Jack Kirby's Fourth World
Pictures at an Exhibition #2
As mentioned in a previous post, I recently witnessed an amazing exhibition called Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity. It’s on until March 1st, 2026, and if you live in Los Angeles, or elsewhere for that matter, it really is a must-see. The Skirball Cultural Center encourages photography and social media posting, so I’ve included their caption credits as well, and this time I’m concentrating on the artwork featuring Kirby’s Fourth World, a metaseries of interconnected comic book titles created and illustrated by Kirby, and published by DC Comics from 1970 to 1973.
METRON
Character Design. Pencil, Ink, Collage, and Watercolor: Jack Kirby
Unpublished, Circa 1970. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
This is one of several character design concept pieces Kirby created in advance of his New Gods series.
NEW GODS #2, PP. 2-3.
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Vince Colletta.
DC Comics, 1971. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
In Kirby’s New Gods series, a mythic conflict unfolds between two realms: New Genesis and Apokolips.
Detail from NEW GODS #2, PP. 2-3.
I distinctly remember seeing the first issue of New Gods in the spinner rack of the newsagent I was delivering papers for in my early morning ‘before school’ job as a newspaper delivery boy. I think it was Kirby’s use of a photographic background that caught my attention. From then on I was hooked and spent many hours searching far and wide to try and collect as many of the DC Fourth World series as I could. A tough order in the days before shops devoted to comic books were a thing.
DARKSEID
Pencil Portrait: Jack Kirby.
Unpublished, Circa 1971. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
Kirby envisioned Darkseid as a cosmic fascist dictator, embodying the archetypal essence of totalitarianism.
A signed page from MISTER MIRACLE, featuring Big Barda.
MISTER MIRACLE
Character Design. Pencil, Ink, and Watercolor: Jack Kirby.
Unpublished, Circa late 1960s. Loan Courtesy of Albert Moy.
This color presentation piece was created by Kirby in the late 1960s, featuring super escape artist, Mister Miracle, a character who would subsequently headline his own series published by DC Comics.
THE DEMON #7, PP. 2-3
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Mike Royer.
DC Comics, 1973. Loan Courtesy of Glen David Gold.
Etrigan, a demon from Hell, is bound to Jason Blood, a former knight, who seeks to use Etrigan’s demonic energies for good. This series profoundly influenced Kirby’s artistic vision, inspiring him to create some of his most visually stunning gothic set pieces. Etrigan is commonly depicted as a muscular humanoid creature with yellow skin, horns, red eyes, and pointed, webbed ears.
THE DEMON #16
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Mike Royer.
DC Comics, 1974. Loan Courtesy of Albert Moy.
THE DEMON #12, PP. 2-3
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Mike Royer.
DC Comics, 1973. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
OMAC #8, PP. 2-3
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Mike Royer.
DC Comics, 1975. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
OMAC was Kirby’s most dystopian series. Set in the near future (“The World That’s Coming”), OMAC is about a corporate nobody named Buddy Blank who undergoes a transformative operation, conducted remotely by an artificial intelligence satellite known as “Brother Eye.” This transformation elevates Blank to the status of a super-powered member of the One-Man Army Corps (OMAC).
Detail from OMAC #8, PP. 2-3.
KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH #3, PP. 6-7.
Pencils: Jack Kirby. Inks: Mike Royer.
DC Comics, 1973. Loan Courtesy of Tod Seisser.
One of my favourites in the Fourth World series, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, is a young hero living in a post-apocalyptic future. Following the Great Disaster, humanity has regressed to savagery in a world governed by intelligent, highly evolved animals.
Detail: KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH #3, PP. 6-7.
One of my boyhood dreams to come true was the opportunity to design DC’s collected editions for the entire Jack Kirby Fourth World line, painstakingly recreating the original hand-drawn logos and lettering using Adobe Illustrator. For the JACK KIRBY heading itself, I utilized a Device font called ‘Agent of the Uncanny’.
I’ll finish up with a widescreen piece entitled THE DREAM MACHINE and a Jack Kirby self-portrait from 1983.
JACK KIRBY SELF-PORTRAIT
Pencils: Jack Kirby, 1983.
Loan Courtesy of Glen David Gold.
For more information about Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity: https://www.skirball.org/museum/jack-kirby-heroes-and-humanity
Amazing work, that Metron image with the collage is fantastic.
Those character design pieces are fantastic.