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Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Vol. 3 by Mark Evanier, Glen David Gold, Mike Royer, Jack Kirby
jayspa65's review
funny
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
This volume is a bit tougher to rate than it's predecessors. It contains some of the best work Jack Kirby ever produced side by side with some real clunkers.
Though in fairness some of that is not entirely Jack's fault.
The Pact - which I remembered with startling clarity nearly four decades after I'd first read it, and probably a quarter century since I'd last seen it - is nearly unforgettable. The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin and Himon are right there beside it.
And Kirby's art looks as good as it ever did, with inker Mike Royer becoming ever more comfortable and the last remaining trace of the lackluster Vince Colletta relegated to the pages of Jimmy Olsen.
But clearly Jack was losing interest in Superman's pal as his tenure on the book drew to a close. Certainly the experience of having his lead characters redrawn by others had to be something he was losing patience with. How an artist of his caliber tolerated it for so long is beyond my understanding.
And though the fault lies not with Jack the two issue visit of Deadman to the pages of the Forever People might just be the worst shoe-horning together of two incompatible concepts since Batman teamed up with Jerry Lewis.
(Actually, I'm not sure that ever happened. But trust me, it couldn't have been much worse.)
That idea, however, was the brainchild of DC publisher Carmine Infantino. He asked Jack to revamp the character, then complained that it wasn't the Deadman he knew and loved. In all fairness to Carmine, he was a great artist, but how DC survived his tenure as publisher is beyond me.
I can't help but wonder, in retrospect, if Jack might have been better served had had launched one book instead of four. New Gods is consistently better written and more directed than its sister books, and churning out a sprawling epic through four titles at the pace Jack did it was nearly impossible, even for a man of his massive talent.
But still, Jack is Jack, and even in its lesser moments the tales are always entertaining. That the work in this book is on balance of slightly lesser import than that in the first two volumes is hardly damning.
So get it. Read The Pact, Himon, The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin. And if you decide to skip Deadman meets the Forever People, well...I'm sure Jack will understand.
Though in fairness some of that is not entirely Jack's fault.
The Pact - which I remembered with startling clarity nearly four decades after I'd first read it, and probably a quarter century since I'd last seen it - is nearly unforgettable. The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin and Himon are right there beside it.
And Kirby's art looks as good as it ever did, with inker Mike Royer becoming ever more comfortable and the last remaining trace of the lackluster Vince Colletta relegated to the pages of Jimmy Olsen.
But clearly Jack was losing interest in Superman's pal as his tenure on the book drew to a close. Certainly the experience of having his lead characters redrawn by others had to be something he was losing patience with. How an artist of his caliber tolerated it for so long is beyond my understanding.
And though the fault lies not with Jack the two issue visit of Deadman to the pages of the Forever People might just be the worst shoe-horning together of two incompatible concepts since Batman teamed up with Jerry Lewis.
(Actually, I'm not sure that ever happened. But trust me, it couldn't have been much worse.)
That idea, however, was the brainchild of DC publisher Carmine Infantino. He asked Jack to revamp the character, then complained that it wasn't the Deadman he knew and loved. In all fairness to Carmine, he was a great artist, but how DC survived his tenure as publisher is beyond me.
I can't help but wonder, in retrospect, if Jack might have been better served had had launched one book instead of four. New Gods is consistently better written and more directed than its sister books, and churning out a sprawling epic through four titles at the pace Jack did it was nearly impossible, even for a man of his massive talent.
But still, Jack is Jack, and even in its lesser moments the tales are always entertaining. That the work in this book is on balance of slightly lesser import than that in the first two volumes is hardly damning.
So get it. Read The Pact, Himon, The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin. And if you decide to skip Deadman meets the Forever People, well...I'm sure Jack will understand.
cleheny's review
5.0
It is in this third volume of the Omnibus that Kirby's epic hits its peak. It contains the last issues of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (#146-148), as well as issues 7-9 of Mr. Miracle (the table of contents says that the 10th issue is included, but that's a misprint; the 10th issue starts the fourth volume of the Omnibus), and issues 7-10 of The Forever People and The New Gods. The highlights of this volume are New Gods #7 (The Pact) and #8 (The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin) and the three Mr. Miracle issues (though none of them match the power of either of the cited New Gods issues).
