Forever People
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| Forever People | |
 The Forever People from Jack Kirby's 4th World #17, artist Dan Jurgens |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Forever People #1, (February 1971) |
| Created by | Jack Kirby (writer & artist) |
| In story information | |
| Member(s) | Beautiful Dreamer Big Bear Infinity-Man Mark Moonrider Serifan Vykin |
The Forever People are a fictional group of extraterrestial superheroes published by DC Comics. They first appeared in Forever People #1 (February 1971), and were created by Jack Kirby as part of his "Fourth World" epic.
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[edit] Fictional history
The heroes are a group of young New Gods from New Genesis who were on a mission to oppose Darkseid on Earth, but talked, dressed and acted much like the flower children of the period. In addition to the individual abilities and equipment of the members, the group can join together using the technology of a Mother Box to summon the powerful hero known as the Infinity-Man. The group travelled by use of their Super-Cycle.
They first appeared in their own title, The Forever People, in 1971, which lasted eleven issues and ended on a cliffhanger. In the last issue, they summoned Infinity-Man, swapping places with him on a distant planet named Adon. Infinity-Man was apparently destroyed in combat with Devilance the Pursuer, leaving the Forever People stranded on Adon.
In 1988, a six issue Forever People limited series was published, showing what had happened to the Forever People on Adon. During this series, all the things that happened to them on the planet were reversed, and they were restored to our part of the universe. This series revealed that the Forever People were Earth born humans, abducted from different timelines, and gathered to protect the human race. They were told that a being named Maya had created the Super-Cycle.
The Forever People play a role in the later Fourth World stories, appearing briefly amongst the New Genesis refugees in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle.
In 2007, Superman and Mister Miracle discover that The Forever People were murdered several months prior to the discovery of their bodies in Death of the New Gods, and it is later revealed that an impostor posing as Himon has been murdering the New Gods as an agent for the Source.
In the Final Crisis Sketchbook, the Forever People, along with other members of the New Gods are shown to be given updated looks, which Grant Morrison calls "more gothic art school student than flower power".
[edit] Members
[edit] Beautiful Dreamer
During the original Kirby run, Beautiful Dreamer had been linked romantically to Mark Moonrider, although outside of hand-holding, the exact nature of their relationship was never directly specified. In the 1988 miniseries, it was established that Dreamer had been married to Big Bear, and together they had a child, named Maya after the spirit of their old Mother Box. Since then, however, their marriage and daughter has been voided by a retcon during John Byrne's Jack Kirby's Fourth World series. When last shown, Dreamer was romantically involved with Takion, the new Highfather of New Genesis.
In Superman & Batman: Generations 3, she marries Superman, and has his children, Lar-El and Vara. All three are killed by Darkseid.
- Dreamer has psionic powers, with which she can create illusions. She has also been able, like other New Gods, to sense fluctuations within the Source.
[edit] Big Bear
Big Bear had been married to Beautiful Dreamer, and together they had Maya, their daughter. A retcon later showed that the marriage never happened and Maya was never born.
- Big Bear has superhuman strength and can mentally alter the density of objects. In Forever People vol. 1, #7, he was shown to have been responsible for the historical event that led to the legend of King Arthur.
[edit] Mark Moonrider
During the original Kirby run, Beautiful Dreamer had been linked romantically to Mark Moonrider, although outside of hand-holding, the exact nature of their relationship was never directly specified. In the 1988 miniseries set on Adon, Mark was shown to have fallen in love with, and later married one of the natives, Mina. They had 3 children together - Merry, Wendy and Starbright - but when the Dark took over Adon, they were all reverted to savagery, leaving Mark with only his friends.
- In addition to his leadership skills, Mark also has a Megaton Touch, which allows him to shoot bolts of energy from his hands.
[edit] Serifan
Serifan is the youngest member of the group. With no super-powers, he is usually the most vulnerable. The Dark saw this and possessed Serifan, using him to conquer Forevertown and plague the Forever People. After the Dark was defeated he returned to his normal self.
- Serifan has no super powers, but he dresses like a traditional cowboy and always carries "cosmic cartridges" for his six-shooters which possess numerous specific functions.
