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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
DC collects Kirbys four classic series of the 1970s THE NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE and SUPERMANS 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.
About the Author
Jack Kirby is perhaps the most important artist ever in superhero comics. A creative and design genius, the King co-created household names such as The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men for Marvel Comics, later moving to DC where he wrote Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen, the epic saga of the New Gods, Kamandi Last Boy on Earth and OMAC.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Content:
In addition to an introduction by the esteemed Grant Morrison and an afterward by Kirby associate and close friend, Mark Evanier, there are a few Kirby concept drawings.
The heart of the book however are the chronological reprints of the following:
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 (Oct 1970)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134 (Dec 1970)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135 (Jan 1971)
The Forever People #1 (Feb 1971)
The New Gods #1 (Feb 1971)
Mister Miracle #1 (Mar 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #136 (Mar 1971)
The Forever People #2 (May 1971)
The New Gods #2 (May 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #137 (May 1971)
Mister Miracle #2 (June 1971)
The Forever People #3 (July 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #138 (July 1971)
The New Gods #3 (July 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 (July 1971)
Mister Miracle #3 (Aug 1971)
In addition to an introduction by the esteemed Grant Morrison and an afterward by Kirby associate and close friend, Mark Evanier, there are a few Kirby concept drawings.
The heart of the book however are the chronological reprints of the following:
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 (Oct 1970)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134 (Dec 1970)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135 (Jan 1971)
The Forever People #1 (Feb 1971)
The New Gods #1 (Feb 1971)
Mister Miracle #1 (Mar 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #136 (Mar 1971)
The Forever People #2 (May 1971)
The New Gods #2 (May 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #137 (May 1971)
Mister Miracle #2 (June 1971)
The Forever People #3 (July 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #138 (July 1971)
The New Gods #3 (July 1971)
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 (July 1971)
Mister Miracle #3 (Aug 1971)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought Fourth World volume four first as the only one to contain much material I didn't already have in other forms. Having bought it, I found it to be the best-produced comic book reprint I'd ever seen. The paper is perfect. The reproduction is perfect. The colours are perfect. The binding is perfect (pardon the pun). DC have really excelled themselves in these beautiful hardback editions. So I bought the other three volumes, including this one.
In the 1960s, The Beatles redefined pop music. At the same time, across the Atlantic, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were redefining comic books. As the 60s ended, so did The Beatles and the Kirby/Lee partnership. What followed amazed everyone. Jack Kirby, the creative powerhouse whose art and ideas had defined Marvel Comics for more than a decade went to work for Marvel's great rival, DC Comics. It was as if John Lennon had joined the Rolling Stones. Kirby took with him concepts and characters he'd been working on for two years and these formed the basis of what came to be known as the Fourth World saga. DC's readers had never seen anything like it. Exploding first across the pages of 'Superman's Friend: Jimmy Olsen,' Kirby unleashed a cosmic onslaught in which the twin worlds of New Genesis and Apokalips fought the endless war between good and evil, a war that quickly spread to encompass our Earth. The most famous character Kirby introduced was to become DC's ultimate bad guy: Darkseid. Darkseid became an important part of George Lucas' template for Darth Vader. Kirby's characters, as ever, seemed to jump right off the page, as if a mere comic book were too small to contain them. New creations abounded in every issue: the Hairies, the DNA Project, the Boom Tube, Glorious Godfrey and hundreds more. Kirby was throwing out more ideas in a single issue than many comic creators manage in a lifetime. As one of his characters so memorably says: "Jack up your speed, man. Don't slow down."
Buying these beautiful editions led me to re-read these stories for the first time in a while, reminding me of just how good they are. People have complained that Kirby's dialogue was not as good as Stan Lee's. Well, it reads fine to me. Likewise, people have complained about Kirby's choice of inker. To me, Vince Colletta was the perfect choice. Not only did he do a beautiful job, often improving on Kirby's pencils (sacrilege there I know), but he had been the inker on Kirby's 'Thor' at Marvel. Kirby ended his run on 'Thor' with Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods. The Fourth World saga begins with Ragnarok and the coming of the New Gods. The Colletta look helped make the point that the Fourth World was a new instalment in an ongoing cosmic epic. The immaculate reproduction in these books emphasises just how right the choice of Colletta was.
So, beautiful artwork, amazing concepts, great stories, all superbly packaged. What more could you ask? Kirby says: Buy It!
