It’s time for Thursday Night Thinking, so let’s take a look at the Mighty Avengers.
In times of crisis, this team will put all selfish thoughts aside and devise a battle plan that is guaranteed to succeed!
Or …. maybe they’ll just flail about helplessly and hurl insults at each other.
Morons.
There came a time when the New Gods died!
Jack Kirby’s Fourth World is the next target in the Big Two’s ongoing mission to tear apart and recreate second- and third-tier characters for fun and - especially - profit.
Given DC’s brilliant revamps of the Marvel Family, Cassandra Cain, Martian Manhunter and countless others, we don’t have much faith in assassin-for-hire Jim Starlin’s plans to eradicate the New Gods.
(Especially given Starlin’s contention that certain aspects of the series will p!$$ off ‘fanatical’ Kirby fans.)
Despite such disquieting sentiments, the Keeper isn’t that outraged about the New Gods’ impending doom. Kirby originally envisioned the series as a finite story, and few of his successors managed to further the King’s concepts.
(In fact, the only exceptions we can think of are Walt Simonson’s Orion, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ Mister Miracle, Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers Of Victory and -ironically - Starlin and Mike Mignola’s Cosmic Odyssey mini.)
What’s more troubling is the apparent dearth of new ideas at the Big Two. Once upon a time, both DC & Marvel routinely tossed out colorful concepts like Shade The Changing Man and Omega The Unknown. You just got the feeling that comic books were attempting to shatter the old formulas.
These days, pop merely eats itself as mainstream comics recycle everything it can find and throw in the requisite gore and grit to draw in the Silent Hill and Saw II fanatics. Sure, the writing and art at Marvel and DC are arguably slicker and more sophisticated. But are creators bringing anything new to the table?
If DC was truly interested in furthering Kirby’s legacy, the company would create new characters instead of splashing a bit of paint on decades-old concepts.
Unfortunately, that’s apparently asking for too much …
