Born On The Fourth World: Part I

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133, October 1970

“Were Jimmy’s new friends a bad influence?”

I was born in October, 1970 and so was Jack Kirby’s Fourth World.

The Fourth World was to be a series of interconnected comic books that Kirby saw as his magnum opus. For the first time in his comics career, Kirby would finally have total creative control and copyright over his characters and concepts. It was to be a new dawn for a new mythology. A new pantheon of New Gods.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 does not seem to be the obvious place for Kirby to start his ultimate statement on the artform. The previous adventures of Jimmy Olsen had been bizarre, whimsical tales. But, as the story begins, we can see that this is not quite the Olsen of old. We are in a transitional phase. Jimmy is no longer wearing his trademark bowtie. Instead, he is dressed in a modern (not to say ‘Mod’) rollneck sweater and sports jacket. He is investigating two news-stories. The first story, harks back to the past. The second, to the future.

The Newsboy Legion had been created previously by Kirby (with Joe Simon), when he had been employed by DC comics in 1942. Who Jimmy meets in this story are the son’s of the original, wartime quartet; Tommy, Big-Words, Gabby & Scrapper, with an additional, new fifth member, Flipper Dipper, an Afro-American teen, dressed in a frogman suit, because, “He’s hip on scuba diving!”

Jimmy finds it hard to believe that these new Newsboys would have the ability to construct the futuristic ‘Whiz Wagon,’ which they have stashed in their garage - This miracle car is rendered, beautifully, over two pages, in Kirby’s signature, techno-primitive style.

Meanwhile, across town Clark Kent is meeting his new boss, Morgan Edge, the President of Galaxy Broadcasting System, the new, corporate owners of the Daily Planet. Clark is concerned, as Edge had sent Jimmy to investigate a dangerous, lawless place of weird motorcycle gangs called, ‘The Wild Area.’ Edge insists that sending Jimmy and the Newsboys was the only way to gain the trust of the youth subcultures that inhabit the place, as they, “Trust nobody over twenty five!”

When Clark leaves, Edge makes a phone call to Inter-Gang, the global, organised crime syndicate, to which he is allied, in order to arrange an “accident” for Kent. Both Morgan Edge and Inter-Gang were additions to the Superman mythos that are still in play today (the latter appearing as antagonists for Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s recent Black Adam movie). It is very Kirby to be casually flinging-in timeless characters and concepts, after just a few pages into the story.

The (failed) attempt on his life further raises Clark’s concern for Jimmy. Deciding to investigate further, he in phones-in sick and flies off, as Superman, in search of his pal. He need not have worried, as Jimmy and the Newsboys’ incursion into the Wild Area has been startlingly successful. After a protracted fist-fight with some metal-masked bikers, Jimmy finds himself the appointed leader of a motorcycle gang, called the Outsiders; the gang’s code of honour dictating that whosoever defeats the head of their chapter, immediately becomes their successor!

This, unfortunately, leads to a confrontation between Olsen and his former pal. A disagreement between the two quickly escalates, with Superman succumbing to a blast from a Kryptonite gun, fired by one of the Outsiders. But, by the end of the issue, Olsen and Superman reach an uneasy truce, as they both agree to investigate the Wild Area further, when Jimmy reveals his true mission; to search for the mysterious Mountain of Judgement!

This story is loads of fun. For a man who was in his early fifties at the time, Kirby is clearly enthralled and excited by the societal changes of the period. The counter-culture inhabitants of the Wild Area may well have been unconventional and more than a little, well, wild. But, they are not depicted as the villains of this story. Morgan Edge, the corporate snake, is the only overtly bad guy here.

Superman is concerned by Jimmy’s behaviour and the new biker friends he has made. But, Olsen is clear, he is going to investigate the Mountain of Judgement, with or without his mentor’s help. Superman, the ultimate father figure, is out of his depth with these youngsters and their new-fangled ways. So, despite the Man of Steel’s reservations, he defers to his young protégé.

Where are the New Gods? They are nowhere to be seen here. But, fear not. Jimmy Olsen is preparing the way for their arrival, like a gonzo John The Baptist.