In late January, 1975, DC Comics premiered a new ongoing title called 1st Issue Special with an initial installment starring “Atlas”, the latest creation of writer/artist Jack Kirby. Almost exactly one year later, DC released the thirteenth — and as it turned out, the last — issue of that same title. This time, the cover feature was “Return of the New Gods”, featuring some of the earliest creations Kirby had produced for the publisher upon his arrival there in 1970.
There was one major difference this time, however; Jack Kirby himself wasn’t involved, having left DC to return to its greatest rival, Marvel Comics, some months earlier (although his final contracted work for the former company had only appeared a few weeks before this, in Kamandi #40). But if anyone at Kirby’s former employer found this fact to be at all ironic, they kept it to themselves. Not only was the “King of Comics” not creatively or editorially included as part of this stab at reviving his “Fourth World” characters and concepts — his name didn’t even appear anywhere within its pages.
Adding to the irony, the impetus to resuscitate the mythos at the heart of Kirby’s expansive Fourth World “tetralogy” — of which two titles (Forever People as well as New Gods) had been summarily cancelled by DC publisher Carmine Infantino in the summer of 1972, while a third (Jimmy Olsen) had previously been taken out of his hands, and the fourth (Mister Miracle) was only allowed to continue for a few more issues after what amounted to a creative lobotomy — appears to have been inspired at least in part by a suggestion made by a writer and editor then working under exclusive contract to Marvel Comics — its former editor-in-chief, Roy Thomas.
As Thomas recalled some four decades later for Back Issue #104 (Jun., 2018):
Sometime soon after Kirby left DC entirely, Gerry Conway, then back at DC, said Carmine would love to meet with me. So the three of us got together briefly at DC. We talked about a lot of things, including Carmine’s desire to see me come over to DC, which I wasn’t ready to do just yet. Just to see if I could influence Carmine to do something, I told him that one good thing about Kirby leaving was that now he was free to being back New Gods, etc., with a different writer/approach. Carmine sparked to the idea, and soon afterward the revival was published.
Thomas’ suggestion may not have been intended as a personal slight against Kirby; still, it seems like bad form, to say the least, given that Thomas must have been aware how disappointed Kirby had been by Infantino’s termination of the Fourth World project. Perhaps he was still smarting a little over Kirby’s skewering of him as “Houseroy” back in Mister Miracle #6, though that’s just speculation on my part.
Of course, it’s possible that other considerations besides Thomas’ suggestion figured into Infantino’s decision to move forward with “Return of the New Gods”. For one thing, there was this tidbit from the March, 1975 Marvel Convention where Kirby’s return to Marvel had first been officially announced, as reported in Mediascene #14 (Jul.-Aug., 1975):
One can see where the DC brass would have felt it prudent, if only from a legal standpoint, to put out something to show that as far as they were concerned the Fourth World characters and concepts belonged to them, and them alone. (Intriguingly, the somewhat similarly-themed series Kirby did eventually create for Marvel, The Eternals, was at one point going to be called Return of the Gods; a mock-up of the first issue’s cover bearing that tile even got published, in The Comic Reader #27 [Feb., 1976].)
In any event, the Kirby-less revival of Kirby’s most ambitious creative enterprise to date went forward… and if your humble blogger is to be entirely honest, in January, 1976, I probably wasn’t that much more concerned with what Kirby himself might have felt about it than Roy Thomas appears to have been. At the age of eighteen, I was more invested in the Fourth World as an ongoing storyline than as a vehicle for Kirby’s personal creative expression. I felt that we’d all been left hanging, what with Darkseid presumably still trying to master the Anti-Life Equation and take over the whole DC Universe — a matter that had seemed rather urgent while Kirby was still doing his books, but had seemingly been completely forgotten about by DC’s storytellers since then — and I wanted to know what happened next.
And so, while I would certainly have preferred to see a “Return of the New Gods” written, drawn, and edited by Jack Kirby himself, I understood that, with that creator now firmly ensconced again at Marvel, such a thing clearly wasn’t going to happen any time soon… if ever. I therefore welcomed the arrival of 1st Issue Special #13, and was prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to whomever had produced it; at least, until after I’d had the chance to actually read it.
All that said, the book’s cover, as nicely drawn by Dick Giordano as it was, did give even the most open-minded Fourth World fan some cause for trepidation. Was this red, blue, and yellow spandex-clad character pictured front-and-center supposed to be Orion? If so, what in the name of Highfather was he doing flying under his own power, rather than by means of his Astro-Harness? For that matter, with the exception of Lightray, none of the characters who are shown here soaring through space in the standard superhero flying pose had ever before been depicted taking flight without the aid of visible technological apparatus; Mister Miracle should be on his Aero-Discs, while Big Barda should be using her Mega-Rod. (Besides which, Barda doesn’t seem to be dressed appropriately for the frigid void of outer space… just sayin’.) I suppose we should be thankful that Giordano at least kept Metron in his Mobius Chair.
