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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 19, 2019 10:33:31 GMT -5
Kirby pretty much abandons the 4th World in the other books, when the mystery mandate comes down and uses the New Gods to continue it, until they axed it. Mister Miracle, once he returns to Earth, is pretty much a paranormal investigator, when you get down to it.
I defend Jack's renditions of things at DC; but, his Deadman looks more like an old pro wrestler than a circus aerialist.
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Post by profh0011 on Jun 19, 2019 15:03:51 GMT -5
"The Scavengers" had some of the tightest, SLICKEST art I've ever seen (to this point) from Kirby & Royer.
The Deadman thing being forced on Kirby is regretable. As it happens, Andy Helfer did a 4-issue DEADMAN mini-series more than a decade later which acted as another retcon, the idea being that the original series was "never finished", and he wanted to finish it PROPERLY. I really need to re-read the whole mess one of these days.
Kirby may have been riffing on a 4th-season AVENGERS episode here, "The Girl From Auntie". The story involves a criminal organization called "Art Incorporated", an organization which prides itself on being able to obtain any object for any one as long as the price is right.
One of the items being looked at was The Eiffel Tower. Imagine figuring out how to STEAL a thing like that, and somehow transport it out of the country.
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Post by berkley on Jun 19, 2019 20:47:55 GMT -5
The Forever People #10 “The Scavengers!” (August 1972)The Story: In Trixie’s basement, Serifan has constructed a “follower,” a robot simulacrum like the one seen in Mister Miracle #2. Except this one looks like Deadman and is intended for his spirit to inhabit. Like Jean Grey and Koriand’r, Beautiful Dreamer takes a job as a fashion model to pay the bills. She uses her illusion powers to assume the form of a hag so she can skip out of the job early. The Follower is stolen by a gang of high-tech “Scavengers.” Deadman follows the thieves, animates the Follower, and realizes that the Scavenger leader is the hook-handed man who was responsible for Boston Brand’s death. This is apparently a retcon; a previous Deadman story (not read by me) showed him already finding the hook-handed man, but somebody at DC wanted to extend Deadman's quest of vengeance, so now there's a whole society of hook-handed men with which to deal. The Deadman-Follower is immobilized by an ice ray, and the Forever People must battle robotic apes and other circus-themed dangers. Sure, why not? It gives Deadman a chance to swing on a trapeze. Soon the thieves have been caught. But they’re part of a larger group (with multiple hook-handed men) that Deadman swears he must track down. The Forever People wish him well and go their merry way. Direct Currents: DC”s version of the “Bullpen Bulletin” announces two series starting soon: Len Wein’s Swamp Thing and Jack Kirby’s Kamandi. There’s also an advertisement for Kirby’s upcoming The Demon book. Lettercol: Mark Evanier claims that Sonny Sumo didn’t really have the Anti-Life Equation. “Maybe Kirby didn’t really make that clear.” But I’m pretty sure that Kirby specifically said that Sonny did have the Anti-Life Equation, or at least the Forever People said so. I don’t know what Evanier is talking about. Evanier also reiterates the “We don’t have any back issues, so stop asking” message. My Two Cents: Kirby is straying far from the Fourth World; the Forever People are just being used to set up a new Deadman series. It reminds me of when the New Mutants played second fiddle to Team America in their own book. This wasn’t a bad story; it just doesn’t further the overarching mythology.
Beautiful Dreamer never looked more beautiful than in the first panel of this page - one of my favourite examples of Kirby cheesecake. Similar outfit to Sersi's swimsuit but I don't think Sersi ever looked quite as impressive as the Dreamer does here.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 19, 2019 21:08:12 GMT -5
She must be using a Mother Box to keep that top up.