The most interesting Forever People issue is #6 (I'll Find You in Yesterday!). When last we saw the five teenagers, four had been struck by Darkeid's Omega Effect and seemingly died; the last, Serafin, returned to the Super-Cycle, which is under attack from Glorious Godfrey's Justifiers. They learn that the Omega Effect does not necessarily kill; in this case, the four stricken members are sent to varied points in history. Mark Moonrider and Beautiful Dreamer appear in Ford's Theater, on the night of Lincoln's assassination, which they attempt to stop; Big Bear arrives in Britain as the Roman legions depart and helps the native Britons develop a government; and Vykin ends up in 1513 Florida, where he avoids death at the hands of some of Ponce de Leon's expeditionary force, who are on an unofficial hunt for gold and treasure. Notably, all four take in their new situation with aplomb; none seem particularly concerned about how they're going to survive in these new settings or what happened to their friends. Thanks to Highfather's "Alpha Bullets," they are each returned to the present day. Sonny Sumo, however, does not return with them, likely because Highfather didn't know he existed.
The remaining Forever People issues are not as good. I was particularly disappointed in the next issue, The Power, in which our heroes and Darkseid meet "Billion Dollar Bates," a human who possesses and has learned to control the Anti-Life Equation. It makes sense that a person who has the power of the Anti-Life Equation, but doesn't necessarily understand it, would use it to enrich himself and add to his own power. But Bates is a bland bad guy. It would have been more interesting if Darkseid had to contend with someone more like himself (and not a "yapping jackal," as Darkseid says). Big Bear is surprisingly ruthless during their confrontation with Darkseid and his forces; although Big Bear doesn't intend the specific result, a bad outcome for Bates is fairly predictable. This issue also marks the Forever People's second encounter with the Omega Effect, which this time is used on all of them. The Omega beams are a dicey power to give Darkseid. If a villain has such tremendous destructive power, why doesn't he always use it to kill off his enemies? So Kirby gives him a reason that is an authorial necessity but does deepen Darkseid's character: "Greatness does not come from killing the young! I'm willing to wait until they grow!"
But The Pact, immediately followed by The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin, are fantastic issues. The former explains how the conflict between New Genesis and Apokolips began, and how a tenuous peace was achieved. Darkseid's cunning and cruelty are revealed beautifully. We learn Highfather's origin and how he learned to communicate with the Source. And we find out the price of elevating personal goals over the common good. Further, we learn the origin of two crucial characters: Orion and Mr. Miracle. Orion's story is surprisingly sad. Scott Free's tale is even sadder. .
The Death Wish . . . is Kirby's testament to human courage. Most of the Fourth World epic is about the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis, and human beings are largely bystanders who provide awed commentary. If DC hadn't asked Kirby to write Jimmy Olsen, that series wouldn't have had any connection to the Fourth World, and there would be even less of a human dimension to the tale. But Darkseid has chosen Earth as the battlefield, and humans are affected by the resulting battles. Here, Kalibak has come to Earth and is holding Orion's friends Dave Lincoln and Claudia Shane hostage. The police, who besiege, are unable to make any headway until Turpin fearlessly goes head-to-head with Kalibak. Although Orion and Lightray join the fray, and Orion and Kalibak have quite the clash, Turpin is the star of this issue. He is brutally beaten, but he refuses to yield. And it is his strategy that defeats Kalibak.
Meanwhile, Mr. Miracle goes back to Apokolips to obtain his freedom according to Apokolips' rules: trial by combat. Barda, of course, doesn't hesitate to return with him, and she battles by his side throughout. The reader meets Kanto, Darkseid's personal assassin who models his life on Renaissance culture (and intrigue), with his own (Apokilips-flavored) chivalric streak. The weird thing about this issue is the different treatment afforded to Scott and Barda, both of whom should be considered traitors.
The best things about these issues (and some from volume 2) are the insights into Scott's past and how he learned to question and escape Darkseid's rule. Several issues before #9 ( Himon) have short segments about Scott as a child on Apokolips. Himon's titular issue expands on this history, introducing a New Genesis New God, Himon, who lives in disguise among the "Lowlies" on Apokolips, doing what he can to foster independence of thought and love of freedom among them. The majority of the Lowlies, however, are eager to betray and kill him. But Himon is a master escape artist, so these efforts never quite take. We learn that Himon remains on Apokolips out of guilt; he bears some responsibility for Darkseid's ascendancy and the war, even though this plot point is left murky. Like The Pact, the issue is episodic; we meet Scott after he's met Himon, and Kirby skips over a lot of their meetings and Scott's transformation (including how Barda became so loyal to Scott). We'll never know if Kirby intended to go back and fill in those gaps in later issues.