Still, you can’t judge a comic book by its cover, right? So, let’s turn to the opening splash page to begin to see what the graphic storytellers chosen by DC to follow in Jack Kirby’s sizable footsteps have served up for us…
1st Issue Special never had a single, specific editor during the course of its run; rather, as with its venerable predecessor Showcase, that duty had been shared out among DC’s editorial staff, who were individually responsible for the title’s one-shot features. Gerry Conway – who’d actually still been working for Marvel when 1IS #1 (edited, as well as written and drawn, by Jack Kirby) came out — had previously handled issue #9, starring the classic Golden Age hero Dr. Fate, as well as the two issues immediately preceding #13, both of which featured original character concepts (“Code Name: Assassin” in #11, and a new version of “Starman” in #12). Along with editing, Conway had contributed to the writing of #11, in collaboration with Steve Skeates, and had authored #12 on his own. For #13, he’s credited with the story’s plot as well as its editing, although the actual script is attributed to Denny O’Neil.
Meanwhile, the story’s artwork was by Mike Vosburg — a young artist who’d been in the business about a year and a half at this point, but whose work had, until very recently, appeared primarily in Marvel’s Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine. This was in fact only his third published DC job; his second had been the aforementioned 1st Issue Special #12, featuring Starman.
Before moving on from page 1, we’ll note that, in addition to confirming that the red-headed fellow with the blue circle on his chest is indeed Orion of the New Gods, the splash also informs us that, prior to the scene we’re now reading, the warring god-worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips have been observing a truce — which we may assume accounts for the fact that the all the characters native to those two planets have been conspicuous by their absence in DC’s books since the eighteenth and final issue of Mister Miracle shipped back in November, 1973. (Technically, there’d been one “Fourth World” character sighting since then — a team-up between Mister Miracle and Batman in Brave and the Bold #112 — but that one had been explained as having occurred prior to the events of MM #18.)
Additionally, we’re told that the force-beams coming from Orion’s fingers are manifestations of the “astro-force” — a powerful energy he previously had to wield through the intermediate technology of his Astro-Harness. Presumably, that capability (as well as the power of flight we’ll see him demonstrate a little later) has since been invisibly integrated into his new costume (though this is never explained in the story itself).
From New Gods #11 (Oct.-Nov., 1972). Text by Jack Kirby; art by Kirby and Mike Royer.
Before we follow Orion’s wandering mind into a flashback, we’ll observe that, at least as far as the climax of New Gods #11 was concerned, the death of Kalibak seemed pretty definite and final. If the Black Racer — basically the New Gods’ version of the Angel of Death — hadn’t whooshed Kalibak off to, well, wherever it is that New Gods go when they die, then where had he taken him? And whatever had been the point of it all? One can understand why Conway and company didn’t want to leave Kalibak dead permanently, and, of course, there’s only so much exposition you can wedge into a single 18-page comic-book story. Even so, this seems a pretty off-handed way to go about bringing the elder son of Darkseid back from the beyond.
Other than Highfather, all three of the characters we meet in this scene — Big Barda, Scott Free, and Metron — were also pictured on the book’s cover… although if you didn’t already know that Scott was the “super escape artist” Mister Miracle, nothing in this comic would make you any wiser on that subject
“Dear friend…”? That certainly doesn’t sound like the cold, calculating Metron that Jack Kirby wrote about. Honestly, pretty much all of Metron’s dialogue in this story reads like Denny O’Neil has gotten Metron confused with the much more personable (not to mention less amoral) Lightray (who, we might mention, is notably absent from our story, despite being featured on the comic’s cover).
As the fighting escalates, Highfather bemoans the end of his “dream of everlasting harmony” — while Orion secretly, and somewhat ashamedly, relishes the opportunity to throw down with Darkseid’s minions: “I cannot help myself! I glory in warrior’s work — in violence and destruction!”
Once again, we’re going to interrupt Orion mid-sentence — this time, to observe that the breaking of this story into individually-titled chapters is likely a nod to the way Jack Kirby had typically structured his more recent stories for DC (although he certainly didn’t invent the approach, and its use here could be coincidental).
Kalibak tries to bring the fight to a sudden close by taking off Orion’s head with his war-club, but Orion manages to evade the blow. Still, he realizes that Kalibak is correct in seeing that indulging their personal animus at this moment is not the best use of anyone’s time… and so he uses his own “astro-force” to blast the floor out from under his sinister sibling, sending him crashing through to unknown depths below…
As with several other characters in this story, Granny Goodness was previously a fixture in Mister Miracle, where she ran the “Orphanage” — the training ground for Darkseid’s troops where Scott Free grew up. (In fact, the majority of figures in this story who weren’t first introduced in the pages of New Gods come from Mister Miracle; for one reason or another, the Fourth World characters in Forever People, as well as in Jimmy Olsen, have generally proven harder to integrate into later revivals of the mythos.)
Granny’s identification here as “Darkseid’s chief lieutenant” may represent a promotion of sorts — occasioned, perhaps, by Darkseid’s dismissal-by-Omega-effect of Desaad, the Apokoliptican who previously appeared to fill that role, in New Gods #11.
Like Granny Goodness, Dr. Bedlam had previously been seen as a recurring foe of Mister Miracle.
Metron’s use here of a Boom Tube as a monitoring device, rather than a mode of transportation, may be original to this story (although I can’t claim to have pored over every previous Fourth World story to verify that speculation).
As he plows through Granny’s minions, a couple of sensory clues (“The gloom… the feint [sic] odor of sulphur in the air…”) let Orion know that he’s no longer on Earth — but, rather, on Apokolips. Bursting out of his current location through a window, he quickly discovers that he’s in the planet’s main city, near the palace of Darkseid himself… and after momentarily considering looking for a place to hide, he decides to head straight for the palace.
