Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Vol. 1

Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1

by Jack Kirby (Creator / Writer / Artist), Vince Colletta (Inker), John Costanza (Letterer)

After co-creating comic book heroes including The Fantastic Four and The Hulk, legendary writer/artist Jack Kirby came to DC Comics in 1970 to write and illustrate four interlocking series known collectively as "The Fourth World." Now, for the first time, DC collects these four series -- THE NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE and SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN -- in chronological order as they originally appeared. These comics spanned galaxies, from the streets of Metropolis to the far-flung worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, as cosmic-powered heroes and villains struggled for supremacy. Volume 1 features the debuts of Orion of the New Gods, the evil Darkseid, super-escape artist Mister Miracle and many others. It also features numerous appearances by Superman.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Science Fiction, Comic Book

396 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2007

About the author

Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is "The King."

Reviews

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first attempt to read Kirby's "Fourth World" stories straight through. Everything I had read about it turned out to be true. It's packed with ideas (too many, really), his art and layouts are wonderful, and his dialogue is awful. Of the four series collected, the New Gods issues are the strongest (mostly because of the time spent on Darkseid and the other villains). The Mr. Miracle issues are the most accessible (it almost starts out as a typical superhero series). The Forever People issues are the weakest (they remind me of the space hippies from that Lost in Space episode). The Jimmy Olsen issues are, oddly, the strangest (and this volume stops just before the appearance by Don Rickles). You start out being dazzled by the freshness of the concepts and the early '70s weirdness, but it all starts to wear on you after a while. It ended up being something of a chore for me to finish the volume. I think I'll move on to the second eventually, but I'm in no hurry.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential and mind-blowing. Kirby writes and draws like a man possessed, like an outsider artist weaving a mad mythos of his own, only with real storytelling chops. This first volume collecting Kirby's DC work introduces so many new entities - the New Gods, the Forever People, Mister Miracle, to say nothing of their dread nemesis, Darkseid and his henchmen, that its hard to keep track of what is going on at times. But it's all glorious, madly inventive epic comic book storytelling, so sit back and enjoy the ride!

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I follow a Jack Kirby fan group on Facebook. They claim Jack Kirby is the greatest comicbook creator ever. Not only that, but he transcends comics and stands among the world's greatest artists and myth-makers.

This and some of his Fantastic Four work are what the group members point to when asked for justification.

I can clearly see that he took the super-hero world by storm in the early 60s with Marvel. He's created many of the characters that would go on to be super popular, but looking at his work in a vacuum it's hard to see why he's so popular.

I've enjoyed a few works by him, but I don't think I've read a full comic of his without wanting to change it in some way. None of this is perfect. Kirby was incredibly prolific (I read somewhere that he published about 40,000 pages of comics, which would take the typical comic artist hundreds of years to do), and I think this lead to a quantity over quality issue. None of his stories have closure, thus lacking an integral part of the story format (you know, climax and denouement).

I've tried to read this book twice now, but both times I end up getting bored, skimming sections, and just giving up.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un cómic de superheroes muy diferente. Jack Kirby abandonó Marvel harto y aterrizó en DC, donde le dejaron hacer lo que quisiera creativamente. El resultado es un Kirby desatado, huyendo de los corses del género y incluyendo todo los locurones que se le pasaban por la mente en una serie de cómics muy original. Aquí se mezcla todo: ciencia ficción, humor, superheroes...

Se compone de 4 series: Jimmy Olsen, Los nuevos dioses, los jovenes eternos y Mr. Milagro.

En la serie de Jimmy Olsen vemos al compañero de Superman y al hombre de acero viajando hasta la Zona Salvaje, un lugar sin ley lleno de peligros. Allí junto a un grupo de jovenes llamados la Legión de Repartidores descubrirán una zona en la que se lleva a cabo un proyecto secreto donde la clonación para crear seres vivos y ganar poder está a la orden del dia.

Los Nuevos Dioses es el motor central de la saga. En ella se nos presentan Nueva Génesis y Apokolips, los dos planetas surgidos tras la destrucción de los Antiguos Dioses, y hogar de los Nuevos Dioses. El protagonista de la historia es Orión, guerrero de Nueva Génesis,que se enfrenta a Darkseid, el líder supremo de Apokolips y personaje que aparece en las cuatro series como el villano central.

