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New Gods (1995) #12-15
Fourth World by John Byrne Omnibus
Following his legendary work on Superman, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, John Byrne takes on Jack Kirby's groundbreaking creations in this oversized hardcover collection!
John Byrne reinvented Superman and illustrated some of the most famous stories in X-Men history. Much like how Jack Kirby created the Fourth World at DC following his genre-defining career at Marvel, after Byrne's work on multiple pop culture icons, the writer and artist took on the Fourth World himself, as collected in this hardcover omnibus.
While staying faithful to Kirby's original vision, these tales brought characters like Orion, Darkseid, Mr. Miracle, and the Forever People into the 1990s, reviving the epic mythology of New Genesis and Apokolips for a new generation of readers.
This collection also includes Genesis, a team-up between the heroes of Earth--including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman--and the New Gods of New Genesis against Darkseid, as the Godwave threatens reality!
This volume collects New Gods #12-15, Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1-20, and Genesis #1-4.
John Byrne reinvented Superman and illustrated some of the most famous stories in X-Men history. Much like how Jack Kirby created the Fourth World at DC following his genre-defining career at Marvel, after Byrne's work on multiple pop culture icons, the writer and artist took on the Fourth World himself, as collected in this hardcover omnibus.
While staying faithful to Kirby's original vision, these tales brought characters like Orion, Darkseid, Mr. Miracle, and the Forever People into the 1990s, reviving the epic mythology of New Genesis and Apokolips for a new generation of readers.
This collection also includes Genesis, a team-up between the heroes of Earth--including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman--and the New Gods of New Genesis against Darkseid, as the Godwave threatens reality!
This volume collects New Gods #12-15, Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1-20, and Genesis #1-4.
768 pages, Hardcover
Published August 10, 2021
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60 people want to read
About the author
John Byrne
2,959 books360 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 19, 2022
Fourth World by John Byrne Omnibus collects New Gods #12-15, Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1-20, and Genesis #1-4 as well as some bonus materials.
I was gearing up to read Walt Simonson's Orion when I learned of the existence of this. Fortunately, I found it for well below cover price.
I normally write reviews as soon as I'm done with a book but I've been chewing on this since yesterday. It's the standard Byrne "back to basics" approach. He takes 20 issues to leave everyone back at the starting line for the most part. Byrne was more than up to the task of playing with Kirby's toys, though. Everyone acted according to established character. Byrne's cosmic vistas were great. I think he spread himself too thin, though, and should have focused on a smaller number of characters.
The stories themselves are pretty good, particularly the Tales of the New Gods backup feature, usually drawn by other artists like Walt Simonson or Ron Wagner. The backgrounds of Darkseid and other characters in his orbit are fleshed out.
The main tales are cosmic in scope and Byrne has a handle on the characters' personalities. Apart from Takion getting a bigger role, not a lot happened. I felt like some interesting things were dropped or rushed and other things took too damn long to bear fruit. I said earlier that Byrne spread himself too thin. Orion was barely touched upon in comparison to Mister Miracle, Takion, and the Forever People.
I think Byrne did great work here but much like his Fantastic Four run, he didn't really color outside the established lines very much. Even after chewing on this for a while, I still don't know how to rate this so I'm slapping a three on it.
I was gearing up to read Walt Simonson's Orion when I learned of the existence of this. Fortunately, I found it for well below cover price.
I normally write reviews as soon as I'm done with a book but I've been chewing on this since yesterday. It's the standard Byrne "back to basics" approach. He takes 20 issues to leave everyone back at the starting line for the most part. Byrne was more than up to the task of playing with Kirby's toys, though. Everyone acted according to established character. Byrne's cosmic vistas were great. I think he spread himself too thin, though, and should have focused on a smaller number of characters.
The stories themselves are pretty good, particularly the Tales of the New Gods backup feature, usually drawn by other artists like Walt Simonson or Ron Wagner. The backgrounds of Darkseid and other characters in his orbit are fleshed out.
The main tales are cosmic in scope and Byrne has a handle on the characters' personalities. Apart from Takion getting a bigger role, not a lot happened. I felt like some interesting things were dropped or rushed and other things took too damn long to bear fruit. I said earlier that Byrne spread himself too thin. Orion was barely touched upon in comparison to Mister Miracle, Takion, and the Forever People.