The four-panel grid that Mike Vosburg uses on this page is another structural element that’s likely a direct nod to Jack Kirby… and as long as we’re talking about the artwork, this is as good a place as any to mention that Vosburg seems to be consciously adjusting his style in emulation of Kirby’s throughout the issue. That’s understandable (and perhaps even laudable), but it’s less than completely successful, at least to my eye; for my taste, Vosburg’s “Starman” art in the preceding issue of 1st Issue Special, where he seems to have been following his own muse, is considerably more attractive (though, somewhat ironically, that earlier job was inked by Mike Royer, probably Kirby’s most prolific embellisher during this decade).
In Kirby’s New Gods, readers learned that the handsome face Orion generally shows the world is an illusion created by a sentient piece of technology called a Mother Box; on occasion (generally when he was very angry), he’d drop the mask to reveal the more fierce, brutish visage he was born with. As none of that background information is provided in this issue, however, I can only imagine how baffled any readers of 1st Issue Special #13 who’d never met these characters before must have been by the above three-panel sequence.
And so ends “Lest Night Fall — Forever!” Not an unrelievedly awful comic-book story, in my opinion, but not a particularly good one, either. And certainly not what Jack Kirby would or could have given the world had he been permitted to return to his most ambitious creation back in 1976 — a time when he was, if no longer at the absolute peak of his powers, still capable of producing outstanding work.
From the perspective of fifty years later, it’s hard not to think of this missed opportunity as a great loss — perhaps even something of a tragedy. But, as I’ve already noted, in 1976 my younger self was less invested in the Fourth World mythos as a means of Jack Kirby’s creative expression than as a maddeningly unresolved DC Comics story arc. I may not have been particularly impressed with 1st Issue Special #13, but I was nevertheless glad that the New Gods were back.
Cover to Secret Society of Super-Villains #4 (Nov.-Dec., 1976). Art by Ernie Chan,
And, indeed, they were back — and after this, would never really go away again… at least, not for so long that we fans would ever seriously give them up as gone for good, as some of us doubtless did during the long dry spell between 1973 and 1976. While it would take DC over a year to follow up this tryout issue with full-fledged revivals of both New Gods and Mister Miracle, Darkseid and several other denizens of Apokolips would soon be featured as antagonists in the pages of a brand-new title from our old friend Gerry Conway, The Secret Society of Super-Villains, beginning in issue #2 (Jul.-Aug., 1976). Perhaps even more than 1IS #13 itself, the sight of characters such as Kalibak and the Black Racer mixing it up with Sinestro and Gorilla Grodd proved that not only was the Fourth World a legitimate part of the larger DC Universe, but that it was there to stay… for better and for worse.
As with every issue of 1st Issue Special that had come before it, this final edition of the title included, in lieu of a traditional letters column, a one-page text feature that ran under the heading “The Story Behind the Story”:
You may recall that I mentioned near the beginning of this post that Jack Kirby’s name was conspicuously absent from 1st Issue Special #13. Such an omission may be fairly easy to excuse (or at least to understand) in the context of the comic’s actual story — no one familiar with the business and legal practices of the American comic-book industry circa 1976 would expect the splash page to contain a “Created by Jack Kirby” credit — but to completely avoid mentioning the name of the sole originator of the Fourth World over the course of five type-set paragraphs explaining its backstory seems egregious. Perhaps there were legal reasons behind this decision, but, half a century later, the whole thing can’t help but come off as mean-spirited.
Along with (sort of) detailing the background of “Return of the New Gods”, the text page also formally announced the termination of 1st Issue Special as an ongoing title. While “first issues” would continue to appear from DC (as the plugs for the upcoming premieres of Starfire, the aforementioned Secret Society of Super-Villains, and a Mister Miracle revival that would, when it actually showed up more than a year later, feature a different creative team than who’s indicated here), the “every issue is a first issue” concept that DC publisher Carmine Infantino had put into service a year earlier had come to the end of its run.
Caricature of Carmine Infantino by Joe Orlando, circa early 1970s.
As, indeed, had Carmine Infantino, at least as far as his executive role at DC Comics was concerned. While his name would continue to be listed in the indicia of DC’s publications through the month of May, January was actually his last on staff. Ironically, the month had begun with one of his most notable, and public, successes — a fact he appears to allude to in his own account of events, as published in his autobiography, The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino (Vanguard, 2000):
In January 1976, I had just returned from a whirlwind promotional tour for the Superman/Spider-Man treasury edition. Marvel and I worked out a deal that made this first ever, landmark crossover book possible and, to my memory, the thing sold an amazing 500,000 copies! The promo included radio and TV interviews, and convention appearances. When I got back into the office, I was called to a meeting with some Warner Bros. brass. Honestly, it was not a surprise to me to find out both Marvel and DC showed financial losses in 1975… Faced with 1975’s final numbers, the Warner Bros. executives above me decided to withdraw their support. I was understandably quite upset…
The legacy Carmine Infantino left behind at DC Comics was a complicated one. His eight-year tenure at the top had seen considerable innovation (especially in the first few years); but his willingness to take a chance on new concepts and approaches seemed to be balanced almost perfectly with an aversion to giving such projects much more than a few months to prove themselves in the marketplace. The Fourth World books are a perfect case in point; yes, Infantino cancelled Jack Kirby’s magnum opus out from under him; but, on the other hand, Infantino was the one who’d given Kirby the opportunity to bring the New Gods to life to begin with.