En Los Jóvenes Eternos nos encontramos con un grupo de jóvenes héroes provenientes de Superciudad, la capital de Nueva Génesis. Tras llegar a la Tierra para rescatar a su compañera Hermosa Soñadora, deciden quedarse y conocer mejor este mundo nuevo para ellos. Son unos jovenes con pinta de hippies que cuando se enfrentan a una gran amenaza, pueden unirse y convocar a Infinity Man (a lo Power Rangers).

Para terminar, Mr. Milagro nos cuenta la historia de de Scott Free, un huerfano escapado de Apokolips que es un maestro escapista y se enfrenta a mama bondad, la madre de Darkseid, usando sus habilidades y algunos objetos que extrajo de Apokolips.

En general es un cómic que aunque es muy de su época me parece una pasada, muy divertido y loco, y sobretodo me encanta la forma que tiene Kirby de crear tantos personajes molones. Las series de Los nuevos Dioses y Los jovenes eternos son las que más me han gustado.

[Josh Lemley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not quite sure when I first noticed the existence of the New Gods, it might have been the "DC Superpowers" figure of Darkseid that first captured my heart and started many battles between my friend and I on how to pronounce his name "Dark-Side" or "Dark-seed". I was on the losing side on that battle in the end I became a convert to how it is correctly pronounced. Either way im an easy sell on most things if the main man from Apokolips is hanging around so this wasn’t a stretch for me to get into. The book is made up of 4 titles interwoven in chronological order of release. "Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen”,” New Gods”,” The Forever People" and” Mister Miracle". It takes awhile to see how these books start interacting and truthfully it doesn’t happen till the 2nd collection. The art is amazing and there is just something about how Kirby draws technology that is so unique that, more-so than his characters, you find cohesion in the backgrounds and technology that surround the players. The Fourth World is really a product of its time and I do feel like im missing something not being as well versed as I could be in the early 70s and the psychedelic movement. Either way it doesn’t take a student of the times to respect and enjoy the freedom and expression the Forever People embody issue to issue, or the bohemian world of the Furies in "Jimmy Olsen". I got hold of the books mainly for the battle between New Genesis and Apokolips but im staying because all the other characters and events are actually compelling and interesting, with the exception of Don Rickles.

For some reason Don Rickles is in the book for 2 issues. Its god awful. I don’t get it and I don’t want to get it. The only celebrity I want to see is either Dr. J or Meatloaf because they were welcome additions to the back of comic books asking me to help them in various ways.

[Joshua Adam Bain · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was a bit different to what I normally read, and by different I mean older...much older. Coming straight out of the 70's it was a good 15 years older than anything I'd previously delved into. Part of the reason being I thought most comics were pretty campy back then, don't get me wrong this definitely had its moments, but overall the story was way more expansive and epic than I had thought possible in that era. No wonder Jack Kirby was such a renowned writer and artist.

I wanted to get my head around the history of the New Gods and saw this on special for a steal, so I thought I'd dive right in. Little did I know that the rest of the volumes are either really hard I find, or ludicrously expensive! Like STUPID expensive!

DAMN IT!!

Anyway, that big bummer aside, I really enjoyed this. Sure it was full of whacky lingo that was prominent of the decade and some of the ethnic characters were pretty racially insensitive. Along with stories having some very funny twist and turns that would be considered pretty "soft" in our age. But the story that's building here is what I enjoyed the most.

We get introduced to New Genesis, and it's opposite, Apokolips. Followed by all the quirky characters that go along with it. This omnibus collects issues of Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal (this was a series in the 70's!? Wow!), New Gods, Mister Miracle and The Forever People. All of the titles are quality reading and although the art is a bit old for what I'm use to, it grew on me immensely and by the end I loved it.

Overall, the adventure has only just begun in this volume. Aside from some of the dated dialogue and references, it still stands up to the new age in comics after 40+ years. I'm enjoying this enough to try hunt down the next instalment without getting a mortgage extension to pay for it!

[Printable Tire · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been so long since reading something has been a mind-blowing experience, but this is mind-blowing, and woke me up at least temporarily from a life-long slumber. It was so good I kept it a week overdue from the library. It is a psychedelic, revelatory new bible for the post-atomic age.