- Although all of the cartridges have never been catalogued, those seen in action have uses such as being able to generate an anti-gravitational force, create force fields, tune the wielder into the "cosmic Harmony" that is linked to the Source, and, in the case of the "Blue Cartridge", allow Deadman to merge with a "Follower" and have a body of his own once again.
[edit] Vykin
Throughout the Kirby run, Vykin was referred to as "Vykin the Black". He was the first black super-hero to appear in a DC comic book, preceding Kirby's Black Racer by approximately 7 months. The use of the ethnic descriptor in his name, as in other Kirby characters such as the Black Racer, already seemed awkward at the time, but reflects the kind of labelling that was commonplace in the multi-ethnic New York of Kirby's 1930s childhood. As political correctness about such naming conventions took greater hold, the obvious racial descriptor was dropped when the Fourth World titles were revived in the late 1980s. When the Forever People were stranded on Adon, Mark Moonrider thought it would be advantageous to civilize the people of the planet. When Vykin used their Mother Box to do so, it overloaded and was destroyed, killing Vykin in the process, but managing to create Forevertown. When the Dark overtook and reversed the effects of the Mother Box, Vykin was brought back to life. Recently he was reunited on New Genesis with his mother, Valkyra the Commander, who sacrificed her life to save her lover Orion.
- Vykin has magnetic powers which allow him to attract or repel to objects of either iron or steel. He also has an innate talent with machines and electronics.
[edit] Infinity-Man
Infinity-Man is Drax, the older brother of Uxas, who would later become Darkseid of Apokolips, and became the Infinity-Man after treachery at the hands of Uxas while attempting to harness the Omega Force for himself. No explanation was given as to why he was involved with the Forever People other than Big Bear's offhanded comment to Superman in the first issue of "we've got an arrangement with the Infinity Man".
- The Infinity-Man's powers were never fully cataloged other than having some direct link to the Source. He was shown capable of flight, super-strength, enhanced vision powers, and the ability to negate gravity and convert it into a repulsive force.
[edit] Awards
This series, along with New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen won Jack Kirby a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1973.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- According to the audio commentary on Justice League season 2, scenes featuring the Forever People were animated for inclusion in the episode "Twilight" (Part Two). These scenes were an action sequence where the Forever People rescued the children of New Genesis during Darkseid's attack. Due to time constraints, the scenes were cut down to a brief appearance at the end of the episode where the Forever People present the rescued children to Highfather.
[edit] Notes
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- Mark Moonrider was originally just "Moonrider", and there is some considerable speculation that the "Mark" was added as a tribute to one of Kirby's assistants at the time, Mark Evanier. Evanier has denied repeatedly that this was the case, but the vast majority of Kirby's peers, as well as scholars in Kirby's works such as John Morrow, feel that Evanier is simply being humble.
- Of Kirby's "Fourth World" titles, Forever People had the quickest drop in sales and the lowest sales overall of the four titles, including Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen.
- The process by which the Forever People switch places with the Infinity Man was, by Kirby's own admission, a homage of sorts to Billy Batson's exchange with Captain Marvel; Batson would shout "Shazam!", while the Forever People would shout "Taruu". Captain Marvel noted the similitude when he meet the Forever People during a Superman storyline, in a battle against Brainiac.
- Another "Super-Cycle" like the Forever People's was later found by Young Justice and became their method of transportation; the two teams eventually come into conflict over the cycles.
- In the 10th issue of the original Kirby run, Deadman guest-starred in a story where he was given a "Follower" - an android built with Apokolips technology, and later captured by the Forever People - and a "Blue Cartridge" from Serifan's collection to allow Boston Brand to merge with the Follower and thus give him a new body to function with. This was never referred to again in any Deadman story that followed.
- The Eternal Youths from Savage Dragon comics are based on the Forever People.
[edit] External links
- Cosmic Teams: New Gods
- Index to the Earth-1 Fourth World stories
- The New Gods Library - An Unofficial Fansite
- DCU Guide: Old Gods
- [1] Comic Book Awards Almanac
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