Geek Syndicate Issue 7 | Page 62

Geek Syndicate
The Fourth World brought us the first crossover epic with a dense style of storytelling that might not have been seen before. Kirby did not just bring us the first crossover event; he also created the entire universe that these characters would inhabit. They were always a part of the rest of the DC universe (DCU) but at the same time, the only characters to ever really appear in this saga from the rest of the DCU were Superman and Jimmy Olsen. It could be argued that this was more to do with the fact that Kirby was given Jimmy Olsen as a book to use by DC’s editors rather than Kirby’s fondness for or desire to include him. Although the next crossover event didn’t happen for around a decade, Kirby’s experiment was the start of something that has truly revolutionised comic books. battle between Orion and Darkseid seems to have reached tipping point: a major (if not their final) battle was on the horizon. Unfortunately, DC decided to cancel many of The Fourth World titles - including The New Gods. After the cull, the only book left was Mister Miracle. to heat up. Because of this it is my opinion that even if Mister Miracle was outperforming The New Gods, DC should have taken a chance and kept The New Gods instead. It is not that the next few issues of Mister Miracle aren’t good but it does feel that Kirby lost a lot of enthusiasm for the

Another medium that The Fourth World seems to have had an influence on was film. George Lucas and Jack Kirby often met up and discussed ideas and Lucas was a comic reader. Amongst his influences were science fiction serials like Flash Gordon, and Kirby’s Fourth World. All of these influences led to the production of a small film you may have heard of: Star Wars. The impact of Star Wars was and still is huge, and Kirby’s Fourth world was a key component in its gestation.

New Genesis - Home of the New Gods. A vast, fortress city hovering over a world populated by The Forever People

Issue 11 of The New Gods is one that left the reader desperate to see what would happen next. The

This to me is the biggest crime imaginable. It was the equivalent of cancelling Watchmen at issue 11, or deciding that Blackest Night was not doing so well and therefore they would cancel the main book of the event Blackest Night but keep Blackest Night: Flash in publication. Although Mister Miracle was a great book, the crux of this epic is The New Gods. The Forever People, Mister Miracle and Jimmy Olsen all had themes of The Fourth World running through it but it was The New Gods where the main arc was going on; where the battle between Orion and Darkseid really started

book. A key problem was actually Kirby’s masterful storytelling. The New Gods issue 11 was so good that readers were left feeling lost and with no resolution to the main story of The Fourth World. This must have been horrific in the seventies when this occurred because it was bad enough for me to have to read through the rest of the book, desperate to know what was going to happen next, with the knowledge that Kirby finally had the chance to write a finale. Kirby was finally allowed to continue The New Gods arc with two final graphic novels: Even Gods

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Image © DC Comics, 1971