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With “The Forever People,” “The New Gods,” and “Mister Miracle,” Kirby effectively created an entirely new cosmic legacy for the DC Universe, with all-time great characters like Darkseid, Orion, and Metron.Ĭomic Book Herald is reader-supported. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga Reading OrderĪfter leaving Marvel Comics toward the start of 1970, Jack “King” Kirby made his way to rival DC Comics to take over one ongoing title (“Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen”) and launch three new series and a brand-new mythos. In addition, I’ve added a Darkseid reading order, and a New Gods comic book timeline, so you can see how Kirby’s creations have appeared across DC Comics since their inception in the early 70’s. Everything from the anti-life propoganda of Glorious Godfrey to the all-consuming fascism of Darkseid has extraordinarily clear modern parallels.īelow you’ll find a complete chronological reading order to Jack Kirby’s 4th world saga. In between bouts of pure unadulurated fun (including a mind-blowingly bizarre extended Don Rickles cameo), Kirby effortlessly crystallizes the values of freedom and compassion in the midst of anger, fear, and hatred. More importantly, Kirby’s innovative crossover epic is just absolute comic book joy. Hot off the heels of creating or co-creating the vast majority of the Marvel Universe as we know it today, Kirby turned around and created the entire New Gods mythology, including the modern all-time evil DC villain, Darkseid. Jack Kirby’s creative brilliance across his Fourth World saga for DC Comics (finally) convinced me I’d been 100% wrong. Sure, the man’s clearly an artistic genius, but without Stan’s dialogue on Fantastic Four, would all that brilliance be reduced to the snooze-fest like the late 70’s Eternals? There’s something about Kirby’s bombast, and a million ideas per square inch that can be surprisingly challenging. More and more, I’m learning I’m not alone in this. I’ll be the first to admit, I just didn’t get Jack Kirby for a good long while after becoming a comic book fan.

Kirby new gods