Before reading, I was somewhat familiar with the Fourth World, having read derivatives of it in the Death of Superman saga and other DC pulp. Now I see Kirby is worth all the praise he gets and more, and how influential this comic was either subconsciously or not to such widely different comics as Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory stories to underground comix like Brian Chippendale's Iff n' Oof.

This book is fucking phenomenal, incorporating bikers, gangsters, hippies, evangelicals, supercomputers, drop outs, mutant monsters, cold war, holocaust, demons, robots and more into a psychedelic mishmash where something new is always happening, some new foe or strange cosmic being is always being introduced, and just when it couldn't get any weirder, Don Rickles shows up.

Accept no imitations. THIS is epic!

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not the world's biggest Kirby fan -- in fact, my take on his work probably runs counter to most comics fans -- but I did want to finally begin reading the Fourth World. I've had the omnibus volumes for a number of years, and just never got around to reading them. How I've finished the first volume, and I have to admit that it was enjoyable. A little hokey at times -- and some of the hokieness is due to the time/context in which it was written -- but this might be one of the series' endearing qualities. It's easy to joke and make fun about much of the Fourth World, but it does display the strengths of Kirby's storytelling probably at the peak of his powers.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Kirby is insane. I realized that the first time I saw Jimmy Olsen flying in a space car with the New Newsboy Legion in a pencilled/photograph collage in which they went into a previous unknown realm. The second thing brought to my attention through this first volume is that I like insane Kirby. I enjoy an Incredible Jimmy Hulk, hippy superkids, harbingers of death that sky ski, etc. Jack Kirby's DC creations are sometimes painfully cliche and made me cringe with some of the dialogue, but it kept my attention and imagination.

[Russ Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Kirby was easily the most influential figure in American superhero comics. He co-created the majority of the Marvel Universe during the Silver Age. Unhappy with his arrangements at Marvel, Kirby defected to DC in 1970. His first project at the "Distinguished Competition" Was an ambitious project called The Fourth World

Jack Kirby's mind was bursting at the seams, his imagination in overdrive. This volume sets up the stakes. A new god of evil, Darkseid, is in search of the Anti-Life Equation, the solution of which will allow him to subjugate the universe. Fighting against Darkseid and his cronies are The Forever People, a group of futuristic hippies; Orion, a New God with a secret past; and the super escape-artist Miracle Man. Fighting alongside these heroes is a cast of characters that grows with each issue. New heroes and villains seem to a appear at least once every 22 pages.

Even more impressive than this constant creation are the concepts that Kirby wrings his characters through. Miracle Man has to escape an impossible death trap while strapped to a rocket, The Forever People summon a powerful being named Infinity Man while they take his place in limbo. There's some really crazy stuff that left me smiling page after page.

Kirby's methods were even more innovative than anything he'd done before. He makes extensive use of fumetti, a technique that creates sequential art out of xeroxed collages. There are crazy cosmic dimensions and bold new worlds that could only be illustrated by Jack's master hand.

Like Ub Iwerks before him, Jack Kirby's creations are more well known than the creator himself. Perhaps it was because his ideas were too big to believe one man could do all this. With The Fourth World, Kirby makes a strong case for everything superhero comics can do.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, Kirby! Whenever I'm down and need some lifting up, I know I can always revisit one of Jack Kirby's innovative creations and the long lost joy of youth and sense of unashamed wonderment will be restored. Kirby was one of a kind. His record for creating new characters, concepts and even genres in the comic book industry is unparalleled. This volume of the Fourth World introduces more new characters in the first half dozen issues than most comic book artists create in their entire careers, and the next half dozen introduce at least as many more again. Kirby did this while delivering 15 completed comic book pages a week that he wrote, drew and edited when most artists often struggle to get 15 pages done in a month! While Kirby's work isn't for everyone, his contributions to the industry are undeniable. His characters are fueling the Marvel Studios films and I hope it's only a matter of time before someone makes a series of films based on these Fourth World characters. I'm not holding my breath, but there's always hope. 
(And don't get me started on Kirby's prescience with the similarities between the villainous Glorious Godfrey and the worst President in American history - and I don't mean Richard Nixon or George W. Bush.)

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not get what this is all about. Like, literally. Whole stretches of this were incomprehensible like a 5-year-old telling a story. "There was this superhero and he came from space with his friends and everybody had a big car and they were all WHOOSH BANG and then there was a evil alien who can control minds and he is purple!"

