Post by DocQuantum on Jul 12, 2017 19:51:42 GMT
I've nearly completed my full read of Jack Kirby's Fourth World books: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Forever People, and Mister Miracle. Having never read them in order before, and only owning a few random selections, it's been interesting not only seeing how the story unfolded, but also how Kirby began to "put his toys away" by the end of some of the series.
The Forever People was probably the weakest book (I've heard a lot of people dismiss it as nothing more than "space hippies"), but it still had its moments. In our continuity, the Forever People are still stuck on the wild planet of Adon in another galaxy and/or dimension, unable to return to Earth or New Genesis. If I recall correctly, in the Post-Crisis mini-series, the Forever People are treated as a metaphor for baby-boomers growing out of their hippie youths and going mainstream and corporate. The planet Adon essentially becomes a stand-in for Earth, rather than the strange planet full of adventure that Kirby promised in the last issue of the original series. Also, strangely enough, the miniseries claims that the Forever People are not true New Gods after all, but are humans taken from different time periods in history. I follow the logic there, since at least some of the Forever People are influenced by different Earth cultures of the past, but so are many other New Gods, such as Virman Vundabar and Kanto, whose appearance is explained by a love of different times in Earth's history. Big Bear in particular is said to be a student of Earth history, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who introduced their fashion senses to the group.
Since the Post-Crisis treatment of the Forever People doesn't count for our continuity, I wonder if there's any interest in bringing back the Forever People. Since they are effectively immortal young gods, they would be the same age rather than middle-aged as in the Post-Crisis series. I'm not exactly sure what we should do with them, just as Kirby himself seemed to be during the original series, but they could provide an interesting lens on our Earth-1 or even other cultures in space. They seemed to be basically tourists on Earth, only occasionally drawn into battle with Darkseid and his minions against their will. I have an idea just to bring them back and nothing else, but I'm wondering if there's any interest in picking up with them once they're back.
Also, I've been going through DC's Who's Who series and was surprised to see numerous references to The Hunger Dogs graphic novel being considered canon at the time. Since that graphic novel leaves the planet New Genesis destroyed (leaving behind a floating Supertown in space) and Darkseid deposed from the throne of Apokolips, it's kind of problematic for us, as we've basically ignored it.
I actually think there's a way to have the graphic novel take place when it was written (1984) but still not affect our continuity. I think there must have been some kind of massive "retcon" for lack of a better word that pushed the events of The Hunger Dogs to some point in the near-future. Perhaps Darkseid himself is responsible for it, or even Darkseid in collaboration with Highfather. Perhaps they were able to tap into the energies of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and steal some of the energy from the destroyed universes before the Anti-Monitor could gain it, and used that to push The Hunger Dogs forward into time in order to forestall that disaster. Unfortunately, a great amount of energy is required to keep these events from taking place again in real time, so it effectively becomes a Sword of Damocles just hanging over the heads of the New Gods from now until it finally happens, similar to how the events of Ragnarok are meant to be inevitable and at some point in the future of the Norse gods.
Finally, I'm interested in exploring how the New Gods might interact with the "old gods" of Earth, particularly the Olympian gods and the Norse gods. I think something was done with that idea in the '90s, but I don't remember anything about it. I'll have to continue my Fourth World reading into the Post-Crisis era eventually. I'm particularly interested in seeing how the New Gods might interact with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. If this hasn't already been done by DC, it's a crossover that demands to happen.
P.S. I've also read the original Demon series by Kirby and have some ideas there. Such a great character, and one that I think should remain completely unique to Earth-1. That said, I've been somewhat influenced by Kirby's Demon (and the Incredible Hulk) to create a new Destroying Demon for Earth-X who doesn't really have much to do with the original short-lived identity of the Destroying Demon used by Bruce Blackburn and published by Quality Comics.
The Forever People was probably the weakest book (I've heard a lot of people dismiss it as nothing more than "space hippies"), but it still had its moments. In our continuity, the Forever People are still stuck on the wild planet of Adon in another galaxy and/or dimension, unable to return to Earth or New Genesis. If I recall correctly, in the Post-Crisis mini-series, the Forever People are treated as a metaphor for baby-boomers growing out of their hippie youths and going mainstream and corporate. The planet Adon essentially becomes a stand-in for Earth, rather than the strange planet full of adventure that Kirby promised in the last issue of the original series. Also, strangely enough, the miniseries claims that the Forever People are not true New Gods after all, but are humans taken from different time periods in history. I follow the logic there, since at least some of the Forever People are influenced by different Earth cultures of the past, but so are many other New Gods, such as Virman Vundabar and Kanto, whose appearance is explained by a love of different times in Earth's history. Big Bear in particular is said to be a student of Earth history, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who introduced their fashion senses to the group.
Since the Post-Crisis treatment of the Forever People doesn't count for our continuity, I wonder if there's any interest in bringing back the Forever People. Since they are effectively immortal young gods, they would be the same age rather than middle-aged as in the Post-Crisis series. I'm not exactly sure what we should do with them, just as Kirby himself seemed to be during the original series, but they could provide an interesting lens on our Earth-1 or even other cultures in space. They seemed to be basically tourists on Earth, only occasionally drawn into battle with Darkseid and his minions against their will. I have an idea just to bring them back and nothing else, but I'm wondering if there's any interest in picking up with them once they're back.
Also, I've been going through DC's Who's Who series and was surprised to see numerous references to The Hunger Dogs graphic novel being considered canon at the time. Since that graphic novel leaves the planet New Genesis destroyed (leaving behind a floating Supertown in space) and Darkseid deposed from the throne of Apokolips, it's kind of problematic for us, as we've basically ignored it.
I actually think there's a way to have the graphic novel take place when it was written (1984) but still not affect our continuity. I think there must have been some kind of massive "retcon" for lack of a better word that pushed the events of The Hunger Dogs to some point in the near-future. Perhaps Darkseid himself is responsible for it, or even Darkseid in collaboration with Highfather. Perhaps they were able to tap into the energies of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and steal some of the energy from the destroyed universes before the Anti-Monitor could gain it, and used that to push The Hunger Dogs forward into time in order to forestall that disaster. Unfortunately, a great amount of energy is required to keep these events from taking place again in real time, so it effectively becomes a Sword of Damocles just hanging over the heads of the New Gods from now until it finally happens, similar to how the events of Ragnarok are meant to be inevitable and at some point in the future of the Norse gods.
Finally, I'm interested in exploring how the New Gods might interact with the "old gods" of Earth, particularly the Olympian gods and the Norse gods. I think something was done with that idea in the '90s, but I don't remember anything about it. I'll have to continue my Fourth World reading into the Post-Crisis era eventually. I'm particularly interested in seeing how the New Gods might interact with Wonder Woman and the Amazons. If this hasn't already been done by DC, it's a crossover that demands to happen.
P.S. I've also read the original Demon series by Kirby and have some ideas there. Such a great character, and one that I think should remain completely unique to Earth-1. That said, I've been somewhat influenced by Kirby's Demon (and the Incredible Hulk) to create a new Destroying Demon for Earth-X who doesn't really have much to do with the original short-lived identity of the Destroying Demon used by Bruce Blackburn and published by Quality Comics.
