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  1. #1
    Incredible Member Menacer's Avatar
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    Default Fourth World Omnibus have you read?

    I've enjoyed the Fourth World characters in a number of modern books and recently have been getting obsessed by the idea of reading all of Jack Kirby's original works in his gigantic Omnibus which I can get on Amazon.ca for 130ish...

    Has anyone read a substantial amount of his work... I've heard its directionless and cause it was cancelled so fast is convoluted... but for some reason I really wanna read it...

    What do you guys say? Is it worth the 130? Is there enough there to warrent reading this 1975 materials...

    If not what Fourth World works would you recommend?

  2. #2
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    I would say go ahead. Kirby wasn't a great overall writer--which would include a strong handling of such various things as dialogue and text in general, plot structure, pacing, and so forth--but he was an excellent concept man (and he has his moments when he does write some text that's brilliant). He was a very strong world builder, which includes his design work. So, what he's got going on there is pretty fascinating, but his story isn't all that hot, in my opinion. But it's definitely worth a look, especially if what you've seen really captures your imagination.
    Last edited by Vampire Savior; 02-18-2020 at 09:19 AM.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Menacer View Post
    I've enjoyed the Fourth World characters in a number of modern books and recently have been getting obsessed by the idea of reading all of Jack Kirby's original works in his gigantic Omnibus which I can get on Amazon.ca for 130ish...

    Has anyone read a substantial amount of his work... I've heard its directionless and cause it was cancelled so fast is convoluted... but for some reason I really wanna read it...

    What do you guys say? Is it worth the 130? Is there enough there to warrent reading this 1975 materials...

    If not what Fourth World works would you recommend?
    This is not an easy question to answer. I have a feeling that it regularly pops up on this board once a year or so. You can always search for the words 'Fourth World' or 'New Gods' and find a wider selection of opinions.

    Not easy to answer because, while I have been reading and thinking about this stuff for decades, I haven't enjoyed modern interpretations at all. Which might mean that the two of us have different priorities or expectations. To me, the Fourth World IS the context for the characters and the concepts and whoever pulls those out and separates from the whole destroys the bigger picture, which is the most fascinating part of the mythology. I would go as far as to say that those arguably were not superhero comics, and certainly not our standard type of superhero comics - but they were made in that environment and marketed as such, which is probably one of the main reasons why they have never found a wider audience. Too weird for the superhero fans, too superhero-y for everyone else. The Fourth World is more in line with Sandman, but instead of characters standing around and talking, it has characters running or fighting AND talking. Just a difference in the Kirby's and Gaiman's sensibilities, I suppose, but the goal was the same. To paint a picture of the human condition using mythological means. And it doesn't sit well alongside other DCU concepts and characters. The world that has both Aquaman (with his cast of friends and foes) and the Deep Six, or Lex Luthor and Intergang, is a world too crowded.

    Of all the later stories, only Orion by Walter Simonson plays in the same league of themes and concerns, but you have to be prepared to disconnect yourself somewhat from the rest of the DCU, and pretend it's in its own universe... if you want to get the most out of it. Return of the New Gods was a joke; Vol. 3 was too chaotic (although it has some good moments); Vol. 4 too ugly; Byrne's work was too bland; Morrison, as always, was occasionally imaginative but concerned with his own preocupations (which don't have much, if anything, in common with Kirby's); Mister Miracle by King and Gerads was very good, but that was despite being set in the Fourth World mythos and not because of it; Starlin's work was a travesty; and everything Geoff Johns has done was pure, colorless sh*t (in a negative sense).

    It says much about the popularity of those characters on this forum when not even one (to my knowledge) has his/her own appreciation topic.
    Last edited by Paradox_Nihil; 02-18-2020 at 12:04 PM.
    "The critics? No, I have nothing but compassion for them. How can I hate the crippled, the mentally deficient, and the dead?"

  4. #4
    Mighty Member jb681131's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Menacer View Post
    I've enjoyed the Fourth World characters in a number of modern books and recently have been getting obsessed by the idea of reading all of Jack Kirby's original works in his gigantic Omnibus which I can get on Amazon.ca for 130ish...

    Has anyone read a substantial amount of his work... I've heard its directionless and cause it was cancelled so fast is convoluted... but for some reason I really wanna read it...

    What do you guys say? Is it worth the 130? Is there enough there to warrent reading this 1975 materials...

    If not what Fourth World works would you recommend?
    I've read in in the 4 somaller omnibus.
    Even if it got cancelled. It was only because it was too much ahead of it's time. Not at all because it's bad.

    The art of Jack Kirby is sublime.
    And the stories are very fun. The Orion and Big Barda stories are gread. Mr Miracle is also great.
    But I also like the Jimmy Olsen stories and the Newsboy Legion stories are very very fun.

    And I'll say it again, the art of Kirby is very ahead of it's time. So it doesn't feel as old as it really is.

  5. #5
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    Ive only read Mr Miracle but hated it .

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