Anyway, whatever one made of it, the Carmine Infantino era at DC Comics was now over; the age of Jenette Kahn was about to begin. That’s a story we’ll begin to tell a few months from now, and will continue to follow for years to come — through Explosions and Implosions and all the rest of it. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
I didn’t read this one until about 20 years later, when I purchased a complete set of First Issue Special. I remember being appalled by the contemptuous way Kirby and his greatest creation was treated here. His concepts reduced to formula, his characters changed to resemble standard super-heroes, and the art a sloppily derivative version of Kirby’s own.
Not Kirby, but I liked this series and still do (reread it a few years ago). It’s the only post-Kirby New Gods reboot I’ve liked except Walt Simonson’s excellent Orion (I’m counting Mr. Miracle revivals separately). Metron is out of character but I find him more interesting than most of the mad scientist-ish portrayals of later takes.
Ironically, whatever wrongs this creative team did to Jack (I agree, he should have been acknowledged — I presume it was not wanting to recommend someone now working for the other team) got avenged: when DC reprinted The Complete New Gods with Kirby’s new ending stories, the text page said they asked other creators if they should be included and the response was “Nah, just Jack.” Which I think led to this being crisised out and forgotten — none of the ideas, takes or characters showed up again as far as I know.
Nice piece.
About this, though:
“One can see where the DC brass would have felt it prudent, if only from a legal standpoint, to put out something to show that as far as they were concerned the Fourth World characters and concepts belonged to them, and them alone.”
I would think the copyright registrations and Kirby’s DC employment contract were more than sufficient.
Well, that was a disappointment. I don’t remember reading this fifty years ago, but I can easily imagine seeing it on the spinner rack or the shelf (were comic shops a thing yet, Alan? Was the Star Store open in Jackson yet? I can’t remember), taking one look at Vosburg’s poor imitation of Kirby’s artistic style, and putting the book back where I’d gotten it. I have always been into comics for the artwork and very few writers were dynamic enough to make me suffer through inadequate artwork to read a story. Gerry Conway was not one of those writers. I was not yet ready, I don’t think, to read a Fourth World book that wasn’t written and drawn by Kirby. Too soon, DC. Too soon.
Speaking of the story, this one was pointless. It began in a time of peace and after a brief kerfluffle that both sides were apparently unprepared to see escalate, it ended in the same time of peace, making the over-all story and whatever impact it might have had if it had actually kicked off another War of the Gods, inconsequential. I suppose this was partially due to the fact that the 1st Issue Special was, by design, a one-shot, and DC editorial didn’t want to start a major conflict that didn’t already have a book and creative team waiting in the wings to tell it, but it really robbed the story of any weight it might carry in the over-all history of the New Gods. Yes, Metron was written poorly and to resurrect Kaliban in an unexplained moment of hand-waving was equally poor story-telling.
In his defense, I will say that what I remember of Vosburg’s work in Starman, I liked. The work in this story, however, I did not. Why does everyone always think it’s so easy to ape Kirby’s style? There’s more to it than heavy line-work and intricate detail. Every panel Kirby drew exploded off the page, while Vosburg’s attempt at homage did just the opposite. By the way, why is Vosburg trying to re-create Kirby’s look anyway, if they’re not going to give him any credit by name anywhere in the book?
Ah well. The good new is that the New Gods were back. I just wish Kirby had returned as well. Thanks, Alan!
Could be trying to imitate Kirby appealed to Vosberg because he’s a Kirby fan. Whether or not this particular imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, working on Kirby characters might have been a kick.
It probably helped my acceptance of this series that I’d only come in on the Fourth World very late in the game so I didn’t have much affection for it.
The “Return of the New Gods” series did have Don Newton’s art going for it, if nothing else; he, at least, didn’t try to channel Kirby, which was probably for the better.
“Was the Star Store open in Jackson yet?”
I may be wrong, Don, but I’m thinking that we were still a couple of years out from getting our very own comics shop. However, this probably was about the time that I started hitting the downtown Jackson flea markets at least once a month to score early copies of new comics, as well as back issues, from the Memphis Comics and Records guys who eventually opened the Star Store.
I remember the DC house ads for this issue, but I didn’t buy it.
As for Kirby receiving a non-mention, Marvel did the same thing when Steve Ditko left the Amazing Spider-Man with no. 38. All of the letters printed in subsequent issues had the opening salutation “Desr Stan” when prior lettercols always had “Dear Stan and Steve.” Once the letters in response to no. 39 and onwards were printed they said “Dear Stan and John (Romita).” I’ll have to check the post-Kirby FF issues to see if the letters page did the same thing to Jack. Definitely passive-aggressive behavior, not to mention outright petty.
Without going back and re-reading all of the issues, from memory, the FF letters page in the early ‘70s did print some letters from readers lamenting that Jack was gone – and others insisting that the book was as good as ever without Jack. But Jack’s name wasn’t banned outright, as I recall.
I knew the New Gods came back at some point but wasn’t previously familiar with this mag at all. At first glance at the art, I thought maybe it was by Buckler before seeing it was Vosburg instead, coming off as a sort of watered down imitation of Buckler aping Kirby. Other than what I’ve seen in The Comics Journal and a few fanzines from the ’80s, don’t recall seeing much by Vosberg otherwise. During his runs on the FF and Thor, Buckler appears to have imitated Kirby’s style more than any other artist, AFAIK, but no one could ever draw as well in the Kirby style as Kirby himself in his prime. To my eye, Vosburg also seemed to take some inspiration from early Starlin and his makeover of Orion’s original moptop hairstyle to a wavier do, similar to that of Robert Redford in the early ’70s, is reminiscent of the makeover of the original hairstyles of Captain Mar-Vell and Him/Warlock by Gil Kane.