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Post by rberman on Jun 20, 2019 6:04:35 GMT -5
The New Gods #10 “Earth – The Doomed Dominion!” (August 1972)The Story: Forager forages some food from a bakery. This earns him a chase from the cops, who catch him with a helicopter and a net. At the police station, Forager warns Lightray and Orion about the impending attack by Mantis and the Bug army. They are surprised that Forager knows Orion's name, but not that he is sentient. So I guess the residents of Supertown do know that Bugs are people, not just mindless creatures. The heroes lay an ambush for Mantis. Many pages of punching and kicking and smashing ensue when he arrives on Earth. Lightray requisitions a device that can focus his ray blasts into a lethal weapon. He drives the Bug army back through a Boom Tube to New Genesis. Earth is saved! Just ignore the part about laser beams transmitting sound as well as heat. My Two Cents: This issue pays off the Forager-centric last issue with a huge fight scene. Too bad Forager doesn’t play a significant role after he warns Orion about Mantis’ impending arrival. It's also quite a bloody issue for DC. I wonder how many bugs Lightray killed.
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Post by MDG on Jun 20, 2019 8:57:12 GMT -5
She must be using a Mother Box to keep that top up. I'd also guess that her ankles are killing her by the end of the day. They don't seem capable of supporting her body.
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Post by rberman on Jun 20, 2019 9:06:37 GMT -5
She must be using a Mother Box to keep that top up. I'd also guess that her ankles are killing her by the end of the day. They don't seem capable of supporting her body. She also appears to have cloven hooves. The feet are not the best part of that panel for sure.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 11:27:49 GMT -5
I'd also guess that her ankles are killing her by the end of the day. They don't seem capable of supporting her body. She also appears to have cloven hooves. The feet are not the best part of that panel for sure. Well, he's trying for a sandal thing; but, the foreshortening isn't really working in his favor. Fashion design wasn't exactly Jack's forte, though he had a good sense for capturing the look of clothing.
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Post by berkley on Jun 21, 2019 3:19:29 GMT -5
The New Gods #10 “Earth – The Doomed Dominion!” (August 1972)The Story: Forager forages some food from a bakery. This earns him a chase from the cops, who catch him with a helicopter and a net. At the police station, Forager warns Lightray and Orion about the impending attack by Mantis and the Bug army. They are surprised that Forager knows Orion's name, but not that he is sentient. So I guess the residents of Supertown do know that Bugs are people, not just mindless creatures. Lightray requisitions a device that can focus his ray blasts into a lethal weapon. He drives the Bug army back through a Boom Tube to New Genesis. Earth is saved! Just ignore the part about laser beams transmitting sound as well as heat. My Two Cents: This issue pays off the Forager-centric last issue with a huge fight scene. Too bad Forager doesn’t play a significant role after he warns Orion about Mantis’ impending arrival. It's also quite a bloody issue for DC. I wonder how many bugs Lightray killed.
Yes, I was remembering that wrong. I think there's still a bit of ambiguity there in light of how the anonymous New Gods speak of the Bugs in the previous issue ("Release the spray! Halt the pests! Those Bugs grow ever bolder! They should be studied more closely!"). It's true that they don't seem to show any surprise that Forager can speak, just that he knows Orion's name, but why should that be a surprise rather than speaking at all? Nevertheless, Kirby certainly does leave it open for the reader to take it that the new Genesis Eternals are aware that the Bugs are sentient.
Regardless, I do feel that later DC writers have oversimplified the Eternal vs Bug scenario to the point of misrepresentation, whether to highlight the moral superiority of their favourite superheroes or, as in the Allreds' recent Forager miniseries, to make their title character even more of an underdog than he already was. They ignore the nature of Forager's position amongst the Bugs, and especially how Orion interacts with Forager after he hears him speak.
This issue also contains one of the panels I think key to understanding the whole New Gods concept - the last panel of the story, with the line "The Gods are ever near - a part of men's lives! Giant reflections of the good and evil that men generate within themselves!"