I think Byrne did great work here but much like his Fantastic Four run, he didn't really color outside the established lines very much. Even after chewing on this for a while, I still don't know how to rate this so I'm slapping a three on it.
July 20, 2022
I'm as big a John Byrne fan as they come, but this book is kind of a mess.
First off, props, and confusion, to DC. This book costs $75, reprints roughly 30+ issues of material, runs close to 800 pages, and is printed on gorgeous, thick paper. Marvel has omnibus volumes that have less content and run $125, with see-through paper. BUT....DC also publishes overpriced books printed on toilet paper. Why did this get such special treatment? I don't know, but my eyes and fingers luxuriated in the thick, creamy paper, so...THANKS, DC!
The content......is all over the place. Byrne spends the whole book spinning his wheels, doing things and then undoing them at a dizzying pace. He opens the book by having Highfather combine Apokolips and New Genesis into one world. We never find out WHY he did this, despite numerous teases. Then he splits them apart again. Darkseid dies, is alive again, is absorbed into the Source Wall (Which used to be completely impenetrable, but is breached here with all the effort of making a trip to the mailbox, and REPEATEDLY, at that!), freed, combined with other people, new God characters appear, disappear, there's a whole cliffhanger involving Ares that is just....never resolved? (Maybe it was resolved in Byrne's WONDER WOMAN, but, if so, there's nothing here to direct you there or indicate such an occurrence.) A big deal is made of re-introducing Kirby's human cast members, and then...they disappear. There is also the GENESIS crossover, which remains a high-water mark for needless/pointless/awful events. It is every bit as terrible as I remember it. And in the end, as is always the case with John Byrne...he just up and leaves, mid-story. He explains in his introduction that he left because he feared a change in Editorial that never materialized. Maybe he could have waited until it actually happened...? Byrne is a famously miserable person, who is known for just storming off books, so....just know going in that none of this makes sense, and none of it gets resolved. Maybe things come together in Walt Simonson's ORION book, but I read that series a few decades ago, and all I can remember about it was that it was excellent.
Final verdict: This was very hit-and-miss. Enjoyable, but I was happy to be done with it. Your mileage may vary....
First off, props, and confusion, to DC. This book costs $75, reprints roughly 30+ issues of material, runs close to 800 pages, and is printed on gorgeous, thick paper. Marvel has omnibus volumes that have less content and run $125, with see-through paper. BUT....DC also publishes overpriced books printed on toilet paper. Why did this get such special treatment? I don't know, but my eyes and fingers luxuriated in the thick, creamy paper, so...THANKS, DC!
The content......is all over the place. Byrne spends the whole book spinning his wheels, doing things and then undoing them at a dizzying pace. He opens the book by having Highfather combine Apokolips and New Genesis into one world. We never find out WHY he did this, despite numerous teases. Then he splits them apart again. Darkseid dies, is alive again, is absorbed into the Source Wall (Which used to be completely impenetrable, but is breached here with all the effort of making a trip to the mailbox, and REPEATEDLY, at that!), freed, combined with other people, new God characters appear, disappear, there's a whole cliffhanger involving Ares that is just....never resolved? (Maybe it was resolved in Byrne's WONDER WOMAN, but, if so, there's nothing here to direct you there or indicate such an occurrence.) A big deal is made of re-introducing Kirby's human cast members, and then...they disappear. There is also the GENESIS crossover, which remains a high-water mark for needless/pointless/awful events. It is every bit as terrible as I remember it. And in the end, as is always the case with John Byrne...he just up and leaves, mid-story. He explains in his introduction that he left because he feared a change in Editorial that never materialized. Maybe he could have waited until it actually happened...? Byrne is a famously miserable person, who is known for just storming off books, so....just know going in that none of this makes sense, and none of it gets resolved. Maybe things come together in Walt Simonson's ORION book, but I read that series a few decades ago, and all I can remember about it was that it was excellent.
Final verdict: This was very hit-and-miss. Enjoyable, but I was happy to be done with it. Your mileage may vary....
September 11, 2021
In superhero comics, there’s the stuff you expect to see in them and then there’s the unexpected. The expected is straightforward superhero storytelling following strictly superhero storytelling logic. The epitome of this is Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. And the epitome of of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World is John Byrne’s Jack Kirby’s Fourth World.
