New Gods

New Gods
Cover to The New Gods #1 (February/March 1971). Art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck.
Species publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The New Gods #1 (February/March 1971)
Created by	Jack Kirby (writer and artist)
Characteristics
Place of origin	New Genesis/Apokolips
Notable members	List of New Gods
The New Gods or New Gods
Series publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Vol. 1 Bimonthly Vol. 2–4 Monthly
Format	Vol. 1, 3, 4 Ongoing series Vol. 2 and Death of the New Gods Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	(Vol. 1) February/March 1971 – October/November 1972 (Vol. 1 continued) July 1977 – July/August 1978 (Vol. 2) June – November 1984 (Vol. 3) February 1989 – August 1991 (Vol. 4) October 1995 – February 1997 (Death of the New Gods) Early December 2007 – June 2008
Number of issues	Vol. 1 19 Vol. 2 6 Vol. 3 28 Vol. 4 15 Death of the New Gods 8
Creative team
Writer(s)	List Vol. 1 Jack Kirby, Gerry Conway Vol. 3 Mark Evanier Vol. 4 Tom Peyer, Rachel Pollack, John Byrne Death of the New Gods Jim Starlin
Penciller(s)	List Vol. 1 Jack Kirby, Don Newton, Rich Buckler Vol. 3 Paris Cullins, Steve Erwin, Rick Hoberg Vol. 4 Luke Ross, John Byrne Death of the New Gods Jim Starlin
Inker(s)	List Vol. 1 Vince Colletta, Mike Royer, Dan Adkins Vol. 3 Bob Lewis, Willie Blyberg Vol. 4 Brian Garvey, Bob Wiacek Death of the New Gods Matt Banning, Art Thibert
Collected editions
Jack Kirby's New Gods

The New Gods are a fictional race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in New Gods #1.

The New Gods are natives of the twin planets of New Genesis and Apokolips. New Genesis is an idyllic planet filled with unspoiled forests, mountains, and rivers and is ruled by the Highfather, while Apokolips is a nightmarish, ruined dystopia filled with machinery and fire pits and is ruled by the tyrant Darkseid. The two planets were once part of the same world, a planet called Urgrund (German for "primeval ground"), but it was split apart millennia ago after the death of the Old Gods during Ragnarök. The characters associated with the New Gods are often collectively referred to as "Jack Kirby's Fourth World". Kirby began the "Fourth World" in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (Oct. 1970). The New Gods first appeared in New Gods #1 (Feb.-March 1971) and Forever People #1 (Feb.-March 1971). Another "Fourth World" title Mister Miracle was launched in April 1971. Various New Gods, notably Darkseid, went on to interact with other denizens of the DC Universe.

Kirby's production assistant of the time, Mark Evanier, remarked that:

Folks forget but the New Gods saga was intended to be a limited series ... There was no intention that these characters would go on forever. After Jack's books started getting good sales figures, DC demanded that we keep them going and use guest stars like Deadman, which we were very much against doing. So Kirby had this novel he was forever stuck in the middle of – he could never get to the last chapter. ... You can spot the issues where Jack kind of gave up trying to advance the story of Darkseid and Orion and was marking time. If those books had been intended from the start to run indefinitely, they would have been done very differently.