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Post by rberman on Jun 21, 2019 7:48:21 GMT -5
Mister Miracle #10 “The Mister Miracle to Be!” (September 1972)The Story: A Boom Tube takes Scott, Barda, and the other Female Furies from Apokolips to X-Latitude, an island on Earth which happens to be the secret base of the criminal organization known as the World Protective League. The “Protective” part refers to the protection rackets they run, blackmailing honest folks with bomb threats. Scott is separated from his lady friends and given a tour of the secret base by the head guy “Head,” who is literally a disembodied head in a glass case. Head soon is putting Scott through a series of deathtraps, but of course Scott escapes each time. Meanwhile, the Female Furies find themselves disarmed and imprisoned. They quickly bust out and find a fellow prisoner, Mike McCracken, a good guy spy working for the “All-Nations Agency.” His face looks semi-melted, like Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They free him, and together the Furies tear the base apart looking for Bernadeth’s Fehren Blade and Barda’s Mega-Rod. Head’s last trap is throw Scott in a rocket set to spew deadly microbes across the Earth. But once again Scott pulls a switcheroo, and it’s Head who gets sent up into space to explode with the rocket. Oh, and the X-Latitude base is about to explode, so the heroes use Barda’s Mega-Rod to teleport off the island. The heroes return to Oberon about the same time Ted Brown arrives. Ted is the son of Thaddeus Brown, the original Mister Miracle. He’s a press agent looking for an act to manage. Hmm, anybody know an escape artist who needs a manager? Funky Flashman won’t be pleased. Hey wait. Ted was said to have been killed in the Korean War back in Mister Miracle #1. I smell a rat! My Two Cents: Kirby loves his exploding islands! The scene here is very similar to the end of Fantastic Four #1, as well as Jimmy Olsen #148 (Kirby's final issue, with Professor Volcanus). After the previous terrific issues set on Apokolips, this mundane spy potboiler was a relative letdown, albeit full of action.
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Post by profh0011 on Jun 21, 2019 12:08:11 GMT -5
from 2012... MISTER MIRACLE #10 / Oct’72 – “ THE MISTER MIRACLE TO BE” “From the VIOLENT world of APOKALIPS, a small band of refugees finds its way to Earth!” Thus, Scott, Barda, and 4 of the Female Furies, Lashina, Stompa, Bernadeth and Mad Harriet, emerge from a Boom Tube, but immediately realize they’re not where they planned to land. As Bernadeth puts it, “We’re on EARTH, all right! We just happened to pick its DREARIEST landscape!” But before they have time to think, they’re attacked by an automated gun turret. Scott is nearly killed before putting it out of action, but even as he does, a squad of armed men emerge from an underground base, and he’s accused of being an “All-Nation” agent. Taking out the thugs, he leaps into the opening, and finds himself descending via a tiny, cramped elevator, until he reached the bottom, and confronts “The Head” of the “World Protective League”—literally, a disembodied HEAD in a glass case on wheels, in charge of a terrorist organization, who plan to launch an “OPB” (Orbital Plague Bomb) into space. As The Head puts it, “Terror can pay great dividends for its USERS! Actually, our “World Protective League” DOES offer the world protection---!” “Yes—from “THE WORLD PROTECTIVE LEAGUE!” This is BLACKMAIL on an undreamed-of scale!”Scott is knocked out, just as his companions awaken in a glass cell. They escape, then free Mike McCracken, an agent of the “ All-Nations Agency”, whose flirting behavior toward women they find rather annoying. That’s put aside when more guards attack, and they quickly join forces to stop them. Meanwhile, The Head has Scott shackled and encased in an airtight cylinder, which is quickly filled with poison gas. “If you aimed to kill him, “Head”--- why didn’t you just order us to shoot him?” “Because of interesting thought images I found while PROBING his mind!” Sure enough, Scott escapes alive and intact, confirming The Head’s suspicion that he was an escape artist—though Scott still tries to convince him he’s a free agent. Following another brief stuggle, Scott appears knocked out again, and The Head seals him into the OPB missile, launching it. But even as it takes off, The Head goes into a panic, as he’s inexplicably drawn to its hull, and pulled into space with it, where it—and he—explode. Sure enough, Scott escaped the rocket, reversed his anti-grav device to capture The Head, and snuck into the control room to send the weapon and its master to their doom. Mike sets off a time-delayed self-destruct device, while Scott convinces one of the scientists (who wanted to study Barda’s Mega-Rod) to have everyone clear out while they can. Four hours later, the base is atomized in a nuclear blast. Aboard the escape plane, one of the men says, “I’m going “STRAIGHT” after this! I’m NOT going to waste my second chance!”Back home, a lonely Oberon is interrupted by the pleasant arrival of Ted Brown, son of Thaddeus (the original Mister Miracle), who’s only just heard of the death of his father. A public relations man, Ted regrets never having the chance to manage his father’s act. Just as Oberon is beginning to tell him about Scott & Barda, they hear a noise from the attic. On reaching it, a joyous reunion takes place. Barda tells him, “You’re a BETTER sight than a multiple-barrelled, cosmic-controlled planetary howitzer!” Whereupon Oberon tells Ted, “We’re in BUSINESS!!”
