The double-page splash from MISTER MIRACLE 7, April 1972.

One of my favorites of Kirby's 1970-1975 work. I think issues 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE were the issues where these series really took form. Regrettable that these series were just on the edge of being concluded when they were cancelled out from under Kirby. And that we had to wait 13 years only to get... THE HUNGER DOGS graphic novel, instead of whatever would have been the actual and far better conclusion while Kirby was still in peak form.

For me, I pretend HUNGER DOGS never happened, and that the actual conclusion is Levitz/Giffen's "Great Darkness saga" in LEGION 290-294. Which unlike HUNGER DOGS, is a satisfying conclusion, and still leaves some compelling mystery as to the details of what happened over the intervening 1,000 years.

But for whatever flaws, Kirby's Fourth World is a mind-blowing torrent of concepts and visuals. Even Kirby's 15-issue JIMMY OLSEN run, though lighter in tone, delivers a similar endless stream of characters, worlds and concepts.