Neil Gaiman, Eternals

Title: Eternals

Author: created by Jack Kirby; Neil Gaiman, writer; John Romita, Jr., pencils

Publication Information: New York, NY: Published by Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., 2007

ISBN: 0-7851-2541-8 (978-0-785-12541-9)

Library of Congress Classification: PN6727.G35

Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Fantasy comic books, strips, etc.
Young adult fiction, English

Having collected all of Jack Kirby’s original Eternals title and just about every Eternals mini-series that Marvel Comics ever published, I am wary of where this graphic novel is going. It seems that Marvel, in the best imitation of DC Comics, wants to reconstitute the Eternals.

Originally, the Eternals were one of the races created by the Celestials, an omnipotent race that visited Earth thousands of years ago. The other two races were the Deviants, those whose physical forms varied because their DNA was completely unstable, and Humans, namely us. The Eternals were the beautiful ones, living for thousands of years, each with differing powers and the ability to fly. They came to live on the mountaintops; Humanity occupied Earth; the Deviants lived under the earth. Kirby intended the Eternals to having been mistaken by Humans as the ancient Greