Customer Reviews

The Eternals, Book 2

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Jack Kirby was one of the leading lights of comics in the 1960s; along with co-creator Stan Lee (just how much each had is a matter of debate; Lee, a huge media personality and Marvel's public face, dominates the popular imagination, while the more vicious Kirby partisans envision him as a malevolent corporate fat-cat fiendishly taking all the credit while doing no work), he created the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, Thor, and many other important characters. Following his departure from Marvel in 1970, he spent a few years at DC, supplying them with an oddball assortment of creations such as Kamandi, Etrigan the Demon, O.M.A.C, and, most importantly, the Fourth World. The Fourth World was an expansive four-title saga chronicling a race of cosmic gods. Kirby never got to finish it, as it was cancelled out from under him. Returning to Marvel in the mid-70s, he clearly wasn't done with the concept, and thus "The Eternals" came to be.

While the Fourth World was at least nominally in DC continuity (though mostly divorced from their line proper), "The Eternals" was meant to be its own world, where no superhumans could be found. Kirby posits that all life on Earth was created by the experiments of the Celestials, massive cosmic beings referred to be all as the "space gods" (and, unlike the usual Kirby "gods as superheroes" motif, the Celestials actually project a sense of unmatched power suitable to gods). The Celestials brought forth three races: the Deviants, genetically-unstable creatures who dwell beneath the surface after the Celestials destroyed their first civilization; humans, the middle of the three, inhabiting the surface; and the Eternals, a race of immortals who live on the mountaintops and roam the skies (and live among us). Humanity knows nothing of their brother species, apart from old legends (most of the main characters have been mistaken for at least one mythological figure), until the return of the Celestial Fourth Host at the beginning of this series for the judgement of the Earth prompts both the Eternals and the Deviants to appear in the open.

Comparing this to the Fourth World property, the use of only a single title allows for a much more wholistic feel. The focus switches fromc character to character, but there is a solid driving narrative. And Kirby offers up a wide range of chracters in these first eleven issues. The story opens with Ikaris (Icarus, alias Ike Harris), the closest thing that there is to a main character in this book, and also one of the less compelling Eternals, as well as the two token human viewpoint characters, Professor Damian and his daughter Margo (the latter is not one of the stronger female characters around, even by the standards of the era; she oscillates between doing whatever her dad says to doing whatever Ikaris says, and the one occasion when she disagrees with both of them the two agree to overrule her own opinion). More interesting are Sersi (Circe/Kirke), Thena (Athena), and Deviant General Kro (who bears a passing resemblance to the Devil). Sersi (by far the most successful of the Eternals characters when later integrated into the Marvel Universe proper, including a few stints on the Avengers) is a fun, free-spirited enchantress with as much of a sex drive as the Comics Code would permit in the 70s. Thena and Kro, meanwhile, enact a cross-species flirtation, with amusingly stilted dialogue ("Let the space gods empty this world -- and leave but you and I!").

Recommended for fans of Kirby and the best of Marvel in the 1970s.

The Eternals was probably for Kirby one of the major projects he worked on at Marvel after returning there from DC. In some ways, it was an attempt at duplicating the 'cosmic saga' such as had been done with the "Fourth World" titles at DC. But somehow it just doesn't match.

Oh, its a great series, but it ended before Jack could take it to its conclusion. Instead of having 4 series to play with, he had to do it all in one. Unlike the "Fourth World" series that touched on the larger DC universe, it seems clear that (despite the appearance of SHIELD Agents early on), this series was intended to be in a separate reality from the Marvel universe. Really, NO Marvel characters appeared in Kirby's run. It was only later in Thor that the Eternals were tied into the Marvel Universe (this storyline reprinted in 2 Thor TPB called "The Eternals Saga", btw).

Now, this volume is the first of 2 that reprints Jack's entire saga. If you missed the Eternals Omnibus, these 2 contain the same stuff.

Like the Fourth World saga, its full of great characters, human, eternal, and deviant.

I wonder if Marvel will reprint Jack's other 'cosmic series' he did at Marvel, his work on the 2001 comic, which later became Machine Man. There would probably be problems of licensing, so they'd probably have to do something about that. Atlesat give us back Mr Machine/Machine Man. We have reprints of his Captain America, Black Panther, and Devil Dinosaur.

for all of you that enjoyed comic books as i did one name comes up before all others Jack Kirby I just wish i had been able to keep my originals but there graphic novels bring back so many memories. enjoy them and pass them on to the next generation.

THIS wonderous set proves that JACK KIRBY is indeed "KING"!!!.
THE IMAGINATION of this man is truly beyond all measure !!!.
THE CONCEPT: so indescribably incomparable !!!.
THE ART: so incredibly visually stimulating !!!.
THE STORY: so unbelievably forceful !!!.
HERE,JACK all by himself introduces to the MARVEL UNIVERSE, THE ALMIGHTY CELESTIALS!!!, of staggering size (averaging 2000 feet) and untold cosmic power (which might rival that of GALACTUS himself)!!!, THE GOD-LIKE ETERNALS !!!,of much variety and awsome powers and last but not the least, THE GENITICALLY UNSTABLE and MISHAPPEN DEVIANTS !!! of war and misery !!.
ALL in a real solid story in which us HUMANS are caught right smack in the middle!!. THIS is classic MARVEL at it's very best!!. VERY highly recomended !!.A real collectors item !!.The AWESOME MAGNIFICIENCE continues in volume 2 !!!.
ALONG with STAN "THE MAN" LEE, JACK "KING" KIRBY is a true visionary, nuff said !!!.

For all it's worth, this collection was Kirby at his best. I wish that it continued with crossovers into Thor's universe or the Inhumans. The characters are all introduced and never given a chance to grow because Marvel cancelled the book. It's only years later that there was a sequel of sorts written by Neil Giaman. I only wish that Marvel had treated Kirby better. Without giving away too much that you have seen in other reviews, this one is worth the price.

Kirby's artwork was just as good if not better than his 60's Fantastic Four. If only the Eternals were allowed to grow naturally; there would have been a bright future for them. The editors at the time would print so many negative letters in Kirby 70's books. I wouldn't be surprised if the editor in question created the atmosphere to cancel the title. There was so much in the way of stories that were lost because of this decision. The Eternals would be used in future issues of Thor. It was never the same because Kirby's distinctive art made the characters work!

I'm not a huge Kirby fan, but I love his Eternals. The stories explore a really exciting idea in science fiction: what if the gods and myths of old were actual stories of alien interaction with humans. In Kirby's take, the gods are returning for the fourth time to judge humanity. The Eternals are cousins to the humans and the pantheon of gods and heroes from legends and myths. They are reawakened to help prepare for the coming of the gods.

Kirby creates a lot of interesting new characters. Though there isn't a main character who's in every issue, the story is too epic for that. Kirby moves the focus to whoever continues the next part of the story. The pacing is exciting. The artwork is fun.

If you love old Saturday Morning Cartoons, I think you'll like this book.