Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" (exclamation mark)
My keyboard is not broken, I'm just making a joke regarding Kirby's style. Anyone who's reading anything by him, especially stuff like The New Gods, The Forever People, and Mister Miracle will know what I'm talking about.
Now, I'm not knocking him. Kirby single handedly built a full mythos for DC, complete with an explanation of WHY superheroes exist. He generated his own mythology and his own pantheon just for kicks. And the man just kept putting shit out. I've got a lot of respect for someone who can write, draw, and edit at least three monthly books at the same time. Not just write. Write. Draw. AND edit. You gotta give him props for that.
Kirby gave DC a theoretical reason for the existance of all superhumans, a common source that allowed within it all the different power sources that the characters had. Very simply: superheroes are the new gods. No matter where they get their powers from, they are the result of the old gods dying. All hail the God-Wave.
That's another thing I really like about Kirby: his names may be cheesy, but they're fun. "God-wave", "Astro-force", "Mother box", "Boom-tube", these are all just plain FUN names. JasonK once pointed out to me that M5.5mith's "Maybe Machine" (which was a fun word I was using for a Trinary) sounded very Kirby-esque. I agree with him now. I like this whole concept of Fun Words...just words that are fun to say. Weird stringing togethers of words that create neat little concepts in and of themselves.
So yeah...I'm reading the black and white TPB reprint of The New Gods right now. I think later this week I'll pick up the TPBs for Mister Miracle and The Forever People, just to be complete. I think they're also books I'm going to keep on my shelf at university, at that's a high honor indeed (you can generally tell what sort of games, scripts, or stories I'm currently writing by what books are on my shelf, and how they're stacked).
Now, I'm not knocking him. Kirby single handedly built a full mythos for DC, complete with an explanation of WHY superheroes exist. He generated his own mythology and his own pantheon just for kicks. And the man just kept putting shit out. I've got a lot of respect for someone who can write, draw, and edit at least three monthly books at the same time. Not just write. Write. Draw. AND edit. You gotta give him props for that.
Kirby gave DC a theoretical reason for the existance of all superhumans, a common source that allowed within it all the different power sources that the characters had. Very simply: superheroes are the new gods. No matter where they get their powers from, they are the result of the old gods dying. All hail the God-Wave.
That's another thing I really like about Kirby: his names may be cheesy, but they're fun. "God-wave", "Astro-force", "Mother box", "Boom-tube", these are all just plain FUN names. JasonK once pointed out to me that M5.5mith's "Maybe Machine" (which was a fun word I was using for a Trinary) sounded very Kirby-esque. I agree with him now. I like this whole concept of Fun Words...just words that are fun to say. Weird stringing togethers of words that create neat little concepts in and of themselves.
So yeah...I'm reading the black and white TPB reprint of The New Gods right now. I think later this week I'll pick up the TPBs for Mister Miracle and The Forever People, just to be complete. I think they're also books I'm going to keep on my shelf at university, at that's a high honor indeed (you can generally tell what sort of games, scripts, or stories I'm currently writing by what books are on my shelf, and how they're stacked).
posted by Derek the Bard at 1:09 a.m.
1 Comments:
And don't forget about Granny Goodness! (Though, me, my favorite is that Mr. Miracle's name is Scott Free.)
But, yeah, Fun Words are cool and Jack Kirby truly was The King. My only regret with the Fourth World stuff is that the collections are in black and white. Kirby's use of color was -fun-. Though, for me at least, the B&W makes me pay more attention to composition and layout (i.e. it makes the books a better learning tool).
- jasonk
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