In the 1960s, The Beatles redefined pop music. At the same time, across the Atlantic, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were redefining comic books. As the 60s ended, so did The Beatles and the Kirby/Lee partnership. What followed amazed everyone. Jack Kirby, the creative powerhouse whose art and ideas had defined Marvel Comics for more than a decade went to work for Marvel's great rival, DC Comics. It was as if John Lennon had joined the Rolling Stones. Kirby took with him concepts and characters he'd been working on for two years and these formed the basis of what came to be known as the Fourth World saga. DC's readers had never seen anything like it. Exploding first across the pages of 'Superman's Friend: Jimmy Olsen,' Kirby unleashed a cosmic onslaught in which the twin worlds of New Genesis and Apokalips fought the endless war between good and evil, a war that quickly spread to encompass our Earth. The most famous character Kirby introduced was to become DC's ultimate bad guy: Darkseid. Darkseid became an important part of George Lucas' template for Darth Vader. Kirby's characters, as ever, seemed to jump right off the page, as if a mere comic book were too small to contain them. New creations abounded in every issue: the Hairies, the DNA Project, the Boom Tube, Glorious Godfrey and hundreds more. Kirby was throwing out more ideas in a single issue than many comic creators manage in a lifetime. As one of his characters so memorably says: "Jack up your speed, man. Don't slow down."
Buying these beautiful editions led me to re-read these stories for the first time in a while, reminding me of just how good they are. People have complained that Kirby's dialogue was not as good as Stan Lee's. Well, it reads fine to me. Likewise, people have complained about Kirby's choice of inker. To me, Vince Colletta was the perfect choice. Not only did he do a beautiful job, often improving on Kirby's pencils (sacrilege there I know), but he had been the inker on Kirby's 'Thor' at Marvel. Kirby ended his run on 'Thor' with Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods. The Fourth World saga begins with Ragnarok and the coming of the New Gods. The Colletta look helped make the point that the Fourth World was a new instalment in an ongoing cosmic epic. The immaculate reproduction in these books emphasises just how right the choice of Colletta was.
So, beautiful artwork, amazing concepts, great stories, all superbly packaged. What more could you ask? Kirby says: Buy It!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I cannot believe that there are people who criticise this book based on the paper. On the contrary: It is abolutely perfect. Instead, I HATE, with a passion, the glossy paper used for example in the Marvel Masterworks series. It is totally fake, and spoils the effect. These classic comics were not made for glossy paper. Suffice it to say that I would not have bought this, if it had glossy paper.
In fact, the paper here could not be better. Not glossy, not too white, but good quality, so that lines are clear and colours come out fine.
Enough about the paper: The content itself is great too, and well put together. I really like the idea of reprinting each of the issues featuring Fourth World characters in the order they were published. Jack Kirby, it goes without saying, was a master, so it's well worth reading -- and, especially, looking at. That's not to say that the storytelling is without flaws -- while Kirby is clearly full of ideas, he lacks the structure that Stan Lee brought to their earlier collaboration (to use a music analogy, this is like Syd Barrett's solo albums. Worth buying (if you're into his stuff), great in their own way, inventive, but just not as good as when he was with Pink Floyd). Some of the ideas, are a little misguided (e.g. The Black Racer, an obvious copy of the Silver Surfer, except that a guy racing through space on a surf board may be silly, but is also cool. Whereas a guy in space on skis is just ... well ... silly. However, 25 years on, 'silly' becomes fun again...).
The Fourth World does not hold a candle to Stan & Jack's Fantastic Four run. But that's comparing with, arguably, the best that the super-hero genre produced, and the Fourth World is still better than 95% of the rest.
All in all, as good as a reprint collection can be!
In fact, the paper here could not be better. Not glossy, not too white, but good quality, so that lines are clear and colours come out fine.
Enough about the paper: The content itself is great too, and well put together. I really like the idea of reprinting each of the issues featuring Fourth World characters in the order they were published. Jack Kirby, it goes without saying, was a master, so it's well worth reading -- and, especially, looking at. That's not to say that the storytelling is without flaws -- while Kirby is clearly full of ideas, he lacks the structure that Stan Lee brought to their earlier collaboration (to use a music analogy, this is like Syd Barrett's solo albums. Worth buying (if you're into his stuff), great in their own way, inventive, but just not as good as when he was with Pink Floyd). Some of the ideas, are a little misguided (e.g. The Black Racer, an obvious copy of the Silver Surfer, except that a guy racing through space on a surf board may be silly, but is also cool. Whereas a guy in space on skis is just ... well ... silly. However, 25 years on, 'silly' becomes fun again...).
The Fourth World does not hold a candle to Stan & Jack's Fantastic Four run. But that's comparing with, arguably, the best that the super-hero genre produced, and the Fourth World is still better than 95% of the rest.
All in all, as good as a reprint collection can be!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fantastic Collection
I can't recommend this book enough. It's a wonderful reproduction of Kirby's classic DC material and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Read more
Published 20 months ago by The Black Racer
Don't Ask - Just Buy!
Ahh - this could be the original 'novel' that came after 'graphic'.
It's a wonderful example of what this genre is capable of. Read more
It's a wonderful example of what this genre is capable of. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2007 by David Driver
A standout production!
Despite what other reviewers might think, the matt paper suits Kirby's work better than glossy stock. Read more
Published on 14 July 2007 by Lewis Stringer
Beware the paper stock
The paper used in this collection is similar to that in the DC Showcase and Marvel Essentials collections. Be aware of this before you buy this product.
Published on 15 Jun 2007 by J. Dunn
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