History ComicBook / NewGods

* AfterTheEnd: Literally since the prologue is Ragnarok and the New Gods are what came after the Old. Apokolips in particular looks like a Post-Apocalyptic dystopia, being a polluted nightmare filled with machinery and fire pits and is ruled by an absolute tyrant, whose rule is the only thing preventing it from being in a constant state of chaos.

* AfterTheEnd: Literally since the prologue is Ragnarok and the New Gods are what came after the Old. Apokolips in particular looks like a Post-Apocalyptic dystopia, being a polluted nightmare filled with machinery and fire pits and is ruled by an absolute tyrant.

Other concepts of note include [[AppliedPhlebotinum the Source]], an ancient metaphysical [[BuffySpeak energy-thingy]] that's connected to the Source Wall; Mother Boxes, living {{magical computer}}s that some of the New Gods have; Boom Tubes, teleportation tunnels by which the New Gods travel through [[SubspaceOrHyperspace space]] in a degree of minutes; and [[MacGuffin the Anti-Life Equation]], which Darkseid is forever seeking.

Kirby was brought back to give his own official ending to the franchise, as part of a deluxe format reprinting of the eleven issues of New Gods that Kirby produced, but the whole thing fell apart due to [[ExecutiveMeddling editorial interference]] (Kirby was forbidden from killing Darkseid and Orion off... maybe, some sources say otherwise). What ultimately came about was a new story called "Even Gods Must Die", which was a lead-in to the graphic novel "The Hunger Dogs", which suffered extensive executive meddling but offered a semi-decent ending to the series as Kirby (per DC's demands) ended his story with Darkseid overthrown by his slaves.

Later writers revived the characters and concepts, though with a great deal of decay in concept as only Darkseid and Mister Miracle caught on with fans (with Orion and Big Barda tagging along). These stories included the original 1970's ''Secret Society of Super-Villains'', ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeague Rock of Ages]]'', ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'', ''[[CrisisCrossover Cosmic Odyssey, Genesis]]'', ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory2005'', ''The Death of the New Gods'', ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'', and finally ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', which slammed the door on the New Gods once and for all, while giving Darkseid a hell of a send-off as the VillainDecay got shrugged off of him on his way out the door. However, after the ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', they were all (presumably) brought back to life thanks to CosmicRetcon. Darkseid serves as, of all things, the StarterVillain for the Justice League, and his invasion of Earth is what leads to their formation. Fittingly, he also served as the ''final'' villain of that particular ''Justice League'' run, in the "Darkseid War" story arc.

* AfterTheEnd: Literally since the prologue is Ragnarok and the New Gods are what came after the Old.

** ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' restores much of the characters to Kirby's original vision of them, then slams the door on them for good by having fall of them die and the heroes of the DC Universe finishing off Darkseid for good after he finally mastered the Anti-Life Equation and attempted to conquer the universe. It wouldn't be until the ''ComicBook/New52'' era that the New Gods would be revisited.

** ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' restores much of the characters to Kirby's original vision of them, then slams the door on them for good.
** ''The Hunger Dogs'' was intended to be the finale for Jack Kirby's original story, though the New Gods' popularity led the story to receive follow-ups from other writers.

* EndOfSeriesAwareness: The 18th issue of Jack Kirby's run on the original ''Mister Miracle'' series ended its final page with a message plainly stating that the comic had ended and that there wouldn't be any further issues. While the comic would be renewed for seven more issues three years later, these issues no longer had any involvement from Jack Kirby and instead had Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers as the writer and illustrator of issues 19-22, with the last three issues written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Michael Golden. Ironically enough, this short-lived revival abruptly ended without any indication that the 25th issue was going to be the last issue.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: The Black Racer knows his next target! Who is it? He? She? You? And yes, he's staring at the reader.