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The Fourth World is the popular name given to a metaseries of interconnecting comic book titles written and drawn by Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics from 1970 to 1973.[why?] Originally intended to form a finite epic story, the books were canceled for unknown reasons. The characters and concepts were later integrated into the DC Universe.
[edit] The original comicsPublished as the newsstand distribution system for comics began to break down, Kirby foresaw a day when comics would need to find alternate, more legitimate venues for sale.[1] Toward this end, Kirby envisioned a finite series that would be serialized and collected in one tome after the series had concluded.[1] The three original titles comprising the Fourth World were The Forever People, Mister Miracle and New Gods. The pre-existing title Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen was used by Kirby to introduce the Fourth World concept and characters. Unhappy with Marvel Comics at the time, as he had created or co-created a plethora of characters without ever having copyright or creative custody of them, he turned to rival publisher DC Comics, with his sketches and designs for a new group of heroes and villains.[1] _1.jpg) As described by Ronin Ro in Tales to Astonish:
The Fourth World dealt with the battle between good and evil as represented by the worlds of "New Genesis" and "Apokolips." Darkseid, the evil lord of Apokolips, seeks the Anti-Life Equation which will allow him to control the thoughts of all living beings. Opposing him is Orion, his son raised by Highfather and his enemies on New Genesis. Other characters caught in the deadly 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; Mister Miracle, a native of New Genesis raised on Apokolips who triumphed over a torturous childhood to become the world's greatest escape artist; and Lightray, the gaily flamboyant warrior of New Genesis. Their adventures would take them to Earth where the war continued. Kirby was writer and editor on each of the series, enabling him to use more complex themes, storylines and brutal violence than was usually the case in comic books at the time, although less graphic than what would become allowed in the comic book industry years later. After learning that the books were going to be cancelled, Kirby attempted to tie up the storylines in the final issues of each series, but the overall story of the Apokolips-New Genesis war was never truly finished. A few years later, Kirby went back to Marvel Comics where he worked on a number of titles including Captain America, but most importantly, once again created a vast new mythology in the new title The Eternals. Eventually other existing Marvel myths, most especially Kirby's Thor were incorporated into the storyline. Very shortly after The Fourth World series wound down, comic artist Jim Starlin wove together a number of established Marvel Comics characters (mostly Captain Marvel, but also Iron Man, The Thing and Avengers) into a new, but similar cosmic storyline revolving around a powerful Darkseid-type character of his own invention, named Thanos. The Fourth World characters later reappeared in various titles and were fully integrated into the DC Universe. The 1982 "The Great Darkness Saga" storyline in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 2) merged Darkseid into the DC Universe and recast him as a major villain. [edit] 1984 Baxter reprint seriesIn 1984, DC Comics reprinted Jack Kirby's original eleven issues of New Gods in a six-issue limited series. The first five issues each reprinted two consecutive issues of the original series. Issue six was originally to have included the eleventh final issue of New Gods and an all-new twenty-four page story by Kirby intended to bring the saga to a close. However, Kirby soon found himself clashing with DC editorial, who refused to publish Kirby's original planned ending to the series in where Darkseid and Orion would die in a fiery battle in the streets of Armagetto. Kirby responded by producing a one-off story called "On the Road to Armagetto", which DC also rejected due to the fact that the story failed to bring any sort of closure towards the series.[3] Ultimately, a forty-eight page story titled "Even Gods Must Die" was published in New Gods (vol. 2) #6 which served as a lead-in to the 1985 graphic novel The Hunger Dogs. The Hunger Dogs was designed to give an ending to the story of the New Gods, while fulfilling editorial mandates that the New Gods would be kept alive in order to ensure future use of the characters by later writers. The graphic novel, which incorporated several pages from the unpublished "On the Road to Armagetto" story into it, brought Kirby's New Gods series to a close as the final battle between Orion and Darkseid is averted when the "hunger dogs", the tortured citizens of Apokolips, finally overthrow Darkseid and his regime, ultimately forcing Darkseid and his allies into exile.[4] [edit] Later revivalsConcurrent with DC's New Gods reprint series in 1984, Jack Kirby drew two Super Powers comic book limited series for DC Comics in which he continued the Fourth World characters and mythology. The Fourth World characters continued to be revived at various times. The Forever People had a miniseries in 1988, the Mister Miracle and Jack Kirby's Fourth World series (the latter by John Byrne) were launched in the 1990s, and Orion had a solo series with art and story by Walt Simonson from 2000 to 2003. Mister Miracle was featured in the Giffen-DeMatteis incarnation of the Justice League. Grant Morrison also used some of the Fourth World mythology in various titles he worked on, including his run on JLA, with Orion and Big Barda becoming members and more recently in the Seven Soldiers metaseries, in which the New Gods, especially Mister Miracle,[5] played a major role. They are also seen creating Aurakles, the first superhero.[6] From October 2007 to April 2008, the Death of the New Gods limited series, written and drawn by Jim Starlin, was published. This and its successor, Final Crisis, brought the Fourth World to an end and brought about the dawn of the Fifth. However, Death of the New Gods has since been retconned out of continuity. [edit] The Fifth WorldIn December 2007, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio was discussing the aftermath of Death of the New Gods and 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."[7] That series led into Final Crisis and DiDio clarified things further, saying "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".[8] 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 in JLA 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."[9] It was during that run on JLA that Morrison had Metron deliver a speech outlining the general principles:
Later, in the JLA 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."[11] [edit] Collected editions[edit] Trade paperbacksThe Kirby-produced Fourth World titles were reprinted by DC in trade paperback format in the early 2000s in black and white rather than in color, although the Jimmy Olsen preludes were reprinted in color. The volumes are:
[edit] OmnibusOn September 11, 2006, DC announced that it would reprint the entire Fourth World saga in publishing order in a four book hardcover collection entitled Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus.[18][19] The volumes collect the New Gods, Forever People and Mister Miracle series along with Kirby's run on Jimmy Olsen. In addition, the fourth Omnibus included the remaining issues of Mister Miracle, Forever People, and New Gods, the Fourth World character entries written for Who's Who, the forty-eight page "Even Gods Must Die!" story published in the last issue of the 1984 Baxter reprint series, The Hunger Dogs graphic novel and the unpublished twenty-four page cut of The Hunger Dogs titled "On the Road to Armagetto!".[20][21] The details are:
Note: The full title of all volumes listed here start with "Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus: ". [edit] AwardsThe original metaseries won Jack Kirby a Shazam Award for "Special Achievement by an Individual" in 1971.[26] In 1998 Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan, won both the Harvey Award for "Best Domestic Reprint Project"[27] and the Eisner Award for "Best Archival Collection/Project".[28] [edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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