGrant Morrison commented that "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm... The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper".[13]
The Fourth World characters reappeared in various titles. In 1976, the New Gods were featured in the last issue of1st Issue Special.[14]The New Gods series relaunched in July 1977, and with1st Issue Special still a relatively recent publication, it picked up where the storyline of that issue left off. Although the title remained "The New Gods" in the indicia and retained its original numbering, launching with #12, the covers used the title "The Return of the New Gods".[15]Gerry Conway wrote the series andDon Newton drew it.[16] Mister Miracle teamed-up withBatman three times inThe Brave and the Bold,[17][18][19] and theMister Miracle series was revived in September 1977 bySteve Englehart andMarshall Rogers.[20][21]Steve Gerber[22] andMichael Golden produced three issues ending with #25 (Sept. 1978),[23] with several storylines unresolved.[24] Mister Miracle teamed with Superman inDC Comics Presents #12 (Aug. 1979)[25] and the New Gods met theJustice League of America and theJustice Society of America inJustice League of America #183–185 (Oct–Dec 1980).[26][27][28] "The Great Darkness Saga" storyline inLegion of Super-Heroes vol. 2 featured the team battling Darkseid a thousand years in the future.[29]
Mark Evanier, who worked as Kirby's assistant in the 1970s and later wrote an award-winning Kirby biography, has said that there are multiple, mutually-exclusive explanations for why Kirby chose the name "Fourth World", adding that "if you'd asked Jack eight times, you'd have gotten eight more"; ultimately, Evanier concluded that none of the suggested explanations are plausible, and that it is most likely "just a term that popped into [Kirby's] head and he liked the sound of it. Later on, he came up with several different retroactive explanations".[30]
In 1984, DC Comics reprinted Jack Kirby's original 11 issues ofThe New Gods in a six-issue limited series. The first five issues each reprinted two consecutive issues of the original series.[31] The mini-series' final issue was originally intended to include a reprint ofNew Gods vol. 1 #11 and a new 24-page story which would conclude the series and end with both Darkseid and Orion dead. DC editors prevented Kirby from using his original intended ending.[32] Kirby instead turned in a one-off story called "On the Road to Armagetto" which was rejected as well, due to the fact that it did not contain a definitive ending to the series.[32] A 48-page new story called "Even Gods Must Die" was published instead, serving as a prologue forThe Hunger Dogs graphic novel, which was greenlit to conclude the series.[32]
The Hunger Dogs was designed to give an ending to the story of the New Gods, while fulfilling editorial mandates that the New Gods be kept alive to ensure future use of the characters by later writers.[33] It incorporated several pages from the unpublished "On the Road to Armagetto" story and brought Kirby'sNew Gods series to a close as the "hunger dogs", the citizens of Apokolips, overthrow Darkseid.[34][35][36]
Concurrent with DC'sNew Gods reprint series in 1984, Kirby worked on twoSuper Powers comic book limited series for DC Comics in which he continued the Fourth World characters and mythology.
AForever People miniseries was published in 1988.[37] Mister Miracle was featured inJustice League International byJ. M. DeMatteis andKeith Giffen and a series of his own written by DeMatteis.[38] The Fourth World characters were prominently featured inCosmic Odyssey,[39] which led to a thirdNew Gods series (February 1989 – August 1991), written by Mark Evanier,[40] which fleshed out details about the history of many New Gods, most notably introducing Darkseid's father Yuga Khan. A fourthNew Gods series was launched in October 1995,[41] and a thirdMister Miracle series in April 1996.[42] Both of these were replaced in March 1997 by theJack Kirby's Fourth World series, written and drawn byJohn Byrne.[43]Walt Simonson wrote and drew anOrion solo series from June 2000 to June 2002.[44]
WriterGrant Morrison used some of the Fourth World mythology in various titles they worked on, including their run onJLA, with Orion andBig Barda becoming members, and in theSeven Soldiers metaseries, in which the New Gods, especiallyMister Miracle,[45] played a major role. They are seen creatingAurakles, the first superhero.[46]
TheDeath of the New Gods limited series (October 2007 – April 2008) was written and drawn byJim Starlin.[47][48]Final Crisis brought about the end of the Fourth World and the dawn of the Fifth as Darkseid was destroyed and several New Gods are resurrected.
