This is where Kirby shows through Turpin all of the fire, determination, strength of will and won't ever give up spirit and soul of humanity. Turpin became a real favorite of mine with this issue. And it was great that they made Turpin look like King Kirby when animated for the WB Superman: the Animated Series. 

Jimmy Olsen #148 “Monarch of All He Subdues!” (April 1972)



The Story: It takes Superman about two seconds to escape the crushing cave walls and rescue Jimmy and the Newsboys from their steel prison. So much for the peril depicted on the cover. Then Professor Volcanus kindly exposits his own backstory as a balloonist stranded in a volcano. He supposedly built his entire hi-tech lair from materials in the hot air balloon, which is frankly ridiculous; look at all that vintage furniture, art, and haberdashery! He looks like he’s about to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade.



Superman protects his friends from a horde of androids and erupting lava. Jimmy thinks that the best way to defeat another metal man is with fisticuffs. Not smart, Jimbo! Turns out that the robot’s “off” switch is located conveniently on its collarbone.



A concussive beam knocks them all out, even Superman. When they awaken, Volcanus has fled the scene in a cylindrical Spinner skyship. But he thoughtfully left behind a scale model depicting his Spinner’s impending attack on Metropolis, even illustrating the defensive missiles that will fail to stop him.



The heroes mount the Whiz Wagon and flee just as the volcano lair explodes. (We'll see another exploding island lair soon in Mister Miracle.) Between the Whiz Wagon’s hood-mounted cannons and the strength of Superman, Professor Volcanus and his Spinner are soon defeated. Ever the sore loser, he detonates a self-destruct, killing himself rather than face prison. The end!



Tales of the DNA Project “Genetic Criminal”: Nature or nurture? A clone grown from the cell of a murderer turns out to be a model citizen, catching an enemy spy who infiltrated the Project. The spy is a “foreign agent.” Why not an agent of Inter-Gang? Remember them?



Lettercol: “Jack feels he’s extended himself a bit too far, too. He’s fallen a bit behind in his schedule, so he’s turning this mag over to Joe Orlando with the next issue. He needs more time for his other mags – including a new one he has in the works.” Well, which is it? Is he falling behind and needs less work, or is he adding more new work? This sounds like a face-saving excuse for removing him from Jimmy Olsen, which doesn’t bode well for the future of the Fourth World in general. It also removes Superman from the Fourth World equation. Did you notice that Kirby wasn’t doing the Jimmy Olsen covers? He apparently wasn’t the draw that DC hoped he would be. Joe Orlando started editing Jimmy Olsen, but John Albano wrote the next issue, penciled by Jose Delbo.

My Two Cents: An explorer who turns out to be a megalomaniac… a balloon… is this where the Disney movie “Up” came from? OK, probably not. The James Bond connection is stronger, and Professor Volcanus was not Kirby’s best villain. Angry Charlie and the DNAliens would like mostly dormant after this until revived by writer Karl Kesel for Guardians of Metropolis and Superboy 20 years later.

No worries.  There is no one opinion on these things.  Killraven had been done before; but, I didn't see the thread before I started mine.

I actually just started out doing the revival stuff, because I wanted to do Mister Miracle, then, just thought, why not go back and do Kirby?  I was going to cover the Starlin stuff; but, I was kind of burnt out, by that point.  Besides, I didn't want to keep say, "disappointing."  Moving on the Eternals made more sense and Captain Victory had been covered, so I just branched out to cover Kirby's other projects at Marvel, though I was missing some material (2001 monthly comic).

Mister Miracle #8 “The Battle of the ID!” (May 1972)



The Story: On Apokolips, Big Barda returns to the madhouse of the Special Powers Force barracks, where Female Furies dance on tables, duel, and lounge about in bikinis cleaning their weapons. Barda organizes the troops for a sortie to rescue Scott from Section Zero.