As to the plot/scripting, that also comes off as watered down Kirby. This all comes off as tentative steps to try to restart an engine but not quite making it really go. I’ve read glowing reviews of Englehart’s and Gerber’s later ’70s runs on Miracle Man, although I’ve never gotten those mags to read myself, but I’d presume those worked better as the Steves did their own takes on the character rather than trying to imitate Kirby, and same with excerpts I’ve seen of Marshall Rogers’ art, which was in his own unique style and hardly Kirbyesque. For better or worse, Kirby’s predominant style in the 1970s, as a writer and artist, was distinct, often bombastic and in your face and fast paced. Although some parts of this may come close to approaching the King’s manner, this mostly strikes me as very tepid material.
It took me a moment to get what you intended: Mr. Miracle.
Miracleman was the US reprint version of Marvelman who appeared in Warrior magazine in the early ’80s in the UK, scripted by Alan Moore and drawn by Alan Davis.
Oops! Got the Miracle people mixed up! At least I didn’t get scrambled on the “Marvel” characters.
Did Roy Thomas really wait 45 years or so to claim that he ‘inspired’ Carmine Infantino to revive the Fourth World but without Kirby? He’s never previously appeared shy about claiming credit at any opportunity, and it would have been nice if Carmine had still been alive to confirm this recollection. Just sayin’.
Or maybe if I’d been in any way responsible for causing this dismal, tepid re-imagining of the King’s masterwork to come into being, I’d have been tempted not to advertise the fact.
Nothing in this issue feels right. The plot is a dull re-tread of previous scenes, all of which were done better first time round. The writing is barely adequate, characterizations are off, continuity is forgotten or ignored and the art and costume re-designs lack anything resembling Kirby’s power. Never felt that any revival of the Fourth World has ever really worked except possibly the Englehart/Rogers / Gerber/Golden Mister Miracle, which might have gone somewhere (although probably not where Kirby would have wanted).
Feel like I’m just repeating what everyone else has already said, but this mess just goes to prove how much Kirby was needed, and missed.
I always thought of Mike Vosburg in ’70s comics as a fan (barely) turned pro. However, he had a very good career in subsequent decades in television and atoryboarding:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Vosburg
I read later that Jennette Kahn had been really interested in reintroducing Kirby’s Fourth World from the time she became Publisher (that finally lead to The Hunger Dogs in the mid-1980s (that she, Giordano and Kirby were all less than happy with).
the whole thing has been part and parcel or the DCU since SSoSV and certainly the Englehart/Rogers and Gerber/Golden/Heath Mister Miracles and the Conway?/Newton/Adkins New Gods.
Artists are still trying to live up to what Kirby was trying to do, but it is now part of everything DC is.
Nice cover by Giordano, almost aggressively “not-Kirby.”
I bought this3 or 4 years later at a con. Not bad, but also a sign that something special was not lost, too.
I never read any of Kirby’s DC work besides Demon, Kamandi, and Omac so this was my first look at the New Gods. I’d fallen in love with Vosburg’s art with Starman (who despite having one issue under his belt will probably always be y second favorite Starman) and enjoyed it hear. What others call badly aping Kirby I still see as needing to put more visual oomph into this story than others. I loved Newton’s work too and wish Jezebelle had maintained a high profile after the revival died too soon like about half of DC’s output in those years.
I’m way late to the game today, but offer a shameful admission. I knew nothing of this comic or the New Gods. My first experience came with Darkseid under Walt Simonson’s stunning pencils in the X-Men/Teen Titans special in summer of 1982. All that said, having read through Alan’s well-paced review, I fall in the camp of not-good, but not-awful. I also get why DC made certain to embed these characters into the strata of their universe. Indeed, I consider this issue akin to Captain Marvel #23 where Marvel sought to remain a copyright over a character. Thanks for a fine excuse to sip an exquisite Oregon Pinot Noir!
https://media.mycomicshop.com/n_iv/600/870379.jpg
I am far from a Jack Kirby fan, and I first learned of the New Gods from the Gerry Conway / Don Newton issues. Maybe that led to diminished expectations, I don’t know.
The end result is that I feel plenty aware of the New Gods, but I find their real-world history more interesting than the stories proper. I have no particular reverence for Kirby’s original stories, and as a matter of fact I can explain in detail why I attribute the Fourth World’s decades long popularity to a fairly long list of people that happens not to include Jack Kirby.
For good or worse, Gerry Conway and Jenette Kahn did a whole lot to keep readers aware of Darkseid and company from 1976 up to the mid-1980s, at a time when Kirby was in no position to make the attempt. Once Darkseid became the main villain of the last two seasons of “Super Friends” (1984-1985) and was featured in the companion toy lines there was no going back.
The whole deal was kind of rough on Gerry Conway IMO. He made extensive use of Kirby’s creations from early 1976 up to late 1978, then in a three-parter in “Justice League of America” – only for the reprint volume of the Kirby stories to debut in mid-1984 with a cover that rudely announces that this is “(how) they really are”, without even an attempt at explaining why the Conway stories were thrown out of continuity. Dan Jurgens can only hope DC some day decides that his creation, Booster Gold, deserves that much reverence.
