When considering the Fourth World Saga as a whole, one of the purest examples of the messages about love and war, about generational conflict, and of the effects of battle on a person’s body and mind, can be found in “New Gods” #6. It’s famously one of Jack Kirby’s favorite issues, and it’s a personal highlight of many fans too. The subtext isn’t exactly subtle throughout the issue, but in many ways, it’s that purity and simplicity that makes it so affecting.
Written and Illustrated by Jack Kirby
Inked and lettered by Mike RoyerOrion rescues Lightray from a trap set by the remaining Deep Six members. The two of them encounter industrialist Farley Sheridan and his son and daughter at sea. When the five aquatic Apokoliptics strike, Orion and Lightray manage to destroy them all, but Sheridan’s son dies in the battle.
More famously known by its title “The Glory Boat!,” this issue feels like the culmination of multiple moving parts, narratively speaking. By this point in his career, Jack Kirby had become well established at DC and was deep into his run on a series of comics that have collectively come to be known as his Fourth World Saga. “Mister Miracle,” “New Gods” and “Forever People” (along with issues of “Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen”) introduced us the warring worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, as well as the timeless characters of Darkseid, Orion, Big Barda and Mister Miracle. Through these characters and this grand, cosmic opera, Kirby explored his own, often conflicting opinions about the purpose of war and the effects that World War II had had on both him and an entire generation.
“New Gods” #6 contains some predictably stunning artwork, not least of which is within the opening scene. An oil tanker is struck by an enormous pink Leviathon, its mammoth tusks tearing the huge vessel to shreds over a glorious double page spread. This beast was being hunted at the end of the last issue by Orion, golden protector of the heavenly New Genesis, after it and its creators – Darkseid’s Deadly minions, the Deep Six. We see it tear through more ships, including the S.S. Aurora, whose three surviving castaways are rescued by Orion. Farley Sheridan, the father of the other two survivors, is a WWII vet and a man that sees the world around him falling apart thanks to people like his son Richard, who’s a conscientious objector. His daughter Lynn is also there but doesn’t get a lot to do in the issue, an unfortunate consequence of the age of the comic. Although Kirby does create some strong female characters (including Big Barda,) Lynn Sheridan is not one of them.
Throughout the issue the Sheridan family provide our focus and our viewpoint of the crazy events transpiring around them, all the while they serve as a fairly on-the-nose allegory about the different attitudes towards a war that separated the older generation from the young in this period in history. Orion rescues his New Genesis colleague Lightray, and together they battle against the Deep Six, utilising a one-eyed monster found below decks of an angular, unusual craft to call out to the Leviathon, drawing it back to them for one final conflict.
Throughout the issue, Farley, who proclaims that he landed on the beaches of Normandy, constantly berates his son for refusing to fight. Later in the issue, however, when faced with a battle to protect Lynn, Farley freezes and it’s up to his son to dive into the fray. Richard is punished pretty gruesomely for this act, however, having his face “erased” by Deep Six member Jafar. This act of turning Richard into a literal “faceless soldier” is, again, fairly on the nose, but eventually, Kirby’s attitudes towards the two sides are clear. Farley’s view is eventually punished by Kirby, and Richard’s view praised, both in actions and in the opinions of the New Gods: when Lightray discovers that Richard hates violence and war, he proclaims that he’d fit in fine on New Genesis.
Kirby’s views on the ravaging effects of war are scattered throughout his work. Here though, he’s focusing in on the difference between father and son, or rather those that fought in WWII and the generation that followed. Has Farley really learned the lessons of that conflict, if he considers the “brave” thing to do is to dive straight back in? Richard’s pacifism brands him, and all like him, a conscientious objector, but Lightray’s comments imply that his viewpoint leads the world towards utopia. Farley, of course, freezes when confronted with Jafar, unable to do the very thing he berates his son for refusing to do. In the end, Lynn is saved and Farley is left floating in the ocean, awaiting a distant ship to rescue him.
Continued belowWith these consequences, Kirby clearly lays out who we should side with, which doesn’t seem all that surprising reading the issue now (Farley is obviously a bully,) but take this within the context of the age. Released in 1971, the Vietnam War was still ongoing, although Nixon had successfully removed all troops from the areas of greatest conflict the previous year. The tide of public opinion, especially among the younger generation, was turning away from the desire for war which they perceived their parents as indulging in. Kirby’s experiences with war changed him greatly, and his views were laid out on the page. He despised the concept of fascism and intolerance, and through his New Gods he portrayed a world in which Evil as a concept is strong, but Good is far stronger.
Take Orion and Mister Miracle. Orion was the son of Darkseid, Mister Miracle (Scott Free) the son of Highfather. Used as pawns in an uneasy truce between the warring planets, the children were traded to ensure mutual destruction would be avoided. Orion, raised on New Genesis, became a beacon of light and hope. Following this logic, you would assume Scott would become a twisted vessel of darkness, but instead, he escapes from Apokolips and becomes driven to do nothing but good in the world. With this, Kirby is explicit: Good will always triumph over Evil.
The entire Fourth World Saga is a joy to revisit, its allegorical fables are a timeless masterpiece of the comic book form. More than that: it’s just so much fun. “New Gods” #6 is the perfect encapsulation of everything that’s brilliant about Kirby’s cosmic opera. The artwork is a stunning tour-de-force, a near flawless example of thrilling storytelling and limitless imagination which, as anyone who reads any of Jack Kirby’s work knows, is just par for the course. The true highlight of “Glory Boat” is a magnificent double page spread depicting the heroes charging fearlessly into battle against the Deep Six, with Orion and Lightray leading the charge, clinging to a giant warhead in what looks like a suicidal collision. The pages have to be seen to be believed (so much of Kirby’s work can be described that way,) and “New Gods” #6 might be the finest example of Jack Kirby’s immense talent.
Final Verdict: 10.0 – The legendary creator produces one of his finest ever issues.