I haven't mentioned the various forewords to each volume and the afterwords by Mark Evanier. Glen David Gold's introduction notices certain similarities between Henry James' and Kirby's construction of narrative. I haven't read James, so I can't comment on the fairness of that comparison, but it got me thinking about Kirby's dialogue. In my review of the first volume of the Omnibus, I described Kirby's dialogue as portentous. As the epic progresses, however, the formal quality of the dialogue lends to its power. I don't know if I'd feel this way if I was only reading one a month, but reading issues back to back reminds me a bit of reading Faulkner; after a while, the style--which may have first distanced the reader from the story--becomes not only familiar but necessary to appreciating it.
Evanier's afterwords are interesting and informative. In this volume, he explains the increase in comics pricing that impacted sales of both DC and Marvel comics (but more so DC, as Marvel course-corrected sooner), and helped to doom Kirby's epic. Many of the key issues in the epic--most of those in this volume--were published following this price increase, and sales suffered. In a narrative as inter-connected as this one, missing a few issues would truly disrupt the experience. But to miss most of these issues would have made it almost impossible, when prices decreased, for those who had been following the epic, and definitely new readers, to understand what was going on.
The most interesting Forever People issue is #6 (I'll Find You in Yesterday!). When last we saw the five teenagers, four had been struck by Darkeid's Omega Effect and seemingly died; the last, Serafin, returned to the Super-Cycle, which is under attack from Glorious Godfrey's Justifiers. They learn that the Omega Effect does not necessarily kill; in this case, the four stricken members are sent to varied points in history. Mark Moonrider and Beautiful Dreamer appear in Ford's Theater, on the night of Lincoln's assassination, which they attempt to stop; Big Bear arrives in Britain as the Roman legions depart and helps the native Britons develop a government
Spoiler
(by making "Arta" king because he is able to draw a sword from a tree (with Big Bear's surreptitious help)Spoiler
Sumo lands in medieval Japan, and lives out his days there, honored as a "wise man, athelete, [and] farmer," beloved by the poor.The remaining Forever People issues are not as good. I was particularly disappointed in the next issue, The Power, in which our heroes and Darkseid meet "Billion Dollar Bates," a human who possesses and has learned to control the Anti-Life Equation. It makes sense that a person who has the power of the Anti-Life Equation, but doesn't necessarily understand it, would use it to enrich himself and add to his own power. But Bates is a bland bad guy. It would have been more interesting if Darkseid had to contend with someone more like himself (and not a "yapping jackal," as Darkseid says). Big Bear is surprisingly ruthless during their confrontation with Darkseid and his forces; although Big Bear doesn't intend the specific result, a bad outcome for Bates is fairly predictable. This issue also marks the Forever People's second encounter with the Omega Effect, which this time is used on all of them. The Omega beams are a dicey power to give Darkseid. If a villain has such tremendous destructive power, why doesn't he always use it to kill off his enemies? So Kirby gives him a reason that is an authorial necessity but does deepen Darkseid's character: "Greatness does not come from killing the young! I'm willing to wait until they grow!"
But The Pact, immediately followed by The Death Wish of Terrible Turpin, are fantastic issues. The former explains how the conflict between New Genesis and Apokolips began, and how a tenuous peace was achieved. Darkseid's cunning and cruelty are revealed beautifully. We learn Highfather's origin and how he learned to communicate with the Source. And we find out the price of elevating personal goals over the common good
Spoiler
, with Metron's devastating contribution to Apokolips' offensive capabilitiesSpoiler
Darkseid's cruelty to his son--separating him from his mother, refusing to acknowledge his own paternity, and imprisoning and brutalizing the child--is chilling. Certainly, the pact that gives the issue its title gives Orion a better life.Spoiler
Whereas Orion is rescued by Highfather from a horrific life on Apokolips, Highfather, formerly known as Izaya, hands over his own infant son to Darkseid--knowing how cold and cruel Darkseid is. Although Highfather's devastation at his decision is revealed, that decision is still fundamentally selfish. After all, it was Izaya who began the war and continued with it to the ruination of his planet because of his own grief and pain. Yes, a peace needed to be brokered, but Izaya sells his child into slavery and torment to rectify his own mistakes. And Highfather takes no steps to protect his son. It is Metron, not Highfather, that points Scott to Himon, who will eventually put Scott in a position to save himself. And, following Scott's escape from Apokolips, Highfather makes no attempt to contact or help him, despite the constant attempts by Apokoliptian villains to re-enslave or kill Scott.The Death Wish . . . is Kirby's testament to human courage. Most of the Fourth World epic is about the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis, and human beings are largely bystanders who provide awed commentary. If DC hadn't asked Kirby to write Jimmy Olsen, that series wouldn't have had any connection to the Fourth World, and there would be even less of a human dimension to the tale. But Darkseid has chosen Earth as the battlefield, and humans are affected by the resulting battles. Here, Kalibak has come to Earth and is holding Orion's friends Dave Lincoln and Claudia Shane hostage. The police, who besiege, are unable to make any headway until Turpin fearlessly goes head-to-head with Kalibak. Although Orion and Lightray join the fray, and Orion and Kalibak have quite the clash, Turpin is the star of this issue. He is brutally beaten, but he refuses to yield. And it is his strategy that defeats Kalibak.
