[7] As author Marc Flores, who writes under the pen name Ronin Ro,[8] described: The idea of the New Gods had come to Jack years earlier, when he was plotting 90 percent of the "Tales of Asgard" stories in Thor.

Darkseid, the evil lord of Apokolips, seeks the Anti-Life Equation which will allow him to control the thoughts of all living beings.

[10] Other characters caught in the battle included the Forever People, an extension of the kid gang concept from the 1940s with a group of adolescents adventuring without an adult supervisor;[11] Mister Miracle, a native of New Genesis raised on Apokolips who triumphed over a torturous childhood to become the world's greatest escape artist; and Lightray, the heroic warrior of New Genesis.

Comics historian Les Daniels observed in 1995 that "Kirby's mix of slang and myth, science fiction and the Bible, made for a heady brew, but the scope of his vision has endured".

[12] In 2007, comics writer Grant Morrison commented that "Kirby's dramas were staged across Jungian vistas of raw symbol and storm...

The Fourth World saga crackles with the voltage of Jack Kirby's boundless imagination let loose onto paper".

[30] In 1984, DC Comics reprinted Jack Kirby's original 11 issues of The New Gods in a six-issue limited series.

[32] Kirby instead turned in a one-off story called "On the Road to Armagetto" which was rejected as well, due to the fact that it did not contain a definitive ending to the series.

[32] A 48-page new story called "Even Gods Must Die" was published instead, serving as a prologue for The Hunger Dogs graphic novel, which was greenlit to conclude the series.

[33] It incorporated several pages from the unpublished "On the Road to Armagetto" story and brought Kirby's New Gods series to a close as the "hunger dogs", the citizens of Apokolips, overthrow Darkseid.

[42] Both of these were replaced in March 1997 by the Jack Kirby's Fourth World series, written and drawn by John Byrne.

[44] Writer Grant Morrison used some of the Fourth World mythology in various titles they worked on, including their run on JLA, with Orion and Big Barda becoming members, and in the Seven Soldiers metaseries, in which the New Gods, especially Mister Miracle,[45] played a major role.

[47][48] Final Crisis brought about the end of the Fourth World and the dawn of the Fifth as Darkseid was destroyed and several New Gods are resurrected.

In particular, Darkseid and his uncle Steppenwolf and their attacks on the main DC Universe and Earth 2 play a major role in the rise of the superheroes: the Earth-2 versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman die fighting Steppenwolf[49] while the Earth-1 Justice League forms to fight Darkseid and thwart his invasion of Earth.

[52] The series' writer, Grant Morrison, added: "In Jack Kirby's Fourth World books... it's pretty clear that the New Gods have known about Earth for a long time and in JLA ten years ago, I suggested that part of their interest in us was rooted in the fact that Earth was destined to become the cradle of a new race of 'Fifth World' super-divinities—an eventuality Darkseid is eager to prevent from occurring".

[62] In 2017, in honor of Kirby's 100th birthday, DC Comics released a new hardcover omnibus collecting the story in its entirety.

New contents included essays from Mark Evanier and Walter Simonson, and Kirby pencils, profiles, and pinups.

[64] In September 2021, a new edition, correcting the original error, with better quality paper stock at a reduced price was published with 50 additional pages of unpublished material.

Jack Kirby received a Shazam Award for the original metaseries in the category "Special Achievement by an Individual" in 1971.