A special, slightly different episode: Paul and "That's the Issue" host Matt Lune embark on a podcast journey, as they launch "The Mother Box: A New Gods by Jack Kirby Podcast" project, a read-through of the "Fourth World Omnibus" by Jack Kirby. Together, Matt and Paul aim to learn about the New Gods universe, characters, and stories in anticipation of the planned "New Gods" movie directed by Ava Duvernay. They will read through and discuss Kirby's New Gods work issue by issue. And they'll invite on experts and other readers to inform them along the way. This episode is a pilot, of sorts, for "The Mother Box," as well as a briefing about Jack Kirby, the New Gods, and what we hope to do with the project. Next week, on "That's the Issue," we will continue with a closer reading of the first issues of the "Fourth World Omnibus," the first three issues of Jack Kirby's work at DC on "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen." Let us know what you think! Some primer articles you might check out: Multiversity’s Jonathan O’Neal’s piece: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/longform/fourth-world-problems/ DC’s 101: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2016/03/09/dc-comics-101-who-are-the-new-gods Nerdist Primer: https://nerdist.com/new-gods-primer-dc-comics-jack-kirby/ IGN rundown: http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/03/16/the-new-gods-explained-who-are-the-dc-characters Chris Sims at Comics Alliance: http://comicsalliance.com/ask-chris-54-the-mythology-of-jack-kirbys-new-gods/ A blogger’s explainer piece: https://dcmultiversehistorian.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/what-the-deal-with-the-fourth-world/ Recent Kirby write-up in the Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/jack-kirby-new-gods-marvel-comic-book-artist-recognition-a8259236.html The Vulture’s Reisman longform: http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/jack-kirby-fourth-world-steppenwolf-justice-league.html Another blogger’s take, what’s wrong with New Gods (it’s Superman): http://www.comicscube.com/2013/11/whats-wrong-with-new-gods-look-at-jack.html LA Times “Reading Irresponsibly with Jack Kirby” piece: http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-jack-kirby-20171229-story.html Find the full podcast at http://www.multiversitycomics.com/tag/comics-syllabus/ Subscribe and follow the Comics Syllabus podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play podcasts, or wherever or copy this RSS feed to your podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:235183739/sounds.rss Follow Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwoPlai Feel free to drum up discussion on the Comics Syllabus Facebook page: http://facebook.com/ComicsSyllabus