Meanwhile, Mr. Miracle goes back to Apokolips to obtain his freedom according to Apokolips' rules: trial by combat. Barda, of course, doesn't hesitate to return with him, and she battles by his side throughout. The reader meets Kanto, Darkseid's personal assassin who models his life on Renaissance culture (and intrigue), with his own (Apokilips-flavored) chivalric streak. The weird thing about this issue is the different treatment afforded to Scott and Barda, both of whom should be considered traitors.
Spoiler
While Scott is sent to Section Zero, where Granny plans his death, Barda is returned to her barracks, free to resume command, which she immediately does and uses the Furies to help Scott. It's just so weird that Barda--who has demonstrated her loyalty to Scott over Darkseid--is not only allowed to go free but put in a position to marshal significant military resources.The best things about these issues (and some from volume 2) are the insights into Scott's past and how he learned to question and escape Darkseid's rule. Several issues before #9 ( Himon) have short segments about Scott as a child on Apokolips. Himon's titular issue expands on this history, introducing a New Genesis New God, Himon, who lives in disguise among the "Lowlies" on Apokolips, doing what he can to foster independence of thought and love of freedom among them. The majority of the Lowlies, however, are eager to betray and kill him. But Himon is a master escape artist, so these efforts never quite take. We learn that Himon remains on Apokolips out of guilt; he bears some responsibility for Darkseid's ascendancy and the war, even though this plot point is left murky
Spoiler
(apparently, Himon created the "X" element that Darkseid traded to Metron--who needed it to build his Mobius chair--but it's not clear how Himon ended up in Darkseid's service when he comes from New Genesis)I haven't mentioned the various forewords to each volume and the afterwords by Mark Evanier. Glen David Gold's introduction notices certain similarities between Henry James' and Kirby's construction of narrative. I haven't read James, so I can't comment on the fairness of that comparison, but it got me thinking about Kirby's dialogue. In my review of the first volume of the Omnibus, I described Kirby's dialogue as portentous. As the epic progresses, however, the formal quality of the dialogue lends to its power. I don't know if I'd feel this way if I was only reading one a month, but reading issues back to back reminds me a bit of reading Faulkner; after a while, the style--which may have first distanced the reader from the story--becomes not only familiar but necessary to appreciating it.
Evanier's afterwords are interesting and informative. In this volume, he explains the increase in comics pricing that impacted sales of both DC and Marvel comics (but more so DC, as Marvel course-corrected sooner), and helped to doom Kirby's epic. Many of the key issues in the epic--most of those in this volume--were published following this price increase, and sales suffered. In a narrative as inter-connected as this one, missing a few issues would truly disrupt the experience. But to miss most of these issues would have made it almost impossible, when prices decreased, for those who had been following the epic, and definitely new readers, to understand what was going on.
art_cart_ron's review
5.0
Just the best.
It can be argued that Kirby's best work was when he had hit his stride with Fantastic Four (from the beginning) - but this wasn't because his best work had actually happened... it's because times and preferences in art style later changed. Neal Adams was changing the look of comics, and Kirby - with hundreds of comics and decades of experience under his belt - was beginning to appear antiquated on the racks. The diminishing racks. Publishing expenses were also going through a weird flux, and Marvel figured out the best approach before DC... leaving Fourth World - Kirby's masterwork - in a dry place for comics publishing. It was cut short long before its time.