This is one of my FAVORITE issues of this series. I know this runs counter to what many feel, but to me, it was wonderful to finally put “the past” behind Scott & Barda (even if, with the Female Furies in tow, they’ll never be able to forget where they came from). And unlike Marvel’s CAPTAIN MAR-VELL, which totally floundered on every possible level once IT concluded its 18-part “origin” story, here, we see a clear path toward the book going in a brand-new direction, one which would allow it to live up to its obvious initial premise. It’s fun to see Jack playing with such a blatent variation on the Nick Fury / SHIELD / Hydra scenario, especially with regards to the “Plague Bomb” (the “McGuffin” used by Jim Steranko in STRANGE TALES #154-158). The Head seems a less monstrous (but in some ways, just as disturbing) version of Modok. More than anything, Mike McCracken reminds of of Dean Martin’s version of MATT HELM, between his looks and his attitude toward women, who he refers to as “chicks”. I’d love to see more adventures with this character. Did he ever reappear anywhere? In stark contrast to THE DEMON #1 (which makes perfect sense in light of the subject matter), this may be the SLICKEST Kirby-Royer art EVER! In places I was reminded of Kirby-Sinnott, except I’m sure Royer was honing closer to Kirby’s pencils than Sinnott tended to. (But are we SURE Joe didn’t fill in inking page 4??? Maybe he had a day off somewhere.) I mean, this stuff is TIGHT and CLEAN and STUNNING to look at! This may be one of the most over-looked, under-rated issues in the entire Fourth World saga. I LOVE it! (4-3-2012)
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Post by berkley on Jun 21, 2019 16:48:39 GMT -5
The New Gods #9 “The Bug!” (June 1972)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.
Forgot to mention that I think this is one of the better images of Orion's real face, un-modifed by Mother Box. I don't believe there's ever been a definitive version as various artists have imagined it in various ways and even Kirby himself never really settled on one consistent look. Not sure if this one was ever used again, though of course it could be that it's a bit different to all the others because it's taken a beating in Orion's fight with Kalibak.
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Post by rberman on Jun 22, 2019 7:36:08 GMT -5
The Forever People #11 “Devilance the Pursuer” (September 1972)The Story: It’s a swift beginning, in medias res! At their apartment in Trixie’s brownstone, the Forever People are in the middle of a battle with Darkseid’s warrior, Devilance the Pursuer. When the police arrive, Devilance flees, citing orders to avoid “meddling Earthmen.” Does that sound like an order Darkseid would give? more likely Devilance would murder meddling Earthmen. The Forever People flee to a mine near an active volcano and lure Devilance into a lake of magma. But it will only hold him for a little while. He’s tough! Their next encounter with Devilance takes place on a tropical Pacific island. They get the lance away from Devilance for a few minutes, but he retrieves it. Serifan temporarily immobilizes their enemy with some sort of gravity effect, though it looks more like he’s turned Devilance into a statue. Meanwhile in some other galaxy, Infinity Man flies around in futility. He’s apparently trapped behind a force field since Darkseid zapped him, back in Forever People #3. At least there’s a paradise planet for him to live on, but he wants more. The Forever People use Mother Box and utter the magic word “Taaru!” which somehow allows them to summon Infinity Man to trade places with them and duke it out with Devilance. The force of the struggle apparently destroys both combatants, stranding the Forever People on the paradise planet at the far end of the universe. They don’t seem too bummed out about this turn of events, but “forever” may get lonely with four guys and only one Beautiful Dreamer. Lettercol: Mark Evanier confesses many inconsistencies between details of the original Deadman stories and Kirby’s reboot. There’s no mention that this is the last issue of Forever People. Does that mean that this book was canceled abruptly? My Two Cents: It’s something of a cliffhanger ending for