The scope of this is epic, but the execution is weak. Like he was making it up as he went along. It took an awfully long time (like, into volume 2) to start coalescing. And out of the 4 stories compiled, 2 were just bad.

Some of the visuals were stunning, though. The art is strong throughout.

So far, to me, Jack Kirby is the Julie Taymor of comic books: an amazing amount of vision but no taste.

[Allen Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Kirby's Fourth World material is transcendent. Part of me hates that I didn't get around to it until my mid-20s. The other part of me fully realizes that had I come to this any earlier, I wouldn't have gotten it. I'm still making my way through the rest of the stuff, but Volume 1 was enough to turn me on my head. I could write a thesis on why these books are so good, and why it's one of the most important pieces of pop art ever made, but I'll just state that it's a masterpiece and everyone should read this stuff.

[Devero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letta a oramai più di 50 anno dal suo esordio, questa saga scritta e sceneggiata da Kirby da adito a molte riflessioni, come del resto ha già fatto all'epoca.
Kirby come soggettista è stato decisamente bravo, ma come sceneggiatore e dialoghista è stato carente. Qui, come in altre storie scritte da lui, si nota che manca uno Stan Lee.

Venendo al volume in se, abbiamo raccolte in ordine cronologico di uscita in edicola le storie di quello che oggi chiamiamo Quarto Mondo di Jack Kirby.
Si parte da 3 numeri di Jimmy Olsen's Pal, per poi proseguire con la Forever People, con New Gods e con Mister Miracle. Quindi altro numero di Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle e così via anche per gli altri volumi della saga.

Premesso che si nota molto quando il volto di Superman è stato ridisegnato da altri per renderlo più simile a quello canonico di Curt Swan, così come si nota parecchio il peso, scarso, delle chine di Vince Colletta, i disegni sono molto buoni, a tratti ottimi, ma non sempre ottimi.
Sarà stata anche la quantità di tavole che il Re doveva produrre e gli anni che trascorrevano, ma rispetto ai suoi lavori di qualche mese prima su Thor e Fantastic Four qui si inizia a notare un peggioramento.
Vince Colletta, inchiostratore molto discusso, a me generalmente piaceva, lo trovavo ottimo ma non sulle matite di Kirby. In tanti hanno sostenuto che Colletta inchiostrasse male Kirby, e chiunque abbia la possibilità di consultare il Jack Kirby Collector, ossia la rivista di critica dedicata al Kirbyanesimo, può rendersi conto che è davvero così.
Colletta andava molto bene per altri disegnatori, non per Kirby o Colan.

Dicevamo che quest'opera segue in parallelo 4 testate bimestrali. La più interessante, oggi come la prima volta che lessi queste storie su Kamandi della Corno, dove erano presentate in sequenze diverse, è New Gods. Vero, Orion non è ancora l'Orion tratteggiato ottimamente da John Byrne e Walt Simonson, ma non è nemmeno l'Orion piatto e monodimensionale scritto da Grant Morrison nella sua Justice League di fine anni 90. Ma è Darkseid che colpisce, tra i tanti personaggi di questa saga. Lui ed il suo entourage di lacché deboli, perfidi, malati mentalmente e succubi del suo potere sono una parodia sprezzante di ciò che Jack Kirby, come tanti altri, combattè durante la sua vita: i nazisti.
Kirby fece dare un pugno ad Hitler da Capitan America, ed era il 1940, oltre 15 mesi prima che gli USA enrassero in guerra. Dire che Darkseid simboleggia Hitler non è del tutto corretto: simboleggia ciò che Hitler idealmente avrebbe voluto essere. Ma i suoi tanti lacché e sottoposti sono la caricatura sarcastica ma anche reale di quello che i sottoposti del fuhrer furono: un branco di boriosi, deboli, sadici assassini di massa, cinici menefreghisti dediti alle loro lotte personali per farsi belli agli occhi del loro superiore. Così il brutale Kalibak, Granny Goddess, Simian e Mokkari rispecchiano diversi aspetti dell'entorurage nazista, ed ognuno ci vedrà i vari Himmler, Boepple, Conti, Goebbels, Hesse e così via.