With thereboot of the DC Universe followingFlashpoint, the deaths of the New Gods and Darkseid have been removed from canon and the characters are still active. In particular, Darkseid and his uncleSteppenwolf and their attacks on the main DC Universe andEarth 2 play a major role in the rise of the superheroes: the Earth-2 versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman die fighting Steppenwolf[49] while the Earth-1 Justice League forms to fight Darkseid and thwart his invasion of Earth.
A New 52 version of the Forever People debuted in theInfinity Man and the Forever People series.[50] Serifan is now Serafina, Vykin's sister, and Beautiful Dreamer has been renamed Dreamer Beautiful.[51]
In December 2007, DC Executive EditorDan DiDio was discussing the aftermath ofDeath of the New Gods and pointed to the creation ofFifth World; he said: "It's the advent of the Fifth World... I think we've telegraphed so much that the New Gods are coming upon a rebirth, and the story that we're telling with them now is a continuation of the story that was established when Kirby first conceived the concept. Talk about death—Kirby blew up worlds at the start of the series. The story started with, 'The Old Gods Died!' which made room for the New Gods—we're picking up that thread and launching the DCU into the future".[citation needed]
That series led intoFinal Crisis. DiDio clarified things further, saying that "the Fourth World is over. The battle between the forces of Darkseid and those of Highfather is over, and a new direction is in place for the characters in what will be deemed the Fifth World".[52] The series' writer, Grant Morrison, added: "In Jack Kirby's Fourth World books... it's pretty clear that the New Gods have known about Earth for a long time and inJLA ten years ago, I suggested that part of their interest in us was rooted in the fact that Earth was destined to become the cradle of a new race of 'Fifth World' super-divinities—an eventuality Darkseid is eager to prevent from occurring".[53] It was during that run onJLA that Morrison had Metron deliver a speech outlining the general principles:
How like little children you appear to me. How small is your comprehension and yet... there is a seed in you... The Old Gods died and gave birth to the New. These New Gods, even such as I, must also pass, in our turn. Our search was long and our war continues, but we found the planetary cradle of the Gods to Come. ... you are only forerunners.[54]
Later, in theJLA storyline "World War III", Metron's dialog is more specific: "As New Genesis is to the Fourth World, Earth shall be to the Fifth that is to come".[55]
The Kirby-produced "Fourth World" titles were reprinted by DC intrade paperback format in the early 2000s inblack-and-white rather than in color, although theSuperman's Pal Jimmy Olsen preludes were reprinted in color:
DC reprinted the entire Fourth World saga in publishing order in the four volume hardback seriesJack Kirby's Fourth WorldOmnibus from 2007 to 2008. In addition to the remaining issues ofMister Miracle,Forever People, andNew Gods, the fourth Omnibus included the Fourth World character entries written forWho's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, the 48-page "Even Gods Must Die!" from the last issue of the 1984 Baxter reprint series, andThe Hunger Dogs graphic novel.[61] The series was reprinted in paperback starting in late 2011.[62] In 2017, in honor of Kirby's 100th birthday, DC Comics released a new hardcover omnibus collecting the story in its entirety. New contents included essays fromMark Evanier andWalter Simonson, and Kirby pencils, profiles, and pinups.[63] The collection was released on December 12 the same year. The $150 omnibus however had a mistake, omitting the splash page fromJimmy Olsen #148, reprinting a page from an earlier episode instead.[64]
In September 2021, a new edition, correcting the original error, with better quality paper stock at a reduced price was published with 50 additional pages of unpublished material.ISBN 978-1779512611
Jack Kirby received aShazam Award for the original metaseries in the category "Special Achievement by an Individual" in 1971.[71]
In 1998,Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan, won both theHarvey Award for "Best Domestic Reprint Project"[72] and theEisner Award for "Best Archival Collection/Project".[73]
Kirby began introducing new elements to the DC Universe, building toward the introduction of a trio of new titles based on a complex mythology he called the Fourth World.
As the writer, artist, and editor of the Fourth World family of interlocking titles, each of which possessed its own distinct tone and theme, Jack Kirby cemented his legacy as a pioneer of grand-scale storytelling.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)While innovative in structure, the lineup allowed Kirby to revisit familiar genres:Jimmy Olsen and especiallyForever People revived the Simon & Kirby kid gang formula.
