New Gods
From Barbelith
There came a time when the old gods died…
A long, deep silence closed upon what had happened and the cosmos was wrapped in massive darkness for an age.
Then… there was a new light… and the dawn of the New Gods!
The New Gods consisted of four different comics that were loosely connected by today's comic book standards. They were based on characters Jack Kirby had dreamed up during his final years at Marvel, but held back after a dispute with Marvel Editor and Head Writer Stan Lee over a Fantastic Four story.
When Kirby signed a contract with DC and left Marvel in 1970, he created four new comics that told the story of the Gods that came into being after Ragnarok, and their interactions with the human race. No one, including Jack Kirby, remembers how it came to be called "The Fourth World", but it was referred to as that by fans, DC editors and eventually Kirby himself, although he referred to it as "The New Gods" saga, and wanted each of the comics involved to have "The New Gods" in their title.
The first of the series to appear was Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen which introduced Darkseid, the new Newsboy Legion, Morgan Edge (new owner of The Daily Planet and pawn of Darkseid) and other concepts, as Kibry changed a typical Mort Weisinger Superman book into a sprawling epic dealing with cloning, genetic tampering, aliens, created worlds and Don Rickles.
The next to appear was The New Gods, which was to be named "Orion of the New Gods" and was the central comic of the series. It dealt directly with the struggle between the Gods of New Genesis and the dark Legions of Darkseid from the world of Apokolips.
Mister Miracle dealt with Scott Free, a God who had escaped from Apokolips and used his fantastic gadgets to be the world's greatest escape artist. Kirby often said that he based Mister Miracle on artist Jim Steranko, who had worked as an escape artist before becoming a comic book artist.
Finally, The Forever People were a group of New Gods who were travelling the Earth. This was Kirby's idealized vision of the hippie movement and road trips to "discover America" which were wildly popular after the book On The Road and the movie Easy Rider.
Kirby's run on Jimmy Olsen lasted from #133 to #148, The New Gods ran 11 issues, as did The Forever People, and Mister Miracle ran for 18 issues but dropped the "Fourth World" storylines with the 10th issue, attempting to become a more traditional super-hero comic.
Who Are The New Gods?
New Genesis: The Forces of Freedom
- Highfather -- The sagely patriarch of New Genesis, foster father of Orion and biological father of Scott Free.
- Mister Miracle -- See Mister Miracle.
- Metron -- A fellow in a hyperspatial wheelchair who knows more about everything than he ever lets on.
Apokolips: The Forces of Control
- Darkseid -- The most powerful villain in the DC Universe, absolute ruler of a possible future cosmos (or higher level of reality).
- DeSaad -- As the name implies, Darkseid's minister of pain.
- Granny Goodness -- An archetypal condensation of every controlling mother-figure in every story ever. Brutish schoolmarm, cruel dominatrix. She rears the children of Apokolips, introducing them to pain and to obedience.
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