REVIEW - Cosmic Odyssey (Fourth World Spotlight)

Fourth World Spotlight

Review - Cosmic Odyssey

by Brian Grindrod

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World is the most underdeveloped and under-rated property that The King has ever created. For forty years, the characters known as the New Gods that features one of the most powerful villains in the DC universe in Darkseid has never been able to sustain a title for more than 28 issues despite having three spin-off series that starred Mister Miracle, Orion and The Forever People. It appears that the franchise has a dedicated core of fans but it is not large enough to sustain long term sales nor can it reach out to new readers to make it viable for DC to keep on publishing it for more than two years. However, the fault is not to be blamed on the writers and artists who have contributed to the New Gods mythos since Jack Kirby first launched the series in 1971.

In 1988, DC Comics published a four part series printed in the prestige format entitled Cosmic Odyssey. Written by Jim Starlin, whose name is synonymous with super-hero cosmic sagas and featuring artwork by Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola, this story reintroduced the Fourth World. The franchise had been almost all but been forgotten due to the concept being railroaded in different directions during the late 1970s and early 1980s. For the purpose of this tale, Starlin did not delve into the cluttered and confusing background of The New Gods. The legendary writer accurately explains the history and origin of how the planets of Apokolips and New Genesis came to be within the span of a few pages as well as their places within the DC universe.

Cosmic Odyssey strongly connects the ties of the Fourth World to that of the heroes. The saga spotlights DC Comics’ big guns with Batman and Superman but Starlin makes them share the bill with lesser known characters such as John Stewart, Starfire, Martian Manhunter, Etrigan The Demon, Adam Strange and last but not least, Dr. Fate. This motley crew fights side by side with the warriors of New Genesis who is led by none other than Darkseid, master of Apokolips. While this may seen as yet another generic ‘universe shattering’ saga that contains a voluminous cast, it is Starlin’s personas of the characters and their interaction between each other that makes this 200 page story a great read.

From Batman murdering a cannibal alien to John Stewart’s arrogance that results with the destruction of a planet, every chapter gives us an interesting facet of the heroes and their New Genesis allies. Starlin strays away from the boring and predictable relations found in the titles of the DC universe with such team-ups. While they may get the job done and save lives, this does not mean that they tolerate each other or are on amicable terms. This is quite apparent in Act Two when Superman is disgusted from the savagery, bloodlust and disregard of life that Orion possesses towards innocent beings. Lightrays’s egotism makes Starfire disdain him but she is willing to stomach his self-centeredness in order to protect the inhabitants of Rann. The relation between Martian Manhunter and John Stewart brings a dynamic element to the story that humanizes the characters.

While Mike Mignola is known as being the creator, writer and artist of Hellboy, his work on Cosmic Odyssey gives us a preview of what was to come. It is evident that he borrows from Jack Kirby for panel layouts while influenced by Walt Simonson for design but his linework is distinctively his. Today’s techniques and process for coloring makes many of the pre-computerized comics appear outdated but even twenty years after its publication, Steve Oliff’s separations and hues still makes Cosmic Odyssey a modern visual production.

Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola’s Cosmic Odyssey is probably the lesser known of the super-hero cosmic sagas from DC Comics but the story telling, ideas and script is leagues ahead of mediocrity such as Infinite Crisis and super-hero junk such as ‘52’.