So I've started reading the first Fourth World Omnibus, and Grant Morrison's introduction sent my mind reeling right from the get-go. Yes, obviously, Kirby's Fourth World books are grand myth, but it's the notion that Mister Miracle is Kirby's "New Testament" that did it. It's obvious really, but having never read the original Fourth World stories, it might be easy to miss its original intent. After all, my first real exposure to Scott Free was in the madcap comedy of Justice League International.
But the story of Highfather (God) giving up his only son to save the world sounds kind of familiar. And for all the differences between Scott Free and Jesus, Scott still manages to find himself to Earth where he follows in the footsteps of another prophet of Freedom (Thaddeus Brown/John the Baptist). This casts Big Barda as a converted tool of evil, and so on.
But the Fourth World is not a translation of the Bible or of any other sacred text, it takes from different sources to create a Comic Book Bible. The Forever People draw on the New Age counterculture. And the New Gods seem largely based on Greek and Norse gods (it would have been surprising if Kirby didn't draw at least a little on Tales of Asgard). But it's also a superhero comic, drawing on tropes integral to the genre. Human myth never had so much punching in it.
And look where the story starts: In the pages of Jimmy Olsen. What an odd choice for Kirby and DC to make. There must be reason (even beyond the "give me the one nobody's working on" mentioned in volume 1's afterword). Well, if the "King" is to become a "new voice in the wilderness", he needs to supplant the old order. Superman is that "ol'-time religion", the Sun worship of comics (very appropriate - maybe Batman is the Moon to Superman's Sun or something, but that's a whole other article). What's important here is that Jimmy, the most faithful disciple of Superman, is turned into a hero in his own right, one with disciples of his own (the Newsboy Legion) on a spiritual path that is his own. He even rejects Superman who is far less powerful under Kirby's pen than he was anywhere else at the time.
It is Jimmy who discovers the Fourth World (as do we, through him), and comes back down the mountain with a new message. From there, we will see a pure superhero myth spring forth where Death rides on skis and the underworld is an industrial planet. Where the gods have superpowers and the skies crackle with cosmic energy. By subverting this particular book, Jack Kirby effectively puts an end to the Silver Age.
Oh, I definitely think I'll need to speak of this again.
But the story of Highfather (God) giving up his only son to save the world sounds kind of familiar. And for all the differences between Scott Free and Jesus, Scott still manages to find himself to Earth where he follows in the footsteps of another prophet of Freedom (Thaddeus Brown/John the Baptist). This casts Big Barda as a converted tool of evil, and so on.
But the Fourth World is not a translation of the Bible or of any other sacred text, it takes from different sources to create a Comic Book Bible. The Forever People draw on the New Age counterculture. And the New Gods seem largely based on Greek and Norse gods (it would have been surprising if Kirby didn't draw at least a little on Tales of Asgard). But it's also a superhero comic, drawing on tropes integral to the genre. Human myth never had so much punching in it.
And look where the story starts: In the pages of Jimmy Olsen. What an odd choice for Kirby and DC to make. There must be reason (even beyond the "give me the one nobody's working on" mentioned in volume 1's afterword). Well, if the "King" is to become a "new voice in the wilderness", he needs to supplant the old order. Superman is that "ol'-time religion", the Sun worship of comics (very appropriate - maybe Batman is the Moon to Superman's Sun or something, but that's a whole other article). What's important here is that Jimmy, the most faithful disciple of Superman, is turned into a hero in his own right, one with disciples of his own (the Newsboy Legion) on a spiritual path that is his own. He even rejects Superman who is far less powerful under Kirby's pen than he was anywhere else at the time.
It is Jimmy who discovers the Fourth World (as do we, through him), and comes back down the mountain with a new message. From there, we will see a pure superhero myth spring forth where Death rides on skis and the underworld is an industrial planet. Where the gods have superpowers and the skies crackle with cosmic energy. By subverting this particular book, Jack Kirby effectively puts an end to the Silver Age.Oh, I definitely think I'll need to speak of this again.
Comments
Although, I'm not religious, but I suppose you could compare Scott's JLI time to watching Jesus during his middle years when he kind of did his own thing: his coming was pretty big, and a great destiny was ahead, but for right now it was relatively quiet. Hmm.
I'm going to write further articles on the subject as I go through the books, but I certainly don't think any of it is a direct allegory to anything from any other sacred text. The story of Scott Free is distinctly different from that of Jesus (the trade of sons, for example). Kirby was building a whole new mythos from elements of all myths and religions.
My next chapter looks broadly at what the "Kirby Faith" might be, but it is tied into Mister Miracle's inherent message and Darkseid's anti-message. Come back in a week and tell me what you think.