The first thing I've learned by cracking open and actually reading the Omnibus reprint editions, is that I've got the Kirby Fourth World comics arranged incorrectly in my boxes. I used the publication dates on the front cover, and apparently that's not reliable. It works with the core three titles, but Jimmy Olsen runs behind by at least a month (the book was published eight times a year I think and that's likely the reason).The goal was for a new Kirby book to hit the stands every three weeks.
Jimmy Olsen #135 introduces the Evil Factory run by Simyan and Mokkari, two of Kirby's funniest creations. They are an evil counterpart to The Project which Jimmy and Superman discover, along with the orignal Newsboy Legion who work there. Kirby's interest in genetics surfaces in his work over and over and is a key element of many of the Olsen tales. The Project is filled with "Olsens", and Jimmy seems okay with that. The Evil Factory responding to direct orders from Darkseid sends a Kryptonite-infused giant Jimmy to attack the Project and that knocks everyone for a loop. It's up to the Newsboy Legion and another freshly-made clone, The Golden Guardian to save the day.
Forever People #1 is an offbeat beginning. We get another kid gang, this one made up of Supertowners called Big Bear, Mark Moonrider, Vykin the Black, and Serfian who are riding their Super-Cycle through the Boom Tube to find Beautiful Dreamer who is held captive by Darkseid and his Inter-Gang minions. Clearly this story must take place before the events of the first Kirby Jimmy Olsen, because a photo of the Forever People gets to Jimmy who gets it to Clark who investigates as Superman. Superman seems fascinated by these super-teens and he's positively intent on seeing Supertown, a place it seems where he might find kindred souls. Kirby seems to be saying that Superman is lonely for his own kind. (Note: Is Superman getting high in this episode? It seems that way.) The FP invoke Infinity Man (with the magic word "Taaru" not "Shazam" but it seems the same) and Darkseid surrenders Dreamer and makes his exit. The five teens hop aboard the Super-Cycle and take off to continue the battle.
New Gods #1 is the beginning of the core story. We get some desperately needed backstory, learning for the first time of New Genesis (the "Supertown" of FP #1)and the fall of the Old Gods and the rise of the New Gods. We meet the brooding Orion, the ebulliant Lightray, the taciturn Metron, the calm and collected Highfather, and many more. The threat of Darkseid is defined as Orion goes to Apokalips to save four humans who are being held and probed for the Anti-Life Equation. Orion battles Kalibak, Para-Demons, rescues the humans and jumps to Earth with the four humans to face the threat of Darkseid. (This is the first of the Fourth World books I got hold of as a kid and it rocked my world for all time!)
Mister Miracle #1 introduces us to Thaddeus Brown, the first Mister Miracle, his assistant the dwarf Oberon, and Scott Free, the enigmatic young stranger who chances across a field test for one of Brown's dramatic escapes. An aging Brown is locked in a wager with Steel Hand, an Inter-Gang boss who is most willing to kill to win. Scott saves the old man a few times, but ultimately takes his place when Brown is murdered. Using items from his bag of tricks, Scott takes on the mantle of Mister Miracle but adds to it new and unusual technology. At this point in the story we don't know that this is the stuff of New Genesis and Apokalips, but it's clearly hinted at. This is the one book in which there is no evidence of Darkseid, or at least direct evidence.
With the debut of these books, the Fourth World is good and properly launched. The sense that we are getting a story which is set against a much deeper and broader tapestry is clear, especially in New Gods. What we have here is something novel for its time, an "epic", a sprawling tale that finds its threads cast far afield. It's not obvious at all to a casual reader at this point that these threads are all related. There's nothing to say that Scott Free is connected to Orion, and there's nothing to suggest that Darkseid is anything other than a tyrant seeking power.To push my analysis too far really, let me suggest that at their core each book is about a parituclar human characteristic. Jimmy Olsen is about curiosity, and how that quest for knowledge can have all sorts of good and bad consequences. The Forever People are about generosity, showing what man can do if he surrenders his own selfish goals for the good of the greater community. New Gods is about anger, and how the quest for self-understanding can allow us to conquer our demons. Mister Miracle is about the desire to escape the life we know, and to find meaning beyond the mundane. Obviously they are all about more than this, but each seems specific, but still part of a larger tapestry.
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