"AN EPIC FOR OUR TIMES"...?

Images copyright DC COMICS

Here's the cover of JACK KIRBY's first issue of NEW GODS, as it appeared back at the start of the 1970s.  Part of what came to be known as the FOURTH WORLD saga (along with FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE, and SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN), it lasted for 11 bi-monthly issues before being cancelled due to disappointing sales.  (Forever People likewise disappeared after 11 issues, Jack relinquished Jimmy Olsen after 15 issues, and Mister Miracle 'expired' after 18.)

 

Did you know, however, that the premier New Gods story was originally intended to debut in an issue of SHOWCASE?  Here's how it could've looked had Jack not successfully argued for the series getting its own title.  Kirby thought it would stand a better chance of being a hit in its own comic, rather than as a 'try-out' strip in a 'revolving-door' mag.  He may have been wrong (in fact, if not in theory), but if anyone deserved to be given the best chance to succeed, it was Jack.

And, just in case you were wondering, when SHOWCASE #94 eventually did appear (in 1977), it featured the first of a three issue DOOM PATROL run.  Enjoy, history lovers.

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UPDATE: Since originally publishing this post, I've been advised that the SHOWCASE/NEW GODS cover (originally sent to me in an email with no reference to its source) is merely a much later 'mock-up' of what the cover could have looked like, and not an archival image.  I've also been informed that it may have originated on (or been inspired by) another blog - which misleadingly lists it as an 'unpublished rejected or altered' cover.  As it was fraudulently misrepresented, we could be forgiven for regarding some other assertions by the blogger in question with an extremely large pinch of salt.

ADVENTURE In The 21st CENTURY...

 

Agent 21, Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds & Stingray copyright relevant owner(s)

A couple of months ago (here), I posted the cover of the very first TV CENTURY 21 ANNUAL for 1966 (released towards the end of '65), so I thought you might be ready for another look 'back' at the 21st Century.  Here's the Annual cover for 1967, containing all the old favourites that anybody who is old enough will remember.  Just think - when this Annual first appeared, man hadn't yet walked on the moon.

I often wonder if today's children will one day reminisce with such affection over what they used to read, as - in the main - there doesn't seem to be as many quality publications around for kids as there used to be back in the 'old' days.  There's certainly nothing today that compares with TV21 (as it was known, for short) and I doubt that there ever will be again.

One of the things I enjoyed about the weekly comic was The DALEKS strip, which ran for 104 issues.  It's a shame the Daleks never appeared in the Annuals though (apart from the odd photo to advertise the weekly), as it would have been great to see them in a strip consisting of several pages, as opposed to just one on the back page of the comic.  However, they did have their own Annuals in 1964, '65 & '66, so that's something to be grateful for I suppose.