Tra i tanti personaggi che appaiono in questo albo, forse il più interessante è Scott Free. Il nome, tradotto letteralmente, suona un poco come esentasse. Questo pacifista in fuga da un passato atroce che ci viene fatto solo intuire, mantiene i propri segreti al lettore in queste prime storie, laddove tanti altri personaggi spiegano tutto o quasi di loro.

Perché leggere queste storie mezzo secolo dopo la loro prima pubblicazione?
In parte, se si è amato Kirby, non possono mancare. Se si ama la storia del fumetto, nemmeno, perché seppure molto criticate e non un successo di vendite all'epoca, hanno avuto una forte influenza su tutto il mondo dei comics USA.
Restano delle gran belle storie, ma non sono storie per ragazzi. Per essere apprezzate uno deve avere una certa "cultura" adulta, e deve sapere anche ridere di certe Kirbyane interpretazioni della cultura giovanile di fine anni '60 ed inizio anni '70, deve ricordarsi sempre che era in corso il Vietnam, e deve conoscere la storia personale di Jack Kirby. Solo così si riescono a comprendere i diversi piani di lettura di questa saga, e la differenza vera tra Orion, i ragazzi della Forever People, Lightray, Mister Miracle, la Newsboy Legion, e perché Superman deve apparire come traite d'union, come file rouge che li lega tutti.
Non sono storie per tutti.
5 stelle

[Jack Herbert Christal Gattanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read scattered issues of Jack "The King" Kirby in the past, some Avengers, Fantastic Four, maybe a Weird Tales , and while I enjoyed what I saw it didn strike me as being whole heartedly genius or miraculous. So, I keep going to see in a comic book shop a whole section of Jack Kirby books specifically his work after he left Marvel with DC, including the Demon, and this, the Fourth World. I also thought, hey, it comes with a glowing introduction from Grant Morrison, who called it "the new psychedelic bible." That certainly grabbed my attention.

Like a film or a music album that seems just alright at the beginning, and then flowers into something truly fantastical, idiosyncratic and, in a way, personal, The Fourth World caught me off guard. It starts out as just seeming like a silly comic featuring Jimmy Olsen "Superman's Pal", and how he and the newspaper Legion, who come off as a cross between The Little Rascals and the Dead End boys from the 1930s movies, go into this strange wild area witches and another dimension, I guess, and how Superman has to come in to help them in their fight against weird monsters and other phenomena.

And it does continue that, and get better and better. But what threw me off at first, but then revealed itself as brilliant issue after issue, is how other characters with their own titles, and at first seeming to be on their own- Orion (well, the start of his first issue anyway), the Forever People, and Mister Miracle the "Super Escape artist" (and my favorite, if I had to pick it, even at three issues its just dynamite, fun and exciting work, especially the Paranoid Pill issue that closes the book and is very 1971 when written, but I digress), its all connected by the world Apokolips, and the villain Darkseid, who is the much bigger bad, someone who even the nasty media mogul Morgan that buys up the Daily Planet into his TV company works for, and how destruction will come to earth, either from Darkseid himself or, moreover, his villainous minions out to carve themselves superhero sandwiches.

Kirbys art is really some of the best illustration in 20th century pop, forget just comics. The man had a fine, all his own style for a lot of faces, but the world building he puts in here, the experimentation, its like he leaped off from something like, say, Thor, which also had its magnanimous Gods, and fuses the turn of the decade 60s/70s into something fitting. Hell, Superman says 'dig it'! theres one issue a blaxploitation type character called Sugar-Man (no relation to Rodriguez I think?)! Human beings caught in the inter-spacial/dimensional mayhem quickly buy into the surreal new supermen and join up to help fight (as in Orion)! And did I mention exclamation points after everything said?!

Just when you think you might lose the thread from one issue to the next, at least how it is presented here (and its in the order of publishing), Kirby ties things together thru the thread of villains, the 'Boom Tube', the 'Mother Box', all these wild scifi concepts that fit into this landscape. It starts off as a fun book featuring Olsen (a budding badass as opposed to bumbling kid reporter) and a ragtag group of kids doing fun things in their car with superman trying and succeeding to catch up. It blossoms into a masterpiece of pulp fiction storytelling, with, I must stress again, groundbreaking art. This is the kind of book that, not unlike something like Watchmen, bridged a gap between comics of the past that had hokey heroes and villains and side characters (ie Mister Miracles woman villian Goodness), and grittier comics of the future, only here the postmodern approach comes from a writer and artist who has been there since the early days. Its psychedelic hard rock ala sabbath if directed by an old pro refinding his stride ala hitchcock. Its a top ten of all time run for me that i cant wait to keep reading till its 55 issue end.