Gerry Conway and Don Newton’s run was far, very far from perfect. But it seems to me to be a genuine, sincere effort at making good use of the Fourth World characters and keep the ball rolling. Kirby’s run was far from perfect as well, and I don’t think we can fairly blame it all on editorial interference.
As for this issue, it was a functional but unoriginal reintroduction of the characters, which I have to assume was the main goal. I wish Mike Vosburg had dared to keep truer to his own style, though.
I had to check the dates. For some reason this series, even this very issue, puts me on the mind of what is to come in 1978. The Jenette Kahn years are interesting, in no small measure because she was much more visible and communicative than her predecessor Carmine Infantino. She strikes me as far more daring as well.
Was Jenette Kahn more daring than Carmine Infantino? He gave the Batman books their “new look” in 1964, allowed Neal Adams to take over the Deadman series in Strange Adventures in 1967, approved experimental (if short-lived) series at DC in the ’60s like Bat Lash, Anthro, and Brother Power the Geek. He gave editor Joe Orlando the go-ahead to revamp House of Mystery and House of Secrets, giving artists like Berni Wrightson a professional start in 1968. Carmine also greenlit the O’Neil-Adams-Giordano reinvention of Batman as the dark knight detective, and the award winning, socially conscious series Green Lantern/Green Arrow.
Once Carmine became DC’s publisher in 1971 he let Jack Kirby have carte blanche (for a few years, at least) with what became known as the Fourth World series of books. In 1972 he approved Swamp Thing as a continuing series with Wein and Wrightson, the Shadow in 1973 with Mike Kaluta (at first), the short-lived Sword of Sorcery which helped put Howard Chaykin on the map, and Joe Simon’s eccentric Prez series.
In 1971 Carmine made the gutsy move of raising DC’s cover price from 15 cents to 25 cents, with additional pages, though rhat lasted only six months. He did give us the oversized Limited Collectors Edition series before the rival Marvel Treasury Editions came out a year or two later, and even negotiated the crossover titles with Marvel.
In 1974 Jenette Kahn, aged 26, had a smash success with Dynamite, a kids magazine (my little brother devoured it) which had some super-hero origin stories reprinted in it. Two years later, on the strength of this, she was made publisher of DC Comics. Yes, she was only 28. The only “daring” move I can attribute to her was in canceling all but 18 or so DC titles during that infamous implosion in 1978.
In the ’80s and ’90s Jenette approved a few short lived lines like a sci-fi series of graphic novels, and DC’s Piranha Press and Paradox Press imprints. Vertigo lasted much longer before it was assimilated back into the mainstream DC line, but that was after she had handed the reins over to Paul Levitz whom I always found to be very pragmatic and clear-headed in his decisions for the company.
Mostly a fair argument for Infantino, though I’m not sure how much things like Bat Lash were “Let’s experiment” as opposed to “throw things at the wall.” (either way, I’m glad they tried)
However 1)Infantino was just an artist when the New Look kicked in. He worked on it; he did not greenlight it.
2)The mass cancellation known as the DC Implosion came from DC’s corporate overlords, not from Kahn. Twomorrow’s book on the collapse points out Marvel canceled about as many titles in this era but not having announced an Explosion did not get as much attention.
Carmine Infantino became the art director at DC Comics in 1967. Following this, he was named editorial director in 1968 and became the publisher of DC Comics in 1971.
Showcase was a great comic for trying out new material, like Angel & the Ape in 1968, e.g.
Infantino came at the task of being editorial director from a creative background, mostly as a visual artist. He put more artist into Editorial Positions (Kubert; Sekowski; Orlando; and Giordano).
Beginning as Art Director, he worked an things like cover layouts and improving the visual look of the book by bringing in newer people like Adams., Wrightson. Kaluta and Chaykin and distinguished old pros like Heath, Pike, Wood, Toth and others
He brought Kirby back to DC after Kirby made Marvel “the House that Jack built,”
However, not having Jennette Kahn’s publishing and business background, he lacked confidence and did not let good ideas “jell” enough,.
Kahn saw that Giordano had real editorial insight and brought him back to the editorial side after Infantino fired him with some acrimony in late 1970.
Each had their merits and each had their impact.
The era of Bat Lash, Brother Power, the Creeper, Hawk and Dove, Inferior Five, Angel and the Ape, Neal Adams’s Deadman and Spectre, etc. is maybe the most fascinating era of DC to me.
Same here. Not forgetting, of course, the delightful Anthro!
I’m also not sure Sword of Sorcery counts as terribly adventurous — Marvel had proved there was gold in them fantasy hills already. Plus, it was terrible. I reread the first issue and I can see why I didn’t like it (though as a Fritz leiber fan I bought all the issues)
I loved SoS no. 1 as a child, and it was my introduction to Leiber whose work I later read in anthologies. Though I haven’t read it in years, my recollection of Denny O’Neil’s adaptation is that it was a good one. Having a Kaluta cover and interior pencils by Chaykin and inks by the Crusty Bunkers (which, at that time, included Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, and Berni Wrightson, amongst others) made it very atmospheric.
SoS and Atlas’ Wulf the Barbarian (the first two issues) were two non-Marvel attempts at Conan-type material that held up well, in my estimation.