our heroes. I was totally caught off guard by the revelation that Infinity Man exists all the time and just trades places with the Forever People on occasion. I thought it was more like Shazam! or Thor, in which the super-hero version replaces the weaker form in existence. I guess not! So…. What does Infinity Man do when he’s not saving the Forever People? I mean, before Darkseid zapped him to the far end of the universe. And why doesn’t Izaya use Alpha Bullets to rescue Infinity Man? So many unanswered questions for the last issue of the series. I would rather have had more of this, and less of Deadman. Forever Man’s “trapped on one planet by a force field” story is suspiciously like that of the Silver Surfer, trapped on Earth by a force field after disobeying his godlike opponent (and former master) in Fantastic Four #50.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 22, 2019 16:12:43 GMT -5
It's been a while; but, I believe the axe fell quickly on most of the 4th World books, without much warning, except, maybe, Mister Miracle (given they had a wedding, in the final issue). Forever People seemed to be the lowest seller of all of the titles and I wouldn't be surprised if Carmine, axed it as soon as he got a sales report. There's been a lot of hindsight re-evaluation of those sales, with Paul Levitz saying they were better than a lot of titles that kept going; but, Kirby was being paid a higher rate, which meant higher expectations. Of course, that then leads to a lot of short lived material or lesser ideas to fill page quotas. Sometimes we got an OMAC, sometimes we got a Justice, Inc; and, sometimes, we got a Dingbats of Danger Street (which was still more visually exciting than a lot of what DC was putting out).
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Post by rberman on Jun 23, 2019 7:52:44 GMT -5
The New Gods #11 “Darkseid and Sons!” (October/November 1972)The Story: Police Commissioner Kiernan frees Kalibak, who agrees to carry an offer: the police station can be used for a parley between Apokolips and New Genesis. Spoiler: There will be no parley. Orion is going stir crazy at Dave Lincoln’s apartment. He breaks a treasured athletic trophy. Kiernan isn’t the only one who wants to see the New Gods relocate their battle to some venue other than Earth. Darkseid gives us some shocking exposition. Before his marriage to Orion’s mother Tigra, he had secretly wed the love of his life, the sorcerer Suli… the mother of Kalibak. Desaad murdered Suli at the command of Darkseid’s mother, Queen Heggra. Darkseid declares his intention to keep his sons Kalibak and Orion from killing each other. Kalibak comes to Dave Lincoln’s apartment and beats up Lightray So now it’s time for him to face Orion for the third time in eleven issues. Kalibak is somehow stronger than before, and he drops a building on Orion. Darkseid smells a rat. Sure enough, Desaad has been surreptitiously strengthening Kalibak so that he can kill Orion. An angry Darkseid zaps Desaad with the Omega Effect. I guess that teleports him to some other time and/or place. The Black Racer shows up to claim one of the combatants. Orion thinks it’s his own turn to die. But when the dust settles, it’s Kalibak that has been taken in death. Orion declares his intention to face Darkseid on Apokolips. Lettercol: Mark Evanier reminds everyone that DC has no back issues to sell. Repeat after me: “DC has...” My Two Cents: The final issue of this series has great rising action; we’re definitely going someplace. Darkseid gets some Shakespearean-level humanization here. He's not motivated by the abstract notion of Anti-Life, but rather by the familiar human feelings of devotion to the memory of his beloved dead wife Suli. Orion is Luke Skywalker, the son of the Dark Lord, fostered to the Light Side. Darkseid wants to see both sons live, even the son of the hated wife Tigra. Orion has somehow figured out that he is a son of Darkseid, and Kalibak is also. It would have been nice for some story to lead him to this conclusion. Instead, it’s just an instinct that he has. Even Kalibak seems ignorant of his own parentage. Does Kalibak remind anybody of Kirby’s Fantastic Four villain Blastaar?
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