PS: I read someone complaining about Don Rickles (or I should add his counterpart Goody Rickles) being in this book. While I havent read vol. two so I dont know where this will go, I loved the set up for it in that issue of Jimmy Olson presented here. Its so goofy and stupid but knowing of itself- like a proto version of the fake Mandarin in Iron Man ,3- and I may also be biased since, well, I love me some Rickles, even when hes in impostor/double form. It also doesn't distract from Morgans main plan against Superman/Kent/Olson either.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 1
Author: Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, John Constanza, Mike Royer
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2007
Pgs: 385
GN KIRBY v.1
Disposition: Irving Public Library-South Campus, Irving, TX - InterLibraryLoan via Round Rock Library System, Round Rock, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
At last, the first title in the acclaimed FOURTH WORLD series is in trade paperback!DC collects Kirby’s four classic series of the 1970s €” THE NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE and SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN €” in chronological order as they originally appeared. These comics spanned galaxies, from the streets of Metropolis to the far-flung worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, as cosmic-powered heroes and villains struggled for supremacy.This first volume features the debuts of Orion of the New Gods, the evil Darkseid, super-escape artist Mister Miracle and many others, and features appearances by Superman, from the pages of SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE!
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Genre:
DC Comics
Graphic Novels
Science Fiction
Superhero


Why this book:
Kirby was ahead of his time.
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The Page 100 Test:
��� ◄ - good to go.
∞ ◄ - read on.
ᕦ(ò_óˇ) ◄ - strong

The Feel:
The patois that Kirby uses dates the book considerably. And now all I can hear is Hulk Hogan whenever Superman or someone else refers to anyone else as brother. That last is damaging my enjoyment.

Favorite Concept:
The mini-paratroopers were awesome.

Glorious Godfrey holding a Trump-like rally for Darkseid and Anti-Life oogies me out

Tropes:
Sigh: "Super-Drag" should dig after the first attack that the weapons in the Wild Lands have "K-gas" in them. He's being a complete herbert. … …sorry.

Hmm Moments:
I always forget that there was a Mister Miracle before Scott Free came to Earth.

Bedlam does have a cool motif and power set though.

Uhm Moments:
And Jimmy isn't pissed off that he was cloned multiple multiple multiple times without his permission and that his best pal, Superman knew all about it and didn't say anything or stop it.

WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
Lotta non-consensual cloning going on here.

For as hard as Kirby, a 40s guy, trying to talk 60s hippie in the 70s is, then, he drops the Justifiers being fanatic suicide bombers. Damn. I mean, damn. Wasn't expecting that.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
So dropping an atomic bomb into the Earth's core underneath Metropolis is a good option? Guess so, since, with Superman’s knowledge, building a secret cloning facility and "savage land" underneath the city was an option too. Meh.

Just Me Being Silly:
My brain, instantly, read Gravi-Guards as Gravy Guards. And I can't unsee it every time their name comes up.

The Sigh:
Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion pouting and whining about Superman and the Guardian leaving them out of the big atomic blow-up with the DNAlien. Yeah, normal human and human clones vs atomic blast, what the hell, what could go wrong? Sigh.

Sigh...Don Rickles.

Turd in the Punchbowl:
The racism burns. Flipa and Flipa Jr standing together talking about how proud they are to see the others’ friendship rings all kinds of alarm bells.

Juxtaposition:
Though pretty dated, as too much comic book fare from this era is, the four-armed atomic terror of the DN-Alien is a well-plotted issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. Good comics.

Questions and Answers:
Q) Why would Darkseid, trans-dimensional, monstrous being of pure evil, need the help of Morgan Edge, Human television broadcast executive cum high-tech mob leader of Intergang? A) Earth at that point was largely beneath Darkseid's notice and the scientific actions of the Hairies drew his attention. Else the speck of dust in the arm of the Milky Way would merit no attention. And since it is so beneath him, he would employ lackeys.