Now I have to go back and re-read Barry Smith’s “Starr the Slayer” story in Marvel’s Chamber of Darkness anthology which was basically his test drive for drawing Conan.
I think writing the adventures as random incidents without any sense of continuity didn’t work for a fantasy series the way it does for something set in our contemporary world (where we know what life is like between adventures for Barry or Bruce). Also O’Neil’s writing was insanely talky — Fafhrd and the Mouser couldn’t seem to do anything without chatting about how amazing they were.
But that’s what makes horse-races
IMHO Infantino was pushed out by Warner Bros because they needed a more media friendly/ acceptable face with the Superman film in production and due to come out. Stan Lee was a good editor, but great in front of a camera/audience. That’s why he became the public face of Marvel.
*SIGH!* Definitely a missed opportunity. I picked this up as a back issue in, I believe, the mid-1990s. By that point in time the New Gods were very firmly ensconced in the DC Universe, so I was used the other hands than Jack Kirby’s handling the characters. Even allowing for that, this issue fell really flat for me. Other writers would later utilize Kirby’s brilliant Fourth World characters & concepts with varying degrees of success… Jim Starlin, John Byrne, Walter Simonson, John Ostrander, Keith Giffen. But this first effort to carry on Kirby’s work by Gerry Conway & Denny O’Neil was extremely lackluster.
And, as you say, Alan, the omission of Kirby’s name from this issue is particularly egregious.
I do feel that down the road Kirby was later better treated by Jenette Kahn & Paul Levitz. The Hunger Dogs was certainly not the ending that Kirby would have envisioned doing back in the early 1970s, but it was at least *an* ending by Kirby himself, and my appreciation of it, flaws & all, has grown over the years. No idea if you’ll be looking at The Hunger Dogs if you’re still blogging a decade from now, but I’m glad that Kirby was able to do that story and bring a certain amount of closure to the amazing work he had created more than a decade earlier.
“…if you’re still blogging a decade from now…”
Well, let’s see… if I am, then in addition to The Hunger Dogs I’ll have the opportunity to write about…um, Watchmen, Dark Knight, Maus, Man of Steel, Daredevil: Born Again… and that’s just for starters!
Talk about an incentive to keep on going!
I recently read the original Hunger Dogs story by Kirby & Royer in one of the DC New Gods compendiums and found it outstanding. Mind you I had to get a magnifying glass to do it! Different to how Kirby would have done it in the 70s ( as Mark Evanier noted in his afterword Kirby was a different person and had moved on) but it was a still memorable, and a tale which, IMHO, gave us a take on life and the human condition….ie more than the average comic book story. I realise I may be swimming against the stream of considered comicdom opinion here! However whatever the esteemed Mr Evanier writes, King Kirby had not moved on so much that he had forgotten about his 70s magnus opus and had provided a ‘side’ conclusion to his New Gods just prior to his Hunger Gods work in his final issues of his Captain Victory comic.
Oh, I’m sure it’s not what Kirby would have done in the Bronze Age, or whenever he’d hoped New Gods would wrap up. But I like it too. Orion’s “Dead Dad. Rather than die fighting, I’m going off with my new love and leaving you to rot on a dead planet. Love, your son” was great (or am i confusing my issues).
Kirby was originally commissioned to wrap up his New Gods saga ( but leave all major figures unscathed due to the toy tie-in) all in a 23 page story, known as the Road To Armagetto. DC thought this would be a big all-out battle between Orion and Darkseid. It is beyond me how it was conceivable to wrap up the whole saga in 23 pages and Kirby, being Kirby, produced something completely different, not that big confrontation. This appeared to have caused a bit of its own confrontation between Kirby and DC, and Orlando was brought in to smooth things out. Kirby was then offered more pages, and the Road to Armagetto was changed and expanded on into the final story in the New Gods reprint series, and into the Hunger Dogs graphic novel. Royer for some reason was not called in to complete the updated project, and it was handed instead to D Bruce Berry. Greg Theakston then went and re-inked quite a few faces and pages. I liked Hunger Dogs, but the ‘original’ Hunger Dogs I wrote above above was the unaltered Road to Armagetto, as printed ( in very small size) in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus vol #4. It shows youth and technology being corrupted by the forces of tyranny. Kirby it would appear was unhappy with the original Road to Armagetto, but it worked for me, and was a darker but logical step forward to the original New Gods, which represented an idyllic rebellion of youth, and how time and life had changed idyllic aspirations. In many ways it presaged the next 3 films of the Star Wars saga, with the corruption of Anakin Skywalker.
Thanks. I may try to look at the original some time, though I suspect I’ll prefer Hunger Dogs.
Yes, you are correct, that was how The Hunger Dogs ended. And as much as I initially thought that it was disappointing that we didn’t get an epic battle to the death between Orion and Darkseid, I came to realize that Kirby’s ending for the graphic novel was really great, because Orion finally moves beyond his hatred of his father, and makes the decision to live his own life, to be happy. And we see Darkseid not as this grand cosmic horror, but rather as a sad, lonely, pathetic figure, which in the end is probably the most authentic portrayal of evil in superhero comic books.
Yep, that’s exactly the reasons I like it.
Yes, I liked New Dogs and Hunger Gods, too. 😉
And Alan and Ben, I certainly hope this blog continues to the 80s and beyond…I stopped buying comics in early ’93 and want to hear everyone’s take on the comics that I missed after that!!!
