01/12/23: NEW GOD SMELL 2
The Drawl on Kirby's New Gods: Conclusion
In case you missed THE DRAWL on other platforms, here are links to the concluding 3rd and 4th parts of my look at Jack Kirby’s NEW GODS. Accompanying transcriptions are below. LINER NOTES at the end for the chosen few…
For the more than 100 issues under Jack Kirby and Stan Lee— THE FANTASTIC FOUR had a reassuring tone and consistency that guided and connected with its audience.
But upon moving to DC Comics, Kirby was eager to shake things up. To finally fill his own dialog balloons. And more than anything to escape the doom he saw lurking for comics as usual.
Kirby hoped, his collected New Gods saga would help pave the way for singular volume comics. For stories that were allowed to grow, change, and end.
But critically, initially, his effort was met with mixed reactions—
Bearing no more relation to everyday conversation than his mind-bending design sense— Kirby’s emotional, operatic dialog spoke directly to many. But those who expected a Marvel comic under a different publishing banner seemed lost, befuddled by the cosmic game of Wordle presented to them each month.
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Perhaps to appease them, the editorial micro-incursions were mounting, as with each issue what was expected arm-wrestled with what could be.
A major blow to the latter came when Kirby’s plans to hand off art chores to a hand-picked staff fell apart. As more work fell on Kirby’s shoulders, so too did the growing sense that he was stuck in the middle of crafting a novel he wasn’t allowed to finish.
Rather than let the audience build organically, DC’s outsized expectations had caused them to push print runs as high as their top-selling title, SUPERMAN. A move further complicated when surging print costs spurred DC to raise prices to 25 cents.
That full hard earned blood nickel more than Marvel’s cover price, hit Kirby’s 4 interconnected titles hardest. So when DC’s bean counters blamed the losses on the complexity of the series— The writing was on the wall.
In 1972 THE FOREVER PEOPLE and THE NEW GODS were canceled. The more isolated and "superheroic”, MISTER MIRACLE, survived until 1974.
But despite its premature death, the impact of Kirby’s NEW GODS reverberated throughout late 20th-century pop culture. And though both would soon return separately, those of you following this story closely can probably already guess—
That it ain’t over… even when it’s over…
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Following the cancellation of NEW GODS— A disappointed but undiluted Jack Kirby did his best to keep DC Comics a happy home. But ultimately even creations like THE DEMON, KAMANDI, and OMAC, weren’t enough to keep him from sleeping on the couch.
After a 1975 rebound affair with Marvel fizzled, Kirby turned his attention toward the flowers and cash in animation. Leaving many to wonder if the King of Comics had abdicated his throne?
The answer came in 1981 as CAPTAIN VICTORY AND THE GALACTIC RANGERS.
The last chapter of a 30-year, triple company, “Star Gods Trilogy”—In which the names and shapes of gods may change, but the authorial intent remains constant. As the series’ final issues reveal The Captain as the grandson of the evil, disembodied shadow: BLACKMAAS. A ghost of DARKSEID, now haunting the pages of Pacific Comics.
But of course, this ultimate fate of his NEW GODS was all just suggestion—
Until it wasn’t.
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Now free of the two-publisher system— Kirby had grown less political and more vocal about the disappointment and exploitation in comics. So perhaps as a result of all that barking, DC re-approached him with a chew toy—
An offer to redesign his FOURTH WORLD characters for the new SUPER POWERS toy line, Re-prints of his comics to accompany it, and the chance to at last finish his novel.
Kirby, however, was now 68 years old. The promise and excitement he’d felt 15 years ago, was much harder to grasp. So when his initial proposal for Orion and Darkseid to meet a mutually destructive end in battle was shot down, and compromise after compromise led the project to expand and warp out of shape and control, Kirby did what he always did— got personal.
The penultimate EVEN GODS MUST DIE and THE HUNGER DOGS finale are many things. But chiefly they are a meditation on time and change. As Apokolips and Darkseid near victory, they have been robbed of the passions of their pursuit by the growing automation of war. Dead characters are returned as mindless husks, and life is ruled by the algorithm.
The critique of the heartbreaking industry of comics is obvious. But the hope Kirby ultimately presents rings more honest.
By succumbing to the destruction of New Genesis, Highfather inverts the fearful oppression of Darkseid’s rule. Desperate to exert some form of control, Darkseid seeks out Orion— at last eager for the final confrontation his son has so long sought.
But Orion has found love in the pits of Apokolips. For both a partner and for himself. With the stalemate that has trapped them in a static, vicious cycle, finally over— The NEW GODS head out into the unknown…
Searching for the future.
LINER NOTES:
This one began as an essay about the direct lines from Kirby’s life experiences, to the MEGA STORY he told throughout his career. But it was too hard to make snack-sized.
His post-NEW GODS career at DC is still insanely fertile. Add that little fear-eating monkey demon from Alan Moore’s SWAMP THING run to the pile.
I can’t recommend that first arc of CAPTAIN VICTORY enough. Expect a video.
Late period/post-animation Kirby is the closest I come to getting why people don’t get it. I’d even avoided reading HUNGER DOGS until recently.
There are a few pages of quiet storytelling in it that I found breathtaking and rare for Kirby. DARKSEID’S final exile for example:
Weird as it looks, “EVEN GODS MUST DIE” was a standout, art-wise. Given the style shift, I suspect it was drawn after HUNGER GODS. Maybe closer to the point Kirby knew he’d be making the ongoing SUPER POWERS comic.
HUNGER DOGS just seems like a comic that was lousy with editorial indecision and interference. I suspect Kirby was more accommodating due to DC’s decision to make it the prestige format graphic novel he’d always wanted.
Maybe it’s too inside baseball for people who don’t spend their lives making commercial art— but on that level, HUNGER DOGS rings out.
Conflicted, tormented, aging DARKSEID is some A-plus character work:
Kirby’s oft-quoted: “a father can never kill his son” as a rationale for why DARKSEID always seems to rope-a-dope ORION, definitely adds some incongruity to his plans for them to die by each other’s hand. I suspect it’s a response to the perpetual return to the status quo of comics, and highly doubt it would have been executed the way it was pitched.
BTW— In the closing pages, DARKSEID is more likely headed to give HIMON the business and not ORION. It’s one of the muddier story choices. But I stand by what I said was happening as the spiritual intent of that scene.
Though Orion’s (touching) love interest, Bekka, comes a little out of leftfield— and Tigra’s rescue is so off-panel it’s probably shadow published by a different company— I actually prefer the hoisted by your own petard ending for DARKSEID that saw print over another wrestling match.
Speaking of— he cuts the best promos:
Also: ORION smashing this dude’s face to pudding is maybe the WILDEST SHIT:
Choosing to walk away from a fight is arguably the most literate way to end a comic about people and cultures haunted by war.
RE: DC’s insistence that the NEW GODS live on as toys. It’s worth noting that they likely didn’t want to disrespect Kirby by turning right around and resurrecting his characters post-HUNGER DOGS. If that’s the case, it ain’t a great move, but it’s the rarest thing in corporate comics— an honest conversation.
Okay. If I don’t stop this now, I never will. Hope you enjoyed that. I sure did.
More soon…
-j
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Great stuff. There's not a lot of superhero comics worth taking seriously, but The Fourth World is one.