The Comics Rack

JACK KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 2

With the second volume of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Kirby's final epic continues at a breakneck pace. The book contains Forever People #4-6 , Jimmy Olsen #141-145 , Mister Miracle #4-6 and New Gods #4-6 and the stories show improvement over the previous volume. Jack warms up to the characters here and must have come to the realization that the entire storyline was going to be done by him solo, instead of by others under his guidance, as DC had first proposed. Jack does lay down numerous hints as to the underpinnings of much of the conflict and what is to come in the later issues: clues that are as intriguing as they are vague.

Since this is almost a transitional volume (though don't belittle the stories because of this), the major joy found in the pages, for me at least, were revelations of a more personal nature. As I mentioned in the review of Vol. 1 (put link here), The Forever People have long been a sore spot for me, since I've never really been able to figure them out. What were they?...What do they stand for?...How do they fit into the overall battle between New Genesis and Apokolips?...these were all questions I have long had since I first encountered the series. After reading the issues contained here, the answer came to me: the Forever People are (allegorically) the youth of the late 60s and early 70s. They expound the philosophies of the time and stand for freedom above all. They urge others to take their own freedom and do what they want and think what they want, so long as they don't impinge on the freedom of others. They even form a united being (Infinity Man) who is stronger and more powerful than the individual members of the group. In many ways, they are the innocents in the bigger conflict just like the youth of the time were, in many ways, the innocents in the Vietnam conflict.

This approach to characterization, although original, is probably the very failing of The Forever People. If the New Gods are the warriors of the conflict and Mister Miracle is an escapee (the Olsen stories are just sidereal to the main storyline), then the Forever People are the youth caught up in the conflict (warriors in training, perhaps). As such, their adventures are not proactive, but reactive as they seemingly fall into one conflict after another, but it is never really explained what they are doing, or even who they are. With no particular game plan, The Forever People fall a bit flat, since they can't take charge and have a purpose, because that is not in the nature of the characters. Of course, it also doesn't help that Jack never gets around to breaking them down as individuals and, even by the stories in the third volume (I'm reading it while writing this review), I still don't know what their powers are.

This directionless style of storytelling also seems to permeate the other books of the Fourth World. Probably the biggest problem Kirby had during this entire run was in terms of pacing and continuity. I find myself constantly looking back to previous issues to see what happened, since there are few, if any, sub-plots running through the comics to keep the many disparate elements alive for the reader (yeah, me!). Even more trying on a reader's patience, there are no recaps of what had happened before (and I'm not talking about a paragraph or two of prose to catch the reader up on the plot...there are ways of recapping previous events without insulting a reader's intelligence). Each comic tries to stand on its own, but I figure if I'm having trouble keeping track of things reading one or two issues each evening, I can only imagine the problems for readers of the time who had to wait two months for the next issue to hit the stands.

Of course the art of the stories must be addressed and this second volume represents the most amazing shifts in art I've ever seen in comics: the addition of Mike Royer as Kirby's main inker. For many years, I guess I had just assumed that Kirby was leaning towards layouts in order to produce as many pages as he did during this period. This volume, however, includes a small portfolio of Kirby's uninked pencils and it becomes obvious from looking at them that Kirby was delivering full pencils for everything--it was Colletta, and the DC editorial offices, who were the problem. After comparing some of the pencils to the inked pages, it becomes obvious that 'ole Valiant Vince was just sort of laying in whatever line he wanted and erasing whatever seemed extraneous. To make matters even worse, the Superman and Olsen heads in Jimmy Olsen comic, which were redrawn by others, are usually the wrong size or placed oddly...again something that was not in the pencils, but in the indifference of the inkers. Royer brings a clean line to Jack's pencils and inks the major figures and details with equal skill. The result, is Kirby pure and simple. Jack also seemed to appreciate Royer's efforts and the art becomes even more detailed and dynamic soon after Royer comes aboard. It's almost a shame that Olsen was left to Colletta, but the constant re-drawing was a sore spot for Kirby and it should be no surprise that he abandoned the strip within a few issues of the stories reprinted here.

Overall, this is an enjoyable collection that belongs on your bookshelf, along with the other volumes. The stories are some of the most original that have ever been done, both in their concepts and plot. Even with their flaws, I still believe that Jack was attempting to pave the way for an "adult" comic with the Fourth World: one that would not talk down to the reader, but would both inspire and tantalize their imaginations.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol.. 2 has an SRP of $49.99 and can be found at the usual outlets.

NOTE: Other volumes in this series that have been reviewed:

• Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

All good things must come to an end and last month's installment of The Unabashed Plug Dept. was the last for the foreseeable future. The reasons for this are many, with burnout being a big #1 with a bullet.

I've been writing reviews for The News Stand for pretty close to 8 years now, with the earliest efforts being produced on a weekly basis for a time, before we went to bi-weekly and then the current monthly frequency. During that time, I've pretty much shared with you what I've been reading as I finished each book or comic and have only had to dip into the sagging bookshelf on rare occasions as a deadline reared its ugly head.

Of late, however, I've found that the reviewing process itself has started to get in the way of my enjoyment of the books I read. Phrases like "...Aparo shows an influence of Adams in this early work, but has a bit more clarity blah, blah blah" have started to go through my head as I am reading. I'm not reading the story, I'm planning what I'm going to write about it once I'm done. The final straw was when I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and shoved it into the back of the latest Terry and the Pirates collection, so I could take notes as I read! In short, I'm not enjoying reading comics if I'm having to think of ways to explain to you, the reader, why you should enjoy them.

I've also found that I'm running low on objectivity. In looking over the last couple of plugs, I find that they are all starting to sound the same. I like Ditko and Weisinger era Superman stories. Most Marvel titles kick *ss over most DC titles, although Alan Moore stands on his own pedestal. I'm sure that it must be a bit boring to continually read that Caniff was brilliant and Jack Kirby was a genius and, to be frank, I'm getting a bit bored giving the same superlatives over and over again. The problem is, however, that since I'm the one shelling out the money for the books, I only buy what I'm sure I'll enjoy and my interests tend to be narrowing down as I get older and prices get higher. Over time, I find I'm no longer interested in the exploration of new and different things-I'm more concerned with reading material that I've wanted to read for years, or reading collections of material that I once had in my comic collection. As a result, slings and arrows tend to get reserved for the listings of what is coming out on the rest of The News Stand page and what few negatives I can generate tend to be directed towards production values and packaging. My reviews have gotten swamped in a morass of "oh, ain't that good!"

Down the road, I'm hoping that this will all turn out for the better. I know that I've been reading comics in a much more relaxed mode of late. Mind you, I haven't given up on doing reviews. I had hoped to review the remainder of Terry and the Pirates and the to finish off the Kirby Fourth World reviews before I pulled the plug and these may still see print down the road. You can also expect to see reviews of any material that blows my socks off whenever I come across it. For now, however, my time will be invested in some other things. I have some ideas for a couple of articles and galleries I haven't had time to get started on, the completion of the Comic Book Memories series and a couple of other projects for The Comics Rack that I hope you will find enjoyable.

So, don't go Crazy, take no Action and don't get Mad. I only hope that over the years, I have been able to help you find enjoyable titles to add to your sagging bookshelf.