This third omnibus encompasses the best of Fourth World. Kirby's best ink collaborator (IMO) Mike Royer was on board (compare the pencil pages to the inks - and MR is most faithful, by far). The cancellation wasn't truly upon the books yet (but by issue 10's of the 3 series, it was entering JK's awareness). They were flying.
"The Pact" was Kirby's single favorite comic creation - this from a guy with almost 60 years in his profession. I liked the Mister Miracle backstory "Himon" best in this collection.
There are a couple issues in the collection that JK wasn't feeling - he was never real happy to be doing Jimmy Oleson/Superman (other people's characters... complete with unwelcome retouching) - and the Deadman arc in Forever People wasn't something he felt motivated with... but the rest of it - he was on fire.
Later would come OMAC and Kamandi - - Kamandi, his final long form richly personal/independent piece - - but Fourth World was the pinnacle. Creative genius that would only get to grow for a short window of time. Truly comics' Star Wars - not for its polish, but for its raw power. Meanwhile - don't for a second ignore the fact that George Lucas borrowed HEAVILY (less than 4 years later)... Darkseid, Moonrider, The Source - displaced orphans who later confront their all-powerful evil father? - - with all of GL's academic mentioning of Joseph Campbell, the bigger influence by far seems to be Jack Kirby's masterwork - and the lack of credit given seems like the result of legal advisement and shenanigans.
Biggest complaint about the Fourth World Omnibuses? DC doesn't keep them in print. You can't even get ahold of most of them. That's criminal, and a sad statement about comic readers' tastes/discernment.
It can be argued that Kirby's best work was when he had hit his stride with Fantastic Four (from the beginning) - but this wasn't because his best work had actually happened... it's because times and preferences in art style later changed. Neal Adams was changing the look of comics, and Kirby - with hundreds of comics and decades of experience under his belt - was beginning to appear antiquated on the racks. The diminishing racks. Publishing expenses were also going through a weird flux, and Marvel figured out the best approach before DC... leaving Fourth World - Kirby's masterwork - in a dry place for comics publishing. It was cut short long before its time.
This third omnibus encompasses the best of Fourth World. Kirby's best ink collaborator (IMO) Mike Royer was on board (compare the pencil pages to the inks - and MR is most faithful, by far). The cancellation wasn't truly upon the books yet (but by issue 10's of the 3 series, it was entering JK's awareness). They were flying.
"The Pact" was Kirby's single favorite comic creation - this from a guy with almost 60 years in his profession. I liked the Mister Miracle backstory "Himon" best in this collection.
There are a couple issues in the collection that JK wasn't feeling - he was never real happy to be doing Jimmy Oleson/Superman (other people's characters... complete with unwelcome retouching) - and the Deadman arc in Forever People wasn't something he felt motivated with... but the rest of it - he was on fire.
Later would come OMAC and Kamandi - - Kamandi, his final long form richly personal/independent piece - - but Fourth World was the pinnacle. Creative genius that would only get to grow for a short window of time. Truly comics' Star Wars - not for its polish, but for its raw power. Meanwhile - don't for a second ignore the fact that George Lucas borrowed HEAVILY (less than 4 years later)... Darkseid, Moonrider, The Source - displaced orphans who later confront their all-powerful evil father? - - with all of GL's academic mentioning of Joseph Campbell, the bigger influence by far seems to be Jack Kirby's masterwork - and the lack of credit given seems like the result of legal advisement and shenanigans.
Biggest complaint about the Fourth World Omnibuses? DC doesn't keep them in print. You can't even get ahold of most of them. That's criminal, and a sad statement about comic readers' tastes/discernment.
mhall89446's review
3.0
After the first two volumes, this one is a bet of a let down. The MISTER MIRACLE and NEW GODS stories are great; the origin of Scott Free and Orion, fill in the gaps on the war between Apokolips and New Genesis, and read like an amalgam of the Norse and Greek myths. The Kirby and Royer art is great, especially the splash pages. The volume falls short though with the FOREVER PEOPLE which is dated by the language and commentary on the early 1970s, and the attempts to link it to the DC Universe. And don't even get me started on the deficiencies of both art and story with the SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN issues.
I do applaud DC for reprinting these issues. While a few haven't aged well, overall it is a classic comic series.
I do applaud DC for reprinting these issues. While a few haven't aged well, overall it is a classic comic series.
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