Jack “King” Kirby was a giant of the golden and silver ages of superhero comics. He co-created most of Marvel’s most famous characters. And he kind of got sick over not receiving credit. So he headed over to DC and created the New Gods, which were as pure a representation of superhero logic as has ever been conceived. He had half these New Gods reside on New Genesis, and these were the good guys, and half on Apokolips, and these were the bad guys, and there was a prophecy that Darkseid, the worst of the bad guys, would one day clash in final combat with his son, Orion, who through a bargain with Highfather, the best of the good guys, was raised on New Genesis.
So these New Gods came equipped with their own vivid mythology, the old school kind, the kind that has very little room for mere mortals, except as backdrop (and occasional costar).
Kirby had a whole epic vision he originally played out in an unprecedented series of interlocking titles, but the New Gods being as pure a superhero concept as could be, they always appealed more to creators than readers, so he didn’t (technically) get to finish it (I contend that The Hunger Dogs serves well in that capacity).
So ever since, his New Gods have fallen into other hands, always yearning for that closure. The funny thing is, John Byrne seems not to have been at all interested in finding it.
Byrne was a Marvel legend, too, when he came to DC. At first he set about revitalizing Superman (who had always been Kirby’s unattainable dream). And then he took on the New Gods. He plunged immediately into a saga of breathtaking speed, encompassing the whole scope of Kirby’s vision, including one of DC’s ‘90s crossover events, Genesis (you’ll find in it a number of characters who didn’t survive that decade, team books like Dan Jurgens’ Teen Titans, Young Heroes in Love, and the one Byrne himself seems to have loved [and me too!], Superboy and the Ravers), high drama that was as close to Shakespeare as you’ll ever find in this kind of material.
And then editorial suggestions convinced Byrne to leave the title, and the New Gods once more entered into other hands.
I read all this in the ‘90s. It never occurred to me, at the time and in the more than twenty years that have passed since then, that this was a seminal run for me. But it really was. Byrne clearly loved these characters, and sought to put his own stamp on them. He uses prominently the ‘90s New God creation Takion (since vanished into obscurity), gives a leading role to Darkseid’s mom (!!!), and even has Shilo Norman appear, before Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers reminded everyone he existed, before Future State did it all over again.
I don’t know all the New Gods lore. I can’t say everything that originates here, or just feel like it does. (And there are missing pieces, too; Byrne never once has Darkseid lust after the Anti-Life Equation, except in his final issue, in which he is admittedly rewriting Kirby himself.) But if you’re a New Gods fan, it’s my opinion, all the same, that you read Kirby, and then you read Byrne. And if you just want to see superhero comics in a perfectly unbridled state, you read Byrne anyway. It’s the unexpected version of the expected.
Jack “King” Kirby was a giant of the golden and silver ages of superhero comics. He co-created most of Marvel’s most famous characters. And he kind of got sick over not receiving credit. So he headed over to DC and created the New Gods, which were as pure a representation of superhero logic as has ever been conceived. He had half these New Gods reside on New Genesis, and these were the good guys, and half on Apokolips, and these were the bad guys, and there was a prophecy that Darkseid, the worst of the bad guys, would one day clash in final combat with his son, Orion, who through a bargain with Highfather, the best of the good guys, was raised on New Genesis.
So these New Gods came equipped with their own vivid mythology, the old school kind, the kind that has very little room for mere mortals, except as backdrop (and occasional costar).
Kirby had a whole epic vision he originally played out in an unprecedented series of interlocking titles, but the New Gods being as pure a superhero concept as could be, they always appealed more to creators than readers, so he didn’t (technically) get to finish it (I contend that The Hunger Dogs serves well in that capacity).
So ever since, his New Gods have fallen into other hands, always yearning for that closure. The funny thing is, John Byrne seems not to have been at all interested in finding it.
Byrne was a Marvel legend, too, when he came to DC. At first he set about revitalizing Superman (who had always been Kirby’s unattainable dream). And then he took on the New Gods. He plunged immediately into a saga of breathtaking speed, encompassing the whole scope of Kirby’s vision, including one of DC’s ‘90s crossover events, Genesis (you’ll find in it a number of characters who didn’t survive that decade, team books like Dan Jurgens’ Teen Titans, Young Heroes in Love, and the one Byrne himself seems to have loved [and me too!], Superboy and the Ravers), high drama that was as close to Shakespeare as you’ll ever find in this kind of material.
