The DCEU isn’t slowing down. After the success of ‘Aquaman’, news leaked the other day that Ava DuVernay (‘A Wrinkle In Time’) who has been hired to direct a ‘New Gods’ movie currently in development, will most likely feature the following characters from Jack Kirby’s 'Fourth World' stories in her film: Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and- as villains- Granny Goodness and the Furies (see this CBR article, here).
For those not in the know, the 'New Gods' were created by Jack Kirby during his 1970’s stint with DC Comics. Kirby called their universe the 'Fourth World'.
The background story was that Kirby had gotten tired of drawing issue after issue for Marvel and regarded as a second-string assistant to Stan Lee. When he negotiated with DC for a chance to write and draw, DC accepted and asked him what he’d like to do.
Kirby, perhaps to the surprise of everyone, said that he wanted a chance with a failing DC title: the Superman spin-off Jimmy Olsen book. It wasn’t long before Kirby’s ambitious nature and story-telling genius transformed the, till-then, uber-goofy title into a platform for a cosmic story arc of truly titanic scope: the 'Fourth World tetralogy': The Forever People, The New Gods, Mr. Miracle and Jimmy Olsen [?].
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (Oct. 1970) – First appearance of the ‘Fourth World’ Concept
Yes, it all starts with this book and so, if there’s a Fourth World movie that becomes successful, I would expect copies of this comic to see rising prices. Will it join the ranks of Jimmy Olsen #134, its sister book still sought out by collectors for introducing the Master of Apokolips: Darkseid? Well, stranger things have happened. With only 94 copies on the CGC census, this book has seen only two notable sales over the last month: a 9.8 which sold for $305.23 on December 24, 2018, and an 8.0 which sold for $47.00 on December 10, 2018. Lots of room for growth- long range roi is mixed with highest grades (9.6 and 9.8) currently negative.
Let’s turn to the Mister Miracle series. Long overshadowed by the more Darkseid-centric books, i.e. Forever People and New Gods, Mister Miracle has been picking up the slack lately. The choice for making Mister Miracle the focus of the upcoming film was probably influenced by the highly praised Tom King and Mitch Gerad series that won the Eisner award in 2018.
Mister Miracle #1 (April 1971)– First Mister Miracle, Mister Miracle first appears in this 1971 cover dated book written and illustrated by Kirby. Numbers on this are interesting with sales having really picked up throughout 2018.
This book has seen mainly positive returns in the long run but currently has mixed negative returns in most grades over the last few months. I expect this to change. The most sales of CGC certified blue label copies over the last year were of 9.4s and the average price on that grade is now $550.00. It's currently showing positive returns of +5.5% over the last 12 months. Other Mister Miracle books to keep an eye on would be,
Mister Miracle #2 (June 1971)– First Granny Goodness which has a current FMV of $325.00 in certified 9.8 grade. Last two sales were of an 8.5 on eBay for $55.99 (Jan. 14, 2019) and a 9.4 CGC on Heritage Auction (Nov. 18, 2018) for $132.00. That may end up looking like the bargain of the year if the movie is a hit.
Mister Miracle #4 (Oct. 1971) – First Big Barda, this has a current FMV of an impressive $3, 600.00 in certified 9.8. Most recent sales have been of an 8.5 on December 27, 2018, which sold for $235.00 (eBay) and a 9.4 which sold for $675.00 (Jan. 06, 2019, eBay). There are currently only 211 copies of this book on the CGC census. It is the first appearance of Scott Free’s girlfriend (although they get married in issue #18), and should really take off if the movie makes a splash. The last MM book that might spike in the future is,
Mr. Miracle #6 (Feb 1972)– First appearance of the Furies. Other than the Furies, this comic features the unflattering caricature of Stan Lee aka Funky Flashman. This was a product of Kirby’s anger at Lee, but as even Kirby fans should acknowledge, it was not completely fair or deserved. If anyone doubts that, then just compare Kirby’s solo scripted books to the work he did with Lee at Marvel and you’ll see how much credit Stan ‘the Man’ actually deserves for all those Marvel Silver Age stories. MM #6 has a current FMV of $825.00 in certified 9.8 grade. The most recent sale was of a 7.5 on December 29, 2018 and that sold for a mere $29.91 on eBay.
Finally, to complete this survey of the Fourth World keys, the first time the term ‘Fourth World’ was applied to this new universe created by Kirby was, to my knowledge, on the cover of New Gods #4 (August 1971) , just don’t ask me what that term is supposed to mean. Only 58 of these on the CGC census. Current FMV for a certified 9.8 is around $350.00, and sales are scant.
