Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 2
Author: Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, John Constanza, Mike Royer
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2007
Pgs: 270
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The Fourth World. The New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen -- in chronological order as they originally appeared. These comics spanned galaxies, from the streets of Metropolis to the far-flung worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, as cosmic-powered heroes and villians struggled for supremacy. In this second volume, the evil Darkseid's schemes continue to unfold while the New Gods, the Forever People, Mr. Miracle and others heroes battle his many minions.
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Genre:
DC Comics
Graphic Novels
Omnibus
Jack Kirby
Classics
Science Fiction
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Cover and Interior Art:
The combat between the human-like primitives and the goblin-ape types splash page when Metro takes Esak into the past on his Mobius chair for study purposes is awesome. Great art.

Tropes:
Big Barda in the bathtub...gratuitous, yet introspective.
Hmm Moments:
Orion's dark, bestial nature is very much the forefather of Beserker Wolverine.

Uhm Moments:
So the heroes flew off and left the old man lashed to the mast of the wooden ship by himself.

Calling the Ball:
Still disorienting with the way this was presented. Would've been better with Jimmy Olsen, The New Gods, Mister Miracle, and the Forever People as separate collections. Other than Kirby and the chronology, the relationship between these books was sparse to non-existent. Though doing it this way does give you the same effect as the original readers would've had.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
The Don Rickles-Goody Rickles issues of Jimmy Olsen sucked and then sucked some more. Wonder if that was a corporate decision to shoehorn him in. And it was a rough portrayal too. He doesn't translate well to the comics.

Having Scott and Barda escape Baron Bedlam's trap offscreen is anticlimactic, severely.

Of course, the Forever People point out to Sonny Sumo that he must have a connection to the Anti-Life Equation while still in Desaad and Darkseid's clutches. They couldn't possibly be listening in. Pfft.

Wait...What?:
Big Barda: “The little rat...he needs a disciplined tongue.” … … …kay.

The Sigh:
Kirby was still very much connected to the early 60s and earlier in the ways that he had his characters talk and interact. Course so was DC at that point. The evolution towards a more modern parlance in comics was just beginning and wouldn't really reach fruition until the DC Explosion/Implosion and the Marvel heyday that was just dawning. The hip lingo that all the kids were using is like nails on a chalkboard.

Juxtaposition:
The New Genesians and the Apokoliptans, both seem to not care at all about collateral damage. The New Genesians do, but only after they're threatened by the Apokoliptans.

Anachronism:
“One side, diplomat!” ...Yeah that tells him to get the hell outta your way.

The orphan soldiers in Granny Goodness' orphanage taunt Scott Free, the future Mr Miracle, as they punish him for failing to subsume himself into the cruelty of the Cult of Darkseid. "Jab those electro-rods! Jab! Jab!" and "Here comes, Mushy-Bottom! We've been waiting for you, Mushy-Bottom!" with the response, "We'll harden you up!" ... ... ...kay. I guess? Those three quotes are in two scenes, back-to-back. There are alotta closeted and not-so-closeted S&M overtones in New Genesis and Apokolips stories. Even in the early 70s, someone in editorial had to see how that sounded...though maybe not.

Logic Gaps:
Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion flying to Scotland in the Whiz Wagon, a multiuse Swiss Army knife vehicle aero, ground, and submersible transport. But, when they get there to explore and find the true story of the sea monster of Loch Trevor, they go out in a rubber dinghy instead of taking the advanced submarine vehicle that they just got out of.

Logic gaps and hipster dialogue, if you can get passed it, Kirby's stories, imagery, and character creation is awesome.

Questions and Answers:
Psychic vampires, Count Dragorin... Had Dracula not slipped into the public domain yet when this was new? Dracula fully entered the public domain in 1962. So…okay.

Missed Opportunity:
Wish Seagrin did more than just appear to die and provide motivation to Orion to explore what's going on in the ocean.

The mega rod and mother box were lessened in later comics and have largely disappeared as a hero's weapon in modern DC comics. As a Deus-ex-whatsis they were excellent. But when DC started treating the New Gods like just another bunch of capes, they move away from that.

Sonny Sumo, the wrestler, and Sagutai the Combat Machine were cool characters that should have reappeared later.

Shark-seed is a great visual. Missed opportunity that the GL villain The Shark and the Superboy villain King Shark weren't connected back to these guys. I know everything doesn't have to be continuity, but shared universe connecting the dots is part of the fun.

I’m seeing a theme. Kirby left a bunch of bits and pieces that could’ve been ramped up by later writers who instead got caught up in reinventing the wheel.

Dreamcasting:
Imagining John Cena as Orion instead of Peacemaker.
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Last Page Sound:
Knowing what to expect lessened the impact of the multi-cliffhanger with the four different comics as you approached the end of the story. I'll be back for volume 3.
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The thing is, I'm not sure that the Fourth World titles actually benefit from being read in chronological order-- there's very little that actually intersects between books, aside from the mythology and numerous appearances from the always-awesome Darkseid (who is never too busy searching for the anti-life equation to take a moment to torment a little boy in an amusement park). And the stories are still very standalone; one side or the other might win victories in the struggle, but they're usually victories against things that weren't even a problem until that particular story. There's still a lot to like, though; I found the Forever People surprisingly engaging (though that might just be because Beautiful Dreamer is nice to look at), and Orion's always good solid fun. ("The Glory Boat!" is a particular highlight in this volume, one of my favorite Fourth World stories.) On the other hand, the Jimmy Olsen stories start to get too ridiculous in this one, with appearances from 1970s insult comedian Don Rickles and his lookalike, a miniature planet stored in a graveyard bombarded by horror films, and the Loch Ness monster. Also, why doesn't anyone ever just shoot Mister Miracle instead of constructing an elaborate trap for him? On the other hand, Big Barda is made of ten kinds of awesome. One of my favorite things about these books is the feeling that, just outside of our ordinary human perspective, there's a massive mythological war going on right where we live-- the fate of the universe is being decided, and yet we have no idea; that feeling really comes through in this volume.