The Forever People is the last part of Jack Kirby’s
quadrivium of his original Fourth World. The Forever People, whose appellation
is never adequately explained, are the classic team of four guys and a girl.
Mark Moonrider is the leader, and most normal, save for his “megaton touch”;
Serifan is cowboy-themed, armed with “cosmic cartridges”; Big Bear is the
driver and predictably the strong one; Vykin the Black is the token black-skinned
character who does nothing that would scream “black (human)”; and Beautiful
Dreamer is the chick with long-range rather than melee powers. When the Forever
People use the Mother Box, they can summon the Infinity Man in their place,
much like Rick Jones could switch places with the Kree Captain Marvel. At this point,
Infinity Man has no ties to any Fourth World characters other than the Forever People.
The Forever People are a reminder that even among the New
Gods of New Genesis there are degrees of power, and that not all of them are
royalty like Orion and Mister Miracle or elite warriors like Big Barda. The
defiance of these three is lessened without the portrayal of others who find
resistance more intimidating. The Forever People’s adventures illustrate the
external manifestation of human inner conflicts such as the darkness exploited by
Glorious Godfrey (for Amazing Grace is not a Kirby creation) or the illusion of
happiness promoted by Desaad’s Happyland. A team of heroes against a more
potent evil is where Kirby’s genius sometimes shines. In the grand scheme of
the Fourth World, the Forever People are the balance to the Female Furies.
The Forever People lack the driving character narrative
which both Orion and Scott Free possess. Although Beautiful Dreamer is believed
to possess a portion of the Anti-Life Equation, Sunny Sumo eventually usurps that
role. Sunny Sumo is an example of a character whose external manifestation of
the human spirit is diminished by Kirby’s onomastic habits wandering into
accidental racism. Heroes and superheroes are not subtle in their virtues or
their physical traits, but this explicitness can clash with the real world of
the audience (note the current refusal of Sima Liu to autograph Seventies
issues of his Marvel character). Even if this issue is set aside, the Forever
People suffer from the lack of characterization which Orion and Mister Miracle
(and certainly Big Barda) do not; although here it must be conceded that the human
companions of Orion are even more one-dimensional than the New Gods, who are personifications
of ideas important to the Fourth World mythos. The reader has a sense of who
Big Bear and Serifan are, but not so much Beautiful Dreamer, Vykin the Black,
and Moonrider. It is not surprising that Orion and Mister Miracle became
important in the post-Crisis universe, while the Forever People did not.
The Forever People, whatever their flaws might be, do have
an advantage over their nobler fellow heroes: they receive a definite ending within
the Jack Kirby run; Its later overwriting is not the fault of the King. This
conclusion, a concept denied many times to Kirby’s world-building endeavors, is
a poor consolation prize for the lack of a Kirby Ragnarok or epic overthrow of the
father by the son. Fragmentation and incompletion are features of the epic
tradition, as is work thwarted by the powers that be, so in one light at least,
Kirby stands proud among those creators more honored among the academic world.
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