Jack Kirby

By this, I mean the original 11-issue Kirby run in the '70s. I am reading it, and have 2 more issues to read, but spoilers are OK since I will probably be done reading it by the time I check the post again.

I am enjoying it so far.

Ever since I read Blood of the Demon, along with The Demon subplot of his Wonder Woman run, I have had contempt for John Byrne’s writing. I haven’t read enough of his Superman, nor a big enough fan of the character to be more than apathetic about it, but I have seen heated opinions regarding this as well. The notorious Sleez introduction being enough for me to trust their judgement.

For the longest time I have labeled him a self-indulgent Kirby fanboy too arrogant to fact check or respect the work of other writers. Despite all this I decided to take a risk and procure the omnibus collecting Byrne’s Fourth World run. All I really knew about it going in was the “Genesis” event took place in this era. An event not well received, and I can see why. I understand the grand scale he was trying to attempt but the high cosmic stakes lacked any emotional weight with an unsatisfying conclusion.

Genesis was only one small part of Byrne’s run and a frustrating experience for him as well, but the rest of his expansion of his idol’s magnum opus was surprisingly complementary to the source. (No pun intended.) Byrne had read the original Kirby stories on their release and must have reread them to plan his evolution of the mythos. He unobtrusively fills in some blank spots involving character’s histories; most enjoyably the ascension of Uxas to Darkseid and his link to the Infinity Man. The characterisations of key characters such as Darkseid’s inner circle, Scott and Barda, Metron, and the Forever Peopke are all spot on. I was pleasantly shocked that Byrne was capable of emulating another author so well while telling his own story. There are things to nitpick but, over all, it was a valid contribution to one of the most iconic properties under the DC umbrella.

The one thing I could always praise Byrne for was his pencils. He does wonderful renditions of Kirby’s cast that’s recognisably Kirbyesque while modernising it slightly in his own signature. I do not regret the purchase and happy to have it in my collection.