Old Gods & New

A Companion To Jack Kirby’s Fourth World by John Morrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Old Gods & New: A Companion to Jack Kirby's Fourth World is a chronicle of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, from birth to cancellation and beyond.

Back in the olden days, Who's Who was my gateway to the past of the DC universe. As I perused the issues of that hallowed series, the Fourth World characters of Jack Kirby were the ones that captured my imagination the most.

Old Gods & New digs deep into the past, showing how the ideas for the New Gods and the Fourth World sparked while Jack was still working at Marvel. Originally conceived to replace Thor after Ragnarok, Jack held on the to characters due to his growing dissatisfaction with Marvel. Kirby jumped to DC with his dream project, only to have promises unfulfilled.

The book is peppered with quotes from the people there at the time and Jack himself, as well as lots of sketches, unfinished pencils, and artwork from Jack's own collection. The timeline starts while Jack is at Marvel, covers his stint at DC, touches on the Eternals and Captain Victory, and concludes when DC invites Jack back for the Hunger Dogs and Super Powers.

This is a pretty cool book, if only to see all the unused artwork. I've read enough to know about all the setbacks and hardships but they still sucked to read about. Kirby's musings on his work and all the thought that went into it will make reading the Fourth World books a richer experience the next time I give it a go.

Old Gods & New is an interesting look at the life and times of Jack Kirby as it relates to the Fourth World and related works. Four out of five boom tubes.

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