And then editorial suggestions convinced Byrne to leave the title, and the New Gods once more entered into other hands.
I read all this in the ‘90s. It never occurred to me, at the time and in the more than twenty years that have passed since then, that this was a seminal run for me. But it really was. Byrne clearly loved these characters, and sought to put his own stamp on them. He uses prominently the ‘90s New God creation Takion (since vanished into obscurity), gives a leading role to Darkseid’s mom (!!!), and even has Shilo Norman appear, before Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers reminded everyone he existed, before Future State did it all over again.
I don’t know all the New Gods lore. I can’t say everything that originates here, or just feel like it does. (And there are missing pieces, too; Byrne never once has Darkseid lust after the Anti-Life Equation, except in his final issue, in which he is admittedly rewriting Kirby himself.) But if you’re a New Gods fan, it’s my opinion, all the same, that you read Kirby, and then you read Byrne. And if you just want to see superhero comics in a perfectly unbridled state, you read Byrne anyway. It’s the unexpected version of the expected.
November 24, 2022
What more could one ask for? This one pretty much has it all. Byrne. Kirby. New Gods. Of all the attempts to expand Kirby's Fourth World creations beyond their original foundation, John Byrne has been my favorite, so far. I know a lot of people prefer Terry Austin inks over Byrne, but I actually appreciate Byrne inking his own work. Byrne's Fourth World saga is a big one. Because of it's size, I was a bit concerned about how I was going to read an Omnibus edition. It was not as hard as I thought. The oversize pages really allow the art to shine. Highly recommended. 'Nuff said!
July 28, 2022
I read this one directly after finishing the Jack Kirby omnibus and, I must say, I enjoyed it quite a bit more.
Obviously, Kirby’s vision was brilliant as always, but the comic world wasn’t ready for the overarching story that he was trying to tell at the time. Byrne seems to have completed that concept for him. And I think he did it in exquisite fashion!
Byrne brought these characters into the modern era in ways that felt natural. Characters like Orion, Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Bug Barda, Granny Goodness, Desaad, Kalibak, The Forever People, Metron, Highfather, etc., all felt like like products of the ‘70s & more like complex characters in their own rights, which is what Kirby was clearly trying to do two decades prior; in many ways, he had succeeded, despite everything fighting against him.
The only negative I can find in these stories is the Genesis story arc. After the first two issues, I told my roommate how I was shocked to read an event that was actually good, then I read issues 3 & 4, which bored me to no end. This was only about ten years after Secret Wars & Crisis on Infinite Earth kicked off the concept of events in comic book universes (unless I’m overlooking something), which have become the bane of their existences since then. It was the only problem in an otherwise phenomenal run of comics & I’ve already started the Walt Simonson run on Orion!
Obviously, Kirby’s vision was brilliant as always, but the comic world wasn’t ready for the overarching story that he was trying to tell at the time. Byrne seems to have completed that concept for him. And I think he did it in exquisite fashion!
Byrne brought these characters into the modern era in ways that felt natural. Characters like Orion, Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Bug Barda, Granny Goodness, Desaad, Kalibak, The Forever People, Metron, Highfather, etc., all felt like like products of the ‘70s & more like complex characters in their own rights, which is what Kirby was clearly trying to do two decades prior; in many ways, he had succeeded, despite everything fighting against him.
The only negative I can find in these stories is the Genesis story arc. After the first two issues, I told my roommate how I was shocked to read an event that was actually good, then I read issues 3 & 4, which bored me to no end. This was only about ten years after Secret Wars & Crisis on Infinite Earth kicked off the concept of events in comic book universes (unless I’m overlooking something), which have become the bane of their existences since then. It was the only problem in an otherwise phenomenal run of comics & I’ve already started the Walt Simonson run on Orion!
January 31, 2025
Mixed thoughts on this one. Firstly, Byrne's really good at setting scenes - the opening captions are always engaging and suitably grandiose - and capturing big, epic shit in his imagery. That said, I felt this book often worked best in its smaller moments, bits like a lowly escaping to Earth and showing that even the lowest of the New Gods have divinity-like abilities among we mere mortals. Or quiet conversations between Scott and Barda or Takion and Dreamer. The snippets of backstory, such as the origin of the Infinity Man or Darkseid's seizing of the Omega Force, are smartly done and add to the tapestry of the Fourth World.
