Or more completely, his NEW GODS, FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, and JIMMY OLSEN.
Needless to say, I love these series. And pull them out once a year or so to enjoy them again. While I like them as Kirby created them,
I find them to have literary/symbolic potential way beyond what Kirby gave us. A pseudo-Biblical clash between good and evil gods,
with Earth as the central battleground. Comparable to spiritual warfare as described in the Judao-Christian Bible.
At various times, each of these 4 series have been my favorite of the bunch.
Orion is the noble but tormented warrior with a dual nature. With Lightray his perfect complement. And Highfather, and Metron, and the
city and planet of New Genesis. I've never sspoken to anyone who didn't read NEW GODS # 7 and love it.
The Forever people are the embodiment of every new generation, and the peace movement/hippie generation in particular.
Mister Miracle is the indomitable human spirit, in addition to being a Steranko/Houdini-like escape artist. In addition his Oliver Twist-like
past in the Orwellian world of Apokalips.
Jimmy Olsen is Kirby's take on the Superman mythology, with a flood of new concepts and worlds, and a seeming cast of thousands. Plus a
fun mixture of humor and action, that to me makes it (in its modest way) representative of everything possible in comics.
And needless to say, Darkseid is arguably the most popular villain in the DC universe.
I still prefer the original, but many have added onto Kirby's mythology in new stories and series.
My favorite conclusion to Kirby's original run was in the Levitz/Giffen LEGION run (1982), issues 287-294. Which I consider
miles above Kirby's own attempt to conclude the series in HUNGER DOGS (1985)
Englehart/Rogers' MISTER MIRACLE revival (later Gerber/Golden/Heath), in 1977-1978.
My least favorite was the Conway/Newton run on RETURN OF THE NEW GODS.
A great one-shot X-MEN/TEEN TITANS crossover in 1982, by Claremont/Simonson/Austin.
Mark Evanier has done a few series with NEW GODS, and special issues of MISTER MIRACLE.
John Byrne.
Walt Simonson's ORION.
Another favorite of mine was a two-issue story in LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 22 and 23, by L'Officier/Ladronn, that teamed up Superman
with Dabney Donovan, and sent them to the monster world of Transilvane (revisiting characters from JIMMY OLSEN 142-143).
So what do you all think of Kirby's New Gods run? Or do you prefer another version of the characters by later creators?
