'He's tranquilized--but conscious! Now to prepare him for "psycho-merge!"--The mind "Hook-up!"'

Awesome! That word is inescapable when discussing Kirby, and Mister Miracle #8 is no exception. In fact, I couldn't decide on one selection for today's Fourth World Panel, so here's two of them, reflecting the twin plots of the issue. First up is Barda breaking up a fight for dominance among the Female Furies:

That follows an incredible double page splash of all the Furies battling with each other as a way to determine a new leader, but Barda shows up and stops them cold instantly. You can tell that Kirby liked her as a character.

And for the other panel, we see Mister Miracle's foe for the issue, the Lump:

There's some pretty fascinating psychological stuff going on in this issue, as Scott is transported into the Lump's mindspace, the Id, for a battle. I don't know enough about Freudianism to know how well this matches up to his theories, but it's thought-provoking stuff, with the Lump being a realization of that primal part of the psyche that can shape itself into whatever form it pleases but is primitive and ugly enough that the rest of the mind seems to loathe it. Or that's how it seems to work here, anyway. It's pretty wild, showing that Kirby's cosmic craziness doesn't just extend to the stars, but within our very minds and psychological makeup. Deep, maaaan.

There's some other cool stuff this issue, like the various Furies wrecking Granny Goodness' shit, with one of them using her (furious) feminine wiles to seduce a guard with some drugged cosmic ale. And there's also the appearance of Tigra, Orion's mother:

We saw her briefly in "The Pact", but she's still hanging around, and maybe she's going to join the good guys. This story does end with Scott and Barda free and in leadership of the Furies, so who knows what they're going to do next. I can't wait to find out.

Next: Deadman joins the Forever People!