 |
| 1985 Mini-series with cover by Walt Simonson |
The Eternals #1 is the first part of a 12-issue limited series written by Peter Gillis with art by Sal Buscema.
The back story on The Eternals is that a group called the Celestials came to Earth and conducted experiments on prehistoric man. Some were altered to become the Deviants, a group of monstrous beings with unstable genetic composition. Another group became the Eternals, an intelligent and powerful group that found a way to become immortal. Throughout the years, the Eternals were sometimes spotted by mankind and mistaken for gods (greek, roman, etc.).
In this story, the Eternals are becoming more spread out and disinterested in their history. None attend the coronation of the new queen, and we see that she is struggling with her new authority. The main character in the story is Ikaris, who spends his time amongst the humans as a professional wrestler.
During one of Ikaris' wrestling matches, he is actually pitted against a Deviant in disguise. After falling through the mat, the two continue to wrestle in the Deviant's underground base. The Deviant then blasts Ikaris with some kind of weapon and states that Ikaris is now a part of the Deviant's plan to reclaim the Earth.
In all honesty, this was a tough read. A creation of Jack "The King" Kirby, The Eternals lacks the complexity and depth of characters that Kirby's New Gods has. To be clear, Kirby had no involvement with this project. Perhaps the original series where he introduced these characters is worth the read, but based on my reading of this story, I don't know how they stretched this mini-series across 12 issues.
I had #5 of this miniseries, which I got in a set of about 25 Marvel comics that came out the same month. I've gotten rid of it since, but all I remember about reading it 25 years or so ago was that it was incredibly hard to make it all the way through. Like you say, hard to imagine 12 whole issues of the series.
ReplyDeleteI was a huge comic book fan growing up, but I somehow missed this series. I would have liked it too! :)
ReplyDeleteDL Hammons @ Cruising Altitude 2.0
Co-Host of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
Ohmygosh, is your challenge theme all about comic books. You are my new hero. I'm writing about graphic novels for G, which is cool, but don't get to talk enough about comic books for my taste. Awesome post and definite new follower.
ReplyDeleteCool beans. Out of the norm for the challenge and I love it. Glad I stopped in from the A to Z Challenge.
ReplyDelete