Kirby's Fourth World

[Rikdad]

To honor the King's 100th birthday, I posted a review of his three original Fourth World titles:

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2017/08/k...rth-world.html

It really is a special work of art, and I recommend it highly to anyone who's only known those characters via the works of other writers.

[Lightning Rider]

Need to get my hands on volumes 2 and 3.

[Darkseid Is]

Excellent books. You pick them up and they're like soggy, the ideas drip off of them.

[Rikdad]

There is truly, if anything, an excess of ideas and originality, which is a rare and good problem to have.

[MajorHoy]

To honor the King's 100th birthday, I posted a review of his three original Fourth World titles

I was going to point out there were four, but I see you were dealing with those he specifically launched as #1 issues and covered Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen separately.

[Jim Kelly]

I take a glass half full view when it comes to Jack Kirby's Fourth World.

Yes, it's awful that the Fourth World books couldn't last longer--so Jack's stories could have reached a satisfactory end--but they were around for a long-ish period of time if you consider the frequency of the titles, since there were not many comics on a monthly schedule from DC in those days.

The JIMMY OLSEN run was about a year and a half--as Jimmy's book came out roughly nine times a year, with one issue being a Giant reprint. THE NEW GODS and THE FOREVER PEOPLE lasted for nearly two years, given they were on a bi-monthly schedule. And MISTER MIRACLE lasted for three years on a bi-monthly schedule.

As well, Kirby was the writer, penciller and co-editor on all of these--so that was a lot of work for the King to juggle every month.

Compared with Marvel titles, they may have not had a long run, but compared with other new DC titles at the time, the Fourth World books were more successful than most. Some new comics only had one or two issues before they were canned. And collectively--if you total up all of Kirby's output--that's a lot of good stuff.

[Rikdad]

I was going to point out there were four, but I see you were dealing with those he specifically launched as #1 issues and covered Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen separately.

Yes, I reviewed Kirby's Jimmy Olsen run here:
http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2016/10/r...mmy-olsen.html

I handled the JO work separately because Kirby folded it into a pre-existing world –*and accommodated that creatively in some very clever ways, I think, with the youth movement of the time being a cultural phenomenon. With a few salient exceptions, such as the Superman cameo in Forever People, Kirby's original series almost read like a new universe of its own.

[Darkseid Is]

I take a glass half full view when it comes to Jack Kirby's Fourth World.

Yes, it's awful that the Fourth World books couldn't last longer--so Jack's stories could have reached a satisfactory end--but they were around for a long-ish period of time if you consider the frequency of the titles, since there were not many comics on a monthly schedule from DC in those days.

The JIMMY OLSEN run was about a year and a half--as Jimmy's book came out roughly nine times a year, with one issue being a Giant reprint. THE NEW GODS and THE FOREVER PEOPLE lasted for nearly two years, given they were on a bi-monthly schedule. And MISTER MIRACLE lasted for three years on a bi-monthly schedule.

As well, Kirby was the writer, penciller and co-editor on all of these--so that was a lot of work for the King to juggle every month.

Compared with Marvel titles, they may have not had a long run, but compared with other new DC titles at the time, the Fourth World books were more successful than most. Some new comics only had one or two issues before they were canned. And collectively--if you total up all of Kirby's output--that's a lot of good stuff.

I've always seen it as more influential than successful. Even though it wasn't a failure.