Q) The only lie added to this is his communication with Edge. A) Darkseid is a micromanager. Working with Kalibak and Desaad, et al, you can see why. Of course, those answers wouldn't make sense to the audience reading Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal when it came out. Only the fullness of time answers those questions and the hands of other artists building on Kirby's legacy.

The Unexpected:
Be a Justifier. Wear the helmet and hide yourself. Do evil in Darkseid's name. Yeah. Not unsettling at all.

Missed Opportunity:
Missed opportunity all Olsen's are one. If you're going to have an army of Jimmy Olsen clones might as well use them as a vehicle to change that character for the rest of printed DC comics history instead of just throwing away all that juicy backstory.

The Gravi-Guards had potential. They should've become the common footsoldier or, at least, a regular superpowered henchman of Apokoliptan troublemakers.

After Kirby other writers had the New Gods use Mother Box less and less. That's a missed opportunity. It was their connection to the source. And its absence made them more standard superheroes rather than the technological descendants of the old gods.

Strikeout:
Strike One, So Morgan Edge works for Intergang and Darkseid. He sends Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion into the Wild Lands to find the Project. But Mokari and Simyan already have a shadow Project running and are right there. They've even stolen DNA samples from the Project to use in their experiments to destroy the Project. Mokari and Simyan work for Darkseid. ... ... ...what the hell is Edge doing? This doesn't compute.

Get Off My Lawn:
Bedlam using his massive mental energies to look up phone numbers. Come on man.
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Last Page Sound:
The problem with the Omnibus format is that it doesn't follow stories to completion. This one leaves Mr MIracle hanging; same with Clark Kent, the Forever People, Black Racer, and Don Rickles.

Author Assessment:
Love the stories and the Kirbyness of it all. Gotta find Volume 2.
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[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but I just had to give this up. I got about 300 pages into it, but I just couldn't care. The 70s throwback lingo was too campey, Flippant Dippa was too offensive, the Newsboy Legion was too old-fashioned, Superman was too square, and I just wasn't interested in piecing together the mythology Kirby was trying to create. It was a cool idea, and I applaud his ambition, but it just feels too dated and stilted for me to care. Sorry, King.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these in the original comic format when they came out. Jack Kirby changed his style in the early 1970s and I fell out of being a fan of his art and stories. While I do like several of the characters he created for his 4th world stories, particularly Darkseid and Orion, overall I never could seem to get into the books. If you are a Kirby fan then these are the core of his creation. Recommended

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reprinted in the order they were originally printed, this is a different reading experience than reading the Fourth World Series reprint books. Reading them this way exposes the bigger themes and the depth that was unusual in comics at the time.

[Richard Guion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally read most of these comics when they were published in 1970-71. DC Comics had ads proclaiming "The King is Coming!" While I knew Jack Kirby from Fantastic Four & Thor reprints, I had no idea what the impact would be. Immediately upon reading Jimmy Olsen I was overwhelmed with the King's imagination: The Whiz Wagon, the new Newsboy Legion, the Hairies, the Wild Area, the Mountain of Judgment and a giant clone of Jimmy Olsen infused with Green Kryptonite! This collection not only reprints Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle, but it does so in chronological order. It simulates the same reading experience we had back then, when we learned about Darkseid slowly over a period of time. The link between Darkseid and Orion and Mister Miracle was hinted subtly but not fully revealed until later. Each issue introduces new characters, settings, and gadgets. Kirby's idea of the Mother Box and how the people of New Genesis are linked to these devices is eerily reminiscent of our modern relationship with smartphones. The Forever People and the Hairies are Kirby's super-idealized version of the hippie movement, his politics clearly to the left and in opposition to Richard Nixon (who bears a resemblance to the Newsboy Legion's character, Gabby). Mister Miracle, probably my favorite of all these characters, has a terrific debut.

To say I loved this volume is not saying enough. All Kirby or New Gods fans owe it to themselves to have this on their bookshelf. The afterword by Kirby's aide and friend Mark Evanier is also very insightful.

