First time poster here with a question that vexed me all they way through my recent first reading of the Fourth World: Has any work been done to try and figure out what would have happened?
I mean, the minutia I'm sure were just stories he created on the spot; "The Bug" perhaps? But I've often heard people suggesting that there was some general plan for the central arc: the Orion/Mr. Miracle/Darkseid conflict... do we know anything about the original intent?
I have been told often that Hunger Dogs was not the original intended conclusion. If so, what was? Can we piece this back together?
Tom, Kirby's story as first intended the 23 page "On the Road to Armagetto" is presented at a very small size in the Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 4.
I like both versions, and a plus is the fact the Hunger Dogs is not only longer,but ended up being prefaced by "Even Gods Must Die."
Despite the shoddy inking by Berry on the second half of EGMD and Theakston's obtrusive rendering on The Hunger Dogs, those stories remain near the top of my all time favorite Kirby stories.
Anyone know why Berry diverted from his usual fairly faithful if uninspired inking on about the first half of EGMD, and started using all sorts of inappropriate feathering on the second half of that story?
I've read that Jack didn't necessarily have a buttoned up ending for the 4th World when it was cancel in the early 70s. He did however know that Orion and Darkseid would meet and battle. When Jack came back to "finish" the 4th World much later in the 80s he wanted to end it with this battle that would end up in one dying. DC didn't like this and so it was reconfigured and modified. I don't have my Jack Kirby Collectors handy but one issue reconstructs the Hunger Dogs (issue 50 something I think) in an order closer to Jack's intention.
Also see Han's comment on the Hunger Dogs and how it was rearranged and reined: http://www.whatifkirby.com/gallery/comic-art-listings/journey-mystery-an...