Not sure if I ever picked any of these at the time but I hope I had the sense to put it straight back down. Awful. Art is like those one page adverts for a candy bar or similar that featured token characters knocked off as quickly as possible to sell to the kids .
This may be the greatest travesty of the work-made-for-hire era of comics. I know that Marvel carried on the Fantastic Four and Thor without Jack, that was just the nature of the business at the time, but at least they got John Romita and John Buscema to take over for Kirby. Here we just get a formulaic parody of what was arguably Kirby’s greatest creation – even the worst issue of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen featuring Don Rickles, or the worst issue of Kirby’s Mr. Miracle after DC pulled the plug on the rest of the Fourth World, is better than this nonsense.
Just to finish off on Kirby…from what I understand DC was talking to Kirby on and off about giving Kirby room to end the New Gods, and Kirby even produced a cover for a New Gods tabloid. This was all about trying to keep Kirby sweet, and the talks appear to have become more serious as Kirby’s contract neared its end. I see the 1st issue Special as a classic spoiler ( which DC and Marvel were doing all the time…eg Tarzan/ Ka-Zar) and a way to ensure that Marvel could not use ‘Return of the Gods’ as a title.
I am a bit shocked by Thomas’ revelations, that DC came to the view that New Gods was held back in its success by Kirby. Of course the powers in DC at the time never accepted Kirby in spirit ( because Kirby was Marvel, after all), but from what I have read Kirby never intended on writing/ drawing all the 4th World titles ( he wanted to use some of his Marvel colleagues eg Ditko, Romita), and it was at DC’s insistence that he had to do them all.
Just a reminder: Kirby was at DC (then called National), working on Sandman with Joe Simon in the ’40s and creating Challengers of the Unknown in the late ’50s. Kirby also did a fair number of short stories for House of Mystery at that time, too. His first go at Thor was for DC. The hammer was the exact same when he drew it later at Marvel.
Kirby did some nice work for DC over the years.
He did a fair number of covers and even Boy Commandoes stories into the late1940s and a fair amount for Jack Schiff in the mid to late 1959s that appeared into 1960 or so.
Kirby’s DC Challengers comic was the first big hit of the silver age…and was the template for several hero adventure books thereafter…eg Sea Devils, The Time Masters, Cave Carson and his team…..and of course,,,,the FF.
Kirby was the king of comics.
What else can one say?
He was “on” right out of the gate, and never missed a beat in a six-decade spanning career. Yes, he showed some decline when he returned to Marvel in the mid -70s, but he never stopped producing.
Imaginative and indefatigable.
There are so many other creators whom I admire for their varied strengths, but Kirby simply *was* comics. He lived and breathed the medium. I feel genuinely sorry for the completist who tries to collect everything Kirby did in comics. Too daunting a task for me!
It’s a challenge, sure enough. I have everything Kirby did from 1960 onwards in original form or reprint, and about 80% of everything pre-1960, but I’ve been at it for over fifty years now. Will I complete the set before I fall off the perch? Who knows? It’s fun, though.
Chris, if you are a Kirby collector it may interest you to know that 30th Century Comics has available on its website Blue Bolt’s #2 #3 and #7. But however much I like the Green Goddess I am sticking with the reprints on these!
Otherwise do you have Kirby’s Gilberton work? I have the Pompeii one, but have never come across the Civil War one.
Hi Spirit,
Thank you for the heads-up. I, too, will have to stick with reprints of the Golden Age Kirby material.
I do have all of Kirby’s Gilberton work, including the World Illustrated Story of the Sea that was only published in the UK and never reprinted anywhere else, as far as I know.
The War Between the States special edition is hard to find. I got mine from the UK’s CCS Books, who specialise in Classics Illustrated from all publishers. Also, Jack Lake Productions of Canada reprinted this issue in the early 2000s and that one is a lot easier to find. It even has some nice background info.
Thanks Chris. I will definitely look for these!
Is 30th Century Comics still open in Putney? Haven’t been there in years. Or are you referring to the one up in Scotland?
The Putney one….but now only online.
I never read this one, thank you! Had I realized back then that “First Issue Special” was the series and not the first issue of a new comic I might have gotten all of them. Alas, I spent time looking for the second issue of “Dr. Fate.” Thanks for the shout-outs about “Secret Society Of Super Villains,” I loved that comic!!
I was happy to see this come out, someone was finally using the New Gods. Nothing really happened in this issue, it was pretty much re-introducing, or introducing for new readers the basic set up and major players (except for Lightray).
As for the writing, Metron’s characterization is off and Kalibak uses the term New God as though it is specific to New Genesis, surly he doesn’t think Orion is fiercer than him.
As for the art, not inspiring, but not terrible either, but Orion’s costume bothered me. The yellow just did not look good on Orion, it would have been better if it had been black with yellow highlights like his mask, though why he would wear a mask is beyond me, its not like he has a secret identity to protect. Something like Lightrays’s headpiece would have been better. The “O” on the chest looks bad, it’s not like he would use an Earth alphabet. I would have liked if the O and the belt were metallic and said that it was part of the Astro-force harness. Did Vosburg design the costume?
On page 15, it seems like Vosburg forgot that Kalibak had a shirt on and the colorist corrected it.
And then there is Highfather. Before he just had white hair, but here he looks old and not at all powerful.
Any idea why Kalibak skin turned very pink?