Review by Graham Johnstone
Under-appreciated for his 1960s contribution to Marvel’s iconic superheroes, Jack Kirby signed a deal with rivals DC giving him the control and credit he craved. The first fruits were four series with the common backdrop of war between the ‘heaven/hell’ planets of New Genesis and Apokolips (and spilling onto Earth), collectively known as The Fourth World.
It took until the 2017 centenary of Kirby’s birth for each series to be collected in a quality single volume, with all four also gathered in this boxed set. For more detail, see individual reviews of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Mister Miracle and The Forever People. Sadly, Kirby’s ambitions for an epic, but finite ‘novel’ were scuppered by sales figures.
The Jimmy Olsen series seems an odd place for Kirby to launch his bold new vision. He introduced Apokolips’ overlord Darkseid, as the largely off-stage instigator of various schemes, resisted by Jimmy, Superman, and the new generation of Kirby’s 1940s kid-‘gang’ Newsboy Legion. Kirby revels in the Olsen series’ over-the-top tradition, creating a brilliantly inventive kid-friendly romp. Many readers will relegate it to the bottom of the pile, but there’s much Kirby fun here.
The centrepiece of The Fourth World is New Gods, which follows Orion, sent from New Genesis to defend Earth, so mixing grand drama with the bathos of everyday humanity. Some of Kirby’s most powerful narratives are here, including some epic backstory, and a brilliant reveal. A decade on, DC invited Kirby to conclude The Fourth World, though resisted the ‘apokoliptic’ finality he favoured, yielding compromised results in The Hunger Dogs.
Forever People intrigues, as a less well-know Kirby series, aided by the iconic cover image of the interplanetary hippies on their ‘super-cycle’. They’re caught up in Darkseid’s quest for the all-powerful Anti-Life Equation, and totalitarian manifestations like the Happy-Land theme park. The ideas and (Fourth) world-building are powerful, but the youngsters are rarely protagonists. Perhaps that’s why the franchise had less of a life after Kirby.
Mister Miracle is an Apokolips refugee on Earth, playing out his institutionalised childhood, in the guise of an American escapologist. Despite a flimsy premise and some ‘cheat’ endings, it’s both taut thriller and splenetic satire – (of the Marvel ‘regime’), and the escapology inspires some of Kirby’s best-staged sequences. The series outlived Fourth World, replacing the Apokolips enemies with more mutable foes, perhaps reactions to Kirby’s disappointing new reality.
Kirby clearly relishes creating his world, characters, and accessories. It’s a riot of ideas, including Boom Tube transporters, Transformers pre-empting vehicles, and, er, the Dog Cavalry. It powerfully demonstrates Kirby’s creative brilliance, and some clunky dialogue is soon forgotten. Most stories are set on Earth, adding human characters and relatability, though those offering back-story on the other planets are amongst the most compelling.
Visually, Kirby was at the height of his powers, creating brilliantly composed, dynamic pages. Inker Vince Colletta improves on his previous poor work, but the Mike Royer inked pages offer the definitive rendering of Kirby’s energetic line-work.
This material is available in a choice of formats. Other editions collect episodes in original publication order, initially over four volumes, then a single (larger) Omnibus, then deluxe (and larger again) Absolute Editions, and most recently the first (of three?) ‘DC Finest’ paperbacks. Themes and elements cross series, but plots aren’t interdependent – that makes this boxed set of original sized paperbacks the most readable option, with the larger editions better showcasing the art. In any format, though, this is a milestone in American comics, and a fascinating, entertaining, visually stunning read.