That said, the overall thrust of the books doesn't seem to really go anywhere ever. Orion dies and is quickly recalled from the Source. Darkseid becomes part of the Source Wall, but is quickly freed. I'm surprised Highfather didn't pop back to life - although he did resurrect Supertown even from beyond. The GENESIS crossover builds and builds to not much. Snippets of Scott Free's early life or Black Racer making contact with Willie Walker's sister don't pay off.
Outside of John Byrne's work, there are some nice pinup from a FOURTH WORLD GALLERY book, Walter Simonson reveals Kanto's origin in a great back-up yarn, and Karl Kesel/Sal Velluto cleverly weave the history of the Fourth World into a day at Granny's orphanage with a free-willed student clashing against the hierarchy of the Apokoliptan leaders.
That said, the overall thrust of the books doesn't seem to really go anywhere ever. Orion dies and is quickly recalled from the Source. Darkseid becomes part of the Source Wall, but is quickly freed. I'm surprised Highfather didn't pop back to life - although he did resurrect Supertown even from beyond. The GENESIS crossover builds and builds to not much. Snippets of Scott Free's early life or Black Racer making contact with Willie Walker's sister don't pay off.
Outside of John Byrne's work, there are some nice pinup from a FOURTH WORLD GALLERY book, Walter Simonson reveals Kanto's origin in a great back-up yarn, and Karl Kesel/Sal Velluto cleverly weave the history of the Fourth World into a day at Granny's orphanage with a free-willed student clashing against the hierarchy of the Apokoliptan leaders.
September 22, 2024
Pretty disappointed with this omnibus. I love the Fourth World and the characters in it but this was just lacking that spark. The boldness and grand scale that Kirby had. It's very mundane, which is not what I look for with the New God's.
A big problem I found was the large number of words per panel. Theres no more than 5 panels a page and there's enough dialogue for double that so it often feels very slow. All that it needed was a few more panels on a page just to break up the blocks of text.
The event in the middle is truly awful. It only serves to reset the Fourth World back to its status quo before byrne came on the book leaving a lot of the development worthless.
There's some good art throughout though but it's lacking in the story and scripting department.
Overall: 4/10
A big problem I found was the large number of words per panel. Theres no more than 5 panels a page and there's enough dialogue for double that so it often feels very slow. All that it needed was a few more panels on a page just to break up the blocks of text.
The event in the middle is truly awful. It only serves to reset the Fourth World back to its status quo before byrne came on the book leaving a lot of the development worthless.
There's some good art throughout though but it's lacking in the story and scripting department.
Overall: 4/10
May 30, 2022
Whoever said that there weren't any good comics in the 1990's was mistaken. I loved this book when it originally came out and still do all these years later. A solid effort from John Byrne. Looks good and reads good too. He does Kirby proud as far as I am concerned.
April 20, 2022
A phenomenal run focused on the New Gods; though imperfect, Byrne artfully elevates Kirby’s work in terms of epic narrative and style.
June 19, 2025
love this world and characters. so creative.
June 12, 2024
A worthy successor to the original 70's Kirby Fourth World storyline that encapsulated four comics over several years. Byrne made many overtures to honoring Kirby's visual style. I read the original Kirby storyline in an omnibus last year, and then this one as it should be. I enjoyed both but I did feel that there was a lack of resolution in many characters' development, as well as in the overall storyline--a bunch of exciting things happen only to have them sort of reversed and back to the original setting all over again.
May 28, 2023
Is it true that Jack Kirby and John Byrne had some serious beef? If so, it's weird that Byrne got this assignment.
Feels suitably respectful of the mythology, even interested in expanding it in ways that stay true to the heart of things, and the artwork gets the look right while trying to update things a bit for the '90s. Certainly, the series overall is far better than the crossover event, Genesis, that Byrne spun off from it would have lead me to believe.
C+
Feels suitably respectful of the mythology, even interested in expanding it in ways that stay true to the heart of things, and the artwork gets the look right while trying to update things a bit for the '90s. Certainly, the series overall is far better than the crossover event, Genesis, that Byrne spun off from it would have lead me to believe.
C+
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