Jack Kirby was a big part of the early issues of 1st Issue Special as we've seen with three features in the first six issues of the run. Then his contract to DC fulfilled he left to return to Marvel, now minus Stan Lee who tended to his reputation and Marvel's doings in Hollywood and thereabouts. By this time Kirby was producing his wild Captain America stories for Marvel as the title rocketed to its two hundredth issue as well as some nifty covers for a bunch of different titles. DC decided that the New Gods characters who had seemingly demonstrated a lack of marketplace power only a few years before were ready to make another try, this time minus their absent creator.
In this thirteenth and final 1st Issue Special we meet again the denizens of New Genesis such as Highfather, Scott Free (in costume on cover only), Big Barda and Lightray (cover only) and Metron. On the Darkseid of things there is of course the cruel dictator of Apokolips himself as well as Kalibak and Doctor Bedlam. In this issue Orion in new fighting togs (no helmet darn it which has always proven difficult for many artists to draw) taking the fight to Apokolips yet again but who finds that he cannot fulfill his long ballyhooed destiny to kill his father when Darkseid has taken steps to connect his beating heart to the Sun itself, making his sudden demise rough on humans all over. So it ends in a stalemate, but with the door open for more.
And more is what we get as within months we have a new Mister Miracle comic and a new New Gods title both picking up the numbering of the abruptly halted original runs. The Fourth World will slowly but surely become an ever increasing part of the DCU with Darkseid in particular seen by the likes of Gerry Conway (who plotted this last 1st Issue Special as well as edited it in a deal with seemingly more latitude than even Kirby had). Denny O'Neil scripted it and an up and coming Mike Vosburg (hot off the previous issue's Starman) took the artistic helm.
And so it ends, a brief little series that packed some real punch with a gaggle of strong features some of which found a lasting time on the racks and others that withered away. One thing they almost all had in common was a grand sense of fun, something today's dour comics lack by the bushel loads.
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1st Issue Special 13 appeared three months before the debut of Jack Kirby's new series The Eternals, which was initially advertised as Return Of The Gods. Did DC know this and rush out a New Gods revival, or was all this a coincidence?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they were motivated by the original title of the series. From what Gerry Conway says he just wanted to bring them back and he had almost complete control of his "corner" for a time when he first showed up at DC. Though apparently the title was changed to keep us fans from expecting to see the New Genesis gang again, but that was Marvel's decision. "Return of the Gods" is a better title given the Van Daniken connection.
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