Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 4 Book

I don't think it's too big of a spoiler to say that the original story that Kirby wanted to tell here was essentially left unfinished. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Kirby had to rush to throw together some sort of ending for his epic tale of the battle between Apokolips and New Genesis, and the single issues in Volume 4 were the result. They definitely feel rushed, but they're also ridiculously fun, especially for fans of Mister Miracle and Big Barda (and really, we should all be fans of Mister Miracle and Big Barda, but I digress).

Anyway, the last issue of Mister Miracle wraps up a few loose threads, but one major plot point is left unresolved, and it is accompanied by a promise that a future book will pick up where this one left off. Well... not exactly. Kirby did write an ending many years later, the graphic novel called The Hunger Dogs included in this volume, but it bears little resemblance to the Fourth World stories found in the previous three volumes. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is not considered to be Kirby's best work. However, there is something strangely appealing about it, and I enjoyed the contrast between this story and the earlier stories. Kirby tackled the subject of emerging technology, which was kind of cool. Plus, it was a conclusion to the story, and a pretty satisfying one at that. It's simply not as good as the earlier stories, so I can see why so many people didn't like it, but I thought it was OK for what it was.

The reason I gave this volume 5 stars was because this was where all the pieces started to fall into place. It didn't quite get there, but I can't imagine a more appropriate use of the phrase "A for effort." This was definitely an A+ effort, and I give Kirby all the credit in the world for being ambitious enough to make this work as well as it did.

Moving on from this particular volume to the series in general, though? WOW. To say that Kirby was an idea man is the understatement of the millennium. I have no idea how he ever slept with all of these bizarre things taking up room in his brain, but judging by the sheer quantity of work he churned out, I don't imagine he ever got much sleep anyway. The Fourth World saga is epic and insane in the best possible way, and now that I've read it, every other DC book makes so much more sense. Maybe-- just maybe-- I'll be able to understand Final Crisis now. Or not. We'll see.