Tranquilized and strapped to a gurney, Scott is joined in mental battle against the aptly named Lump. Apokolips luminaries come to watch the spectacle. Granny Goodness, Virman Vundabar, and Kanto are all there. So is one of the prisoners: Darkseid’s estranged wife Tigra, as last seen in the flashback issue New Gods #7. Her unnamed presence here is one of the few examples of cross-title Fourth World continuity beyond Darkseid himself.



Most of the issue is taken up with the “Battle of the Id,” a psychic combat between Lump and Scott. Lump can control the environment (vines, quicksand, etc.) and change his shape. As we discussed upthread, there's more than a passing resemblance to the mid-70s Doctor Who episode "The Deadly Assassin" which also featured a virtual reality duel against a foe who could control the environment unfairly.



The Female Furies raid the Lump-watching party. Granny Goodness says (rightly) that they are committing treason against Darkseid.



Meanwhile, Scott has defeated Lump with psychological warfare, using a mirror fragment to show Lump his hideous face, which causes Lump to go catatonic.



Lettercol: No great surprises; the previous Female Furies appearance gets high marks. The main story runs 26 pages, so there’s no Young Scott Free backup this time.

My Two Cents: Almost the whole issue was a rock-em, sock-em fisticuff between Scott and Lump. Darkseid’s wife was a surprise appearance, as was the willingness of the Female Furies to attack Granny Goodness. Maybe Darkseid permits a measure of intranecine warfare as part of a “survival of the fittest” strategy, but it’s still not clear why the Furies followed Barda on this mission. Her rank, I suppose, but that didn’t stop them from attacking her in their previous appearance. And why is Barda upset with being called a traitor, which she clearly is?



We also learn that Bernadeth is the sister of Desaad. File that away.

The New Gods #9 “The Bug!” (June 1972)



The Story: A swarm of humanoid “bugs” conduct a food raid on the supplies of Supertown. Highfather Izaya, usually a pacifist, sends fumigators to spray death-mist on them. The bug leader Forager is among those who escapes back to their mound to feast on the purloined “energy loaves.” boss bug Prime One praises Forager moral virtues. Maybe they should try to communicate with the Supertown citizens instead of just raiding them. Good thought!



The bugs suffer an attack from an unnamed foe (New Genesis again?) and are rescued by Darkseid’s flunky, Mantis, from Forever People #2. Mantis takes charge of the colony and has Prime One executed, solidifying his own position. Mantis has opened a Boom Tube for some reason; Forager fights his way to it and jumps through, emerging on Earth.



Lightray and Orion hang out on the balcony of wealthy playwright Eve Donner. She’s intrigued by Orion’s Neanderthal appearance but then frightened when he rails at the skies, challenging Darkseid to face him personally. Heading back to Dave Lincoln’s apartment, they find Detective Turpin there with an “invitation” to come to the police station for questioning about Kalibak's rampage.



Lettercol: Mark Evanier reports that “The Pact” received a torrent of positive letters. Bob Rozakis exemplifies the general mood: “The Pact is the story we have all been waiting for since your tetralogy first began over a year ago.” Evanier confirms that Kirby has no say in what Kanigher does with Fourth World characters in Lois Lane.

My Two Cents: As the title promised, this issue was all about Forager the Bug. (Kirby probably didn’t have to look further than his own kitchen for inspiration.) We’re apparently supposed to see his people as a third faction, loyal to neither Darkseid nor Izaya. They live on New Genesis and are sentient but are treated only as pests by the supposedly enlightened denizens of Supertown; even Izaya wants to exterminate them. What’s up with that? Forager and Prime One call the inhabitants of Supertown “The Eternals.” Hey, that would be a good name for a group of “new gods!”

Well, they're humanoid and wear clothes and speak, so the assumption of sentience might be a good starting point. Mantis certainly treats them as sentient, and he's nowhere near as wise as Izaya.

Story bears a strong element of the lives under Nazi occupation, especially places like Warsaw.