[Jesse Slimak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirby's New Gods stuff is a classic of comic book epics. However the stuff in this collection from the Forever People has not aged well--the time of Aquarius type feel is not as eternal as the New Gods (double entendre intended!) are. Also the material from Jimmy Olsen is just down right bad. The News Boys are utterly ridiculous. I wish the Olsen material could just have been not written and Darkseid introduced in one of the other titles. The fact that Darkseid, one of the greatest villains ever, was introduced in otherwise awful material in some way draws out out how bad the material is. It makes a stark contrast between a ridiculous story with mostly ridiculous characters with one of which will go down as one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. Forever People (despite being eternal!) has not aged well, and the Jimmy Olsen stuff should have never been born at all. Otherwise the New Gods stuff is great and that Keeps it from being two stars and I would have given four stars if there was no Olsen or Forever People.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this after loving the Mister Miracle reboot, and thought it would be a great basis for understanding Darkseid. There are some cool concepts in this, and it’s clear Jack Kirby had a unique style all his own, with colorful, detailed landscapes and panels that are great to look at.

But damn… the dialogue in this is even worse than I’d expected, it’s no wonder he had such a tumultuous relationship with DC. It’s at times a level of camp that made me groan out loud. Forever People especially feels like an old man punching down at teenage hippies, trying to use outdated lingo (poorly) in an attempt to show they’re still hip. The Jimmy Olsen titles are really out there but hard to follow, I’d almost instantly forget what I’d read. Mister Miracle was the best and most accessible, but still a long way from actually enjoyable to read. I know these are from a different era, but damn this guy really needed an editor.

Can’t understand these 5 star reviews, this omnibus was a chore to get through. Doubt I’ll make it through another volume.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is certainly wonderful, and I can't imagine a more stately treatment for a comic than this current edition. The *physical* act of reading the Fourth World Omnibus was pleasant, but the mental act was a little tedious.

While reviews that praise Kirby's overflowing imagination are certainly on-target, they don't deal with the fact that it's the overflowing of an imagination targeted squarely at 12-year-old boys.

I very nearly enjoyed reading this edition, and will probably read the second, but I wasn't moved or enthralled or even that entertained. I think the adoration of this volume stems largely from its place in history, and Kirby's prodigious vision in creating it. However, if you weren't around then, and you're only reading it because Grant Morrison said the New Gods was 'Wagnerian', prepare to be a little disappointed. Not much. But a little.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much drug induced nonsense... so little time.

O.K. So I'm finally done with this. And I will be reading the second volume. Obviously Kirby's design, and panel layouts are beyond compare. Even after twenty some years of comics he was still the great innovator. But many of these characters come off as flat... that is to say without memorable personalities (save for villains like Darksaid, and Granny Goodness). His embrace of the counter culture and his rage at an increasingly comatose public are all fantastic themes that carry over into comics today. But I think these collections are more interesting as time capsules than actual stories.

[Brandon Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a couple days after I read this, I kept designing a Fourth World-based amusement park in my head revolving around New Gods/ Forever People/Miracle Man/Jimmy Olson’s Pal Superman and the mythos that ties them all together (Apokolips, New Genesis, Darkseid). I concluded that it would be the greatest amusement ever created (with me at the helm and billions of dollars in funding). This might not seem like very deep reflection after reading a 1500 page comic book, but designing amusement parks in my head is something I did quite often between the age of 8-14, and so this was actually perfect evidence that this book tapped directly into my imagination and poured fuel on it.

[Samudra Bhattacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich and lush with imagination. Kirby's writing, while I don't think is the most sophisticated, conveys an epic narrative involving gods, cloning, freedom of thought and many more. This is supplemented by his beautiful inks which is the real draw for me. This is a beautifully drawn, imaginative tale with vivid, exuberant inks by Vince Colletta. Truly epic.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The New Gods and The Forever People are pretty good. Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olson is really weird, stuffed with far too much for one comic. And Mister Miracle needs something more--maybe just need some time for it to grow on me?

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, sorry Jack Kirby. I love you, but this is beyond garbage. There are some great Darkseid storylines out there, none of them are in this. Some of that classic Kirby art is in this, but it just can't make up for his complete inability to tell a story. Yeesh.

[Ta0paipai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although my interest waxed and waned as I made my way through this collection, epic moments and consistently stunning art meant I couldn't give it less that 3.5 stars. New Gods was by far my favorite part.

[Ollie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every stereotype of a shitty comic book series is here. Shitty dialogue, boring stories, clueless characters, and more shitty dialogue. It's a classic in that sense, alright.