Rating: 
Summary: Outta this 4th World!
Review: If you are looking for a truly masterful piece of comic book creativity that has long since left the genre then look no further! NEW GODS is surely Jack "King" Kirby's masterpiece and rightly so. It's a tale of a warrior torn between worlds and an evil tyrant bent on controlling the will of the entire universe! Through in a savage named Kalibak, the sadistic Desaad along with the cruel Steppenwulf you have a comic that is head and shoulders above any comic past, present and future. BUY IT! The READ IT! Then in a few weeks/months READ IT AGAIN and see what else you pick up from it. A masterpiece of masterpieces. Awesome. Make sure to get Mr. Miracle & The Forever People trade paperbacks too. (Maybe they will reprint the Jimmy Olsen issues one day!)
Rating: 
Summary: Jack Kirby UNLEASHED!
Review: In the mid-60's, comics veteran Jack Kirby was at the absolute height of his creative powers, knocking out more new characters and wild concepts in a few years than most creators are capable of in their entire careers. But he was also frustrated, as his collaborator (& editor & boss) Stan Lee was not only failing to give him writing credit (and the pay that would go with it) but more and more had been "taking away" Jack's ideas and steering them in directions far different than what Jack intended (see SILVER SURFER for the boldest example). As a result, Jack "held back" most new ideas after 1967... until he had the chance to switch companies, be in charge of his work and "do it his way".It didn't QUITE work out that way. Poor inks dragged down the first year's worth or art, and a better scripter who could have maintained Kirby's intent while polishing the result (perhaps Roy Thomas) would have been a help. But Kirby's 4 connected titles, of which NEW GODS was the centerpiece, remain a ground-breaking epic of unmatched inventiveness & wild fun. Not unlike George Harrison after The Beatles' breakup, Kirby let loose with everything he had-- possibly too much at once! Dozens of characters and concepts that are STILL being used (and perhaps overused or abused) by DC Comics to this day, all appeared in around a 2-year period. Orion, Darkseid, Highfather, Lightray, Desaad, Kalibak, Metron, New Genesis, Apokalips, Mother Box, The Boom Tube, The Anti-Life Equation, "The Pact"... Anyone who'd prefer COLOR but can't find or afford the original issues (now 30 years old!) should seek out the 1984 reprint series-- especially since that contained a new 12th episode not found here. And for those looking for fun of a more tangible kind, DC Direct has just released a "Deluxe Action Figure Set" of Orion & Darkseid! (Not to be missed!)
Rating:
Summary: Take That Ted Turner!
Review: In what was surely a misguided attempt to mock their boss's penchant for colorizing classic movies, the gentle subversives at DC comics did the reverse with Jack Kirby's classic 4th World books. Politically it was a bold statement, but it doesn't serve Kirby's work well. I respect 'em for taking such a bold stance and whatnot. I just wish they had done it to Englehart's run on Batman or something boring like that.
Rating:
Summary: GroundbreaKING
Review: Jack's legendary New Gods is must reading for any comics fan. Intense storylines and highly entertaining characters. Too bad DC cancelled the series before he could finish it. At the time, it was the best in comics.
Rating:
Summary: Why This Is In Black & White
Review: picardfan007 complains that this book is in black & white; I thought I'd explain what I know about this, which I learned reading an interview with John Totleben which I can't find right now. Before the mid-1980s or so, comics were colored for a certain kind of printing press. After comics switched to new printing processes, the old presses were mostly destroyed. The only color for older comics like Jack Kirby's exists in the form of plates for these old presses; since they don't exist any more, the original color art cannot be reproduced. And you probably wouldn't want them to be printed that way anyway, because, let's face it, old comics were printed pretty poorly. The only solution is to re-color the entire comic, which Marvel has done with some of its Masterworks series. It's probably expensive and difficult to get someone to re-create the color schemes for these old comics, so it's only done with high-profile titles (the Incredible Hulk comes to mind). Titles like Kirby's New Gods and Moore, Bissette, and Totleben's Swamp Thing get released in black & white. I personally think they're better for it.
Rating:
Summary: Why This Is In Black & White
Review: picardfan007 complains that this book is in black & white; I thought I'd explain what I know about this, which I learned reading an interview with John Totleben which I can't find right now. Before the mid-1980s or so, comics were colored for a certain kind of printing press. After comics switched to new printing processes, the old presses were mostly destroyed. The only color for older comics like Jack Kirby's exists in the form of plates for these old presses; since they don't exist any more, the original color art cannot be reproduced. And you probably wouldn't want them to be printed that way anyway, because, let's face it, old comics were printed pretty poorly. The only solution is to re-color the entire comic, which Marvel has done with some of its Masterworks series. It's probably expensive and difficult to get someone to re-create the color schemes for these old comics, so it's only done with high-profile titles (the Incredible Hulk comes to mind). Titles like Kirby's New Gods and Moore, Bissette, and Totleben's Swamp Thing get released in black & white. I personally think they're better for it.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the sources of Star Wars
Review: Star wars had many sources, this was one of them. That Kirby was a source of Star Wars is fairly well known. I do not know whether Lucus admited this, but he seemed to go out of his way to leave all sorts of clues. It is fun to look through this work to pick out the things that show up in Star Wars.
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Summary: Inspiration for Star Wars?
Review: The conflict between the New Gods cannot be resolved until Orion, the hero, confronts Darkseid, the black-helmeted super-villian who is secretly Orion's father. Orion doesn't discover his heritage until late in the saga. And, the underlying power in the universe is "the Source". Sound familiar? George Lucas had previously admitted that Akira Kurosawa's film, "Hidden Fortress" was the inspiration for the Star Wars plot about rescuing a princess fleeing from an enemy army, and for the Princess Leia, C3P0 and R2D2 characters. Could the New Gods be Lucas' inspiration for the broader plot elements of the Star Wars saga: Darth Vader, the Skywalker family conflict, the war against the empire, and "the Force"? Could George Lucas have read the New Gods comics published six years before the release of the movie Star Wars in 1977? If Lucas had, could he admit it? Star Wars is owned by 20th Century Fox. DC comics is owned by Time Warner. If Lucas admitted this as a source of inspiration, would Time Warner cry foul? I first read these comics when in elementary school. Now I am closer to 40 and have a Masters Degree. Curiosity compelled me to revisit this epic to see if it was as good as it was when I was a kid and to see if it holds up against the greater literature I've read as an adult. It is, and it does. My only reservation is that the book is in black and white and not in color.
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Summary: AN EXCELLENT AND VERY IMPORTANT WORK
Review: The first time I read this book, I found it a bit boring. I'm not saying it was unreadable, but the style of writing is old-fashioned and Kirby uses many cliches and conventions that seem out of place today. But somehow, when I re-read it about a year later, I found that it is one of the best 70s comics I have ever read, on par with Thomas and Buscema's Conan, Wein and Wrightson's Swamp Thing, Howard the Duck, O'Niel and Adams' Batman and other classic stories of the period. I don't know how to explain it, but my oppinion of it changed drastically. With the exception of the story The Pact (also Kirby's favourite story) I found it much more entertaining the second time. Anyway, New Gods is important to have if you are a DC fan simply for its historical importance. Here is where such classic characters as Darkseid, Orion, Desaad, Mister Miracle, Lightray, Highfather and dozens of others got their start. Kirby created New Genesis and Apokalips (no this is not a spelling mistake) as a complete world unto itself but tied to the DC Universe. Similer to JRR Tolkein's work, it has different races of inhabitants, each with its own physical and cultural characteristics and histories. Such a feat should not be underappreciated because it clearly took a lot of work on his part to create such a complete concept. It usually takes years and a variety of creators for comic myths to grow into what they are today (look at Superman and Batman for example) but Kirby did it virtually on his own and in a very short period of time. I think that the word "genius" is overused, but there is no other way to describe Kirby. He was a comic book genius. His arwork, though dated, retains a unique charm and its easy to see how many current artists continue to be influenced by his work. The plots are also well-thought out, though weak at certain points. For example, I just don't buy how easily the humans that Orion saved join his cause. Most of them are one-dimentional characters anyway and their motive is extremely weak. Having said that, they are probably the only weak characters you will find in the entire book. The above example aside, Kirby has the ability to make throwaway characters very interesting. A good example is the issue where Orion and Lightray are trying to save a family abandoned at sea. While these characters never appear again to my knowledge, each has a well-defined personality and serve as metaphors for issues of the time (ie the Vietnam war and the peace movement). As mentioned above, The Pact is a brilliant story that should not be missed. In addition to telling the origins of Mister Miracle and Orion (they have been re-told many times since, but never this well), it also provides a rare glimpse into the nature of the Darkseid. It also makes you wonder how much of an influence it had on George Lucas's Star Wars, which followed these classic stories. Ironically, although the decision to discontinue the series may have disapointed Kirby, it was, in retrospect, a good move by DC. Had Kirby been allowed to see it through to the end, Darkseid would probably have been killed by his son Orion in a Skywalker/Darth Vader like confrontation and DC and comic fandom would have been robbed of one of one of the greatest superstar villains. Desaad, one of comicdoms few true sadists, would probably also have been killed too, which also would have been a great loss. If this had happened we would have missed out on some great future stories such as Legends and countless others.
For those of you who may not know, The New Gods was part of a trilogy that Kirby was working on in the 70s and the story is incomplete without Mister Miracle and The Forever People, also available in trade paperback form. After reading this, go on to Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle, then to Jack Kirby's Forever People and finally to Jack Kirby's Fourth World trade.
And for the record, the Black and White format didn't hurt my enjoyment of the story in anyway because its not that important. The story and art are all there whether in colour or black and white and that's what really matters.
Rating:
Summary: Enter The Fourth World
Review: The New Gods series was the centerpiece of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Tetralogy. Incredibly powerful storytelling introducing Darkseid, one of the most enduring villains of the last thrity years. Despite what George Lucas has said about borrowing from Kurosawa, the similarities between Darkseid and Darth Vader are too strong to be coincidental. This series was one of Jack's first projects after leaving Marvel for DC. He was like an unleashed tiger producing some of the finest work of his career. The strongest stories here are "The Pact" and "The Death Wish Of Terrible Turpin". The focus is on the anti-hero Orion, who went against the super-hero grain of the time. Unfortunately, the higher ups at DC cancelled the series after 12 issues and the plot was lost. The series was left hanging for years until a thirteenth story (not included here) was added on and the saga was wrapped up in a graphic novel. Hopefully, DC will re-publish these stories as well as the first twelve and publish them in full color. Still, we have the first twelve New Gods stories, and a good economical introduction to the mythos.
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