.

As Kirby's 106th birthday approaches in the next 2 weeks or so, here's an interesting paste-up of what might have been.

[Linked Image from i2.wp.com]

Kirby's first NEW GODS story was apparently planned at one point to first appear in a SHOWCASE issue.
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-new-gods-1971-issue-1/
And apparently this paste-up was prepared at least 6 months to a year in advance of that, because it includes the Silver Age "Superman, National Comics" logo in the upper left. that ceased to be used after Sept 1970. Kirby's first story for DC in that era was JIMMY OLSEN 133, Oct 1970, that was the first month the "National Comics" logo ceased to be used.

So that proposed SHOWCASE cover must have been prepared sometime prior to that even.
And NEW GODS 1 (Feb-Mar 1971) came out 4 months after JO 133.

Here also is a collection of unused Kirby covers, for both Marvel and DC, and some pre-code 1950's covers as well.
https://capnscomics.blogspot.com/2020/09/some-rejected-covers-by-jack-kirby.html
But the ones I am posting it for are the unused versions of JIMMY OLSEN 133, 135, 138, 141, 142, and 147.

Here you can see the Kirby JIMMY OLSEN covers (issues 133-139, 141-148) that were actually published.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=180091&pgi=101

For comparison, I provided links to both the unused covers, and the ones used in the JIMMY OLSEN series. Incredibly, 6 rejected covers, out of only 15 Kirby issues.
Better yet, in a larger size, here are the complete issues of Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN 133-148 for your reading pleasure :
https://viewcomiconline.com/supermans-pal-jimmy-olsen-v1-133/