Kirby's Fourth World Reading List

A reading order for Jack Kirby’s Fourth World titles.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #133-136
Forever People (1971) #1
New Gods (1971) #1
Mister Miracle (1971) #1
Forever People (1971) #2

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #137
New Gods (1971) #2
Mister Miracle (1971) #2
Forever People (1971) #3
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #138

New Gods (1971) #3
Mister Miracle (1971) #3
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #139
Forever People (1971) #4
New Gods (1971) #4

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #141 (#140 was an all reprints issue)
Mister Miracle (1971) #4
Forever People (1971) #5
New Gods (1971) #5
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #142, 143

Mister Miracle (1971) #5
Forever People (1971) #6
New Gods (1971) #6
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #144
Mister Miracle (1971) #6

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #145
Forever People (1971) #7
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #146
New Gods (1971) #7
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #147

Mister Miracle (1971) #7
Forever People (1971) #8
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) #148
New Gods (1971) #8
Mister Miracle (1971) #8

Forever People (1971) #9
New Gods (1971) #9
Mister Miracle (1971) #9
Forever People (1971) #10
New Gods (1971) #10

Mister Miracle (1971) #10
Forever People (1971) #11
New Gods (1971) #11
Mister Miracle (1971) #11-18
New Gods (1984) #6

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Lol.
That should be ‘Reading’ list, not ‘Rading’.

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Really interesting, did you make this yourself or find it somewhere online and what is the chronology based on? Publication or Story elements?

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Lol I just looked at the list and saw the Jimmy Olsen issues sprinkled in so it’s not based on publication dates

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I used Mike’s Amazing World of Comics yo make the list.

Aside from the first issues of Jimmy Olsen, which are continued directly from each other, the issues are sorted by publication dates (and not necessarily cover dates).

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And there were a few months where Jimmy Olsen was released the same week as another title.
In those cases, Jimmy got listed first.

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Detailed list-

Jimmy Olsen #133-136 four-part story that takes place before Forever People #1

Forever People #1 - Dec 1, 1970
New Gods #1 - Dec 22, 1970

Mister Miracle #1 - Jan 14, 1971

Forever People #2 - Feb 2, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #137 - Feb 18, 1971
New Gods #2 - Feb 18, 1971

Mister Miracle #2 - Mar 16, 1971

Forever People #3 - Apr 1, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #138 - Apr 13, 1971
New Gods #3 - Apr 22, 1971

Mister Miracle #3 - May 18, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #139 - May 25, 1971

Forever People #4 - June 1, 1971
New Gods #4 - June 15, 1971

Jimmy Olsen #141 (skipping the non-Fourth World issue that was reprints of older material) - July 8, 1971
Mister Miracle #4 - July 13, 1971

Forever People #5 - Aug 3, 1971
New Gods #5 - Aug 12, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #142 - Aug 19, 1971

Jimmy Olsen #143 - Sept 7, 1971
Mister Miracle #5 - Sept 16, 1971

Forever People #6 - Oct 5, 1971
New Gods #6 - Oct 14, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #144 - Oct 19, 1971

Mister Miracle #6 - Nov 11, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #145 - Nov 18, 1971

Forever People #7 - Dec 2, 1971
Jimmy Olsen #146 - Dec 21, 1971
New Gods #7 - Dec 21, 1971

Jimmy Olsen #147 - Jan 13, 1972
Mister Miracle #7 - Jan 13, 1972

Forever People #8 - Feb 1, 1972
Jimmy Olsen #148 (last Fourth World issue) - Feb 17, 1972
New Gods #8 - Feb 17, 1972

Mister Miracle #8 - Mar 16, 1972

Forever People #9 - Apr 4, 1972
New Gods #9 - Apr 18, 1972

Mister Miracle #9 - May 11, 1972

Forever People #10 - June 1, 1972
New Gods #10 - June 15, 1972

Mister Miracle #10 - July 13, 1972

Forever People #11 (Last Issue) - Aug 1, 1972
New Gods #11 (Last Kirby Fourth World Issue) - Aug 17, 1972

Mister Miracle #11 - Sept 14, 1972

Mister Miracle #12-18 (Last of Kirby’s Fourth World)

New Gods (1984) #6 (reprint series that reprints New Gods #1-11, and gives a 12th issue that finishes Kirby’s original story)

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And a bit of trivia.

The New Gods were originally planned by Kirby to be Marvel characters.

The Asgardians (including Thor) were to be killed off with Ragnarok and then replaced with the New Gods.
But that idea was nixed and Kirby brought the New Gods to DC and basically continued his post-Ragnarok story line over there.

https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-444/

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This is really awesome and handy, I hope all of these are here on DCU?

Also, just watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spetRzF83us

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@Mae,
Yeah, they’re all on here. Enjoy!
I’ll have to watch that video.

Seems we’re missing DC Graphic Novel #4 here on DCU which is apparently the finale :frowning:

Yeah. We’ll see if it gets added, but most likely not as it was a graphic novel.

If you get interested enough, Cosmic Teams has a very good feature on the Fourth World characters and goes into a lot of detail in explaining how the history all fits together.
https://www.cosmicteams.com/newgods/

Throughout all the various relaunches of the New Gods mythos, the original stories have remained canon but everything else (including the graphic novel) have been erased.
Well, up until New52, which finally even erased the original stories by Kirby.

It should qualify since it’s a series that was published in single issues. Maybe it hasn’t been digitized yet?

A couple years later… I corrected the typo.
:slight_smile:

No The Hunger Dogs (1985)?