With this post I'm beginning a series of reviews of Jack "King" Kirby's masterpiece for DC, The Fourth World tetralogy. I'm planning to review it slowly, essentially a month of material at a time to savor the work, but also to approximate the way it was published and presented. With this post I already violated that plan somewhat by reading the first two installments of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, but they naturally read together.
The story jumpstarts pretty quickly. In very short order we find out that Morgan Edge, the new and mysterious owner of the venerable Daily Planet has sent Jimmy to find the new Newsboy Legion, and use the Whiz Wagon to penetrate the Wild Area and find The Mountain of Judgment. The Newsboys are the sons of the Golden Age Simon & Kirby creations of course with the addition of the extemely goofy Flippa Dippa, a black youngster with a penchant for scuba-diving. Clark Kent is concerned, expresses such to Morgan Edge, and we quickly find that Edge is a villain as he orders the murder of Kent. That doesn't go as expected and soon a redrawn Superman is soaring to Jimmy's rescue. The Jimmy he finds is a bit different though, more angry and seemingly resentful of Superman's interference in his job. The gang it seems have discovered The Outsiders, a high-tech dropout motorcycle gang ruled by a guy named Iron Face and his comragde Vudu. Jimmy takes him out with a single punch and finds himself leader of the pack. There is the introduction of the Habitat, a tree-city in which the Outsiders are squatting, and then before we can drink that in, the search for the Mountain of Judgment begings in earnest with the whole Outsider clan racing to find the mysterious object. Some fall by the wayside, but Jimmy and his compatriots find there way through hazards both physical and psychological to locate the "Moby Dick" they seek, the most outlandish RV of all time. It's run by the Hairies, a band of brilliant techies who it seems at this point are the ones who've built much of the Wild Area. The story ends with the first appearance anywhere of Darkseid who recieves a report from his agent Edge.
It's an effective and portentious beginning to the epic tale to come. It's amazing how much Kirby gets done in these first two issues. He effectively gives us a glimpse of the greater threat, but still imbues every character with a rich personality. Superman is something of an all-knowing stiff here, a powerful figure who does seem to rub Jimmy the wrong way. Jimmy here is a professional, but also a young man seeking both responsibility and acclaim for his actions.
The Outsiders are a fun bunch, blending strangely the cliches of 50's bikers and 60's hippies in one grand counter culture. Clearly Kirby is a man who has respect for the individual, but also a man who sees duty as paramount in a person's life. Jimmy is a protagonist who is faced with picking between these as he pursues his story. By the end, he learns that Edge is perhaps more danagerous than he expected, and that his pal Superman might know more than he's let on.
In any regard it puts Jimmy at once a reporter seeking the truth and a leader of the Newsboys and briefly the Outsiders, needing to know more than has been revealed.
Good stuff indeed. More to come.
Rip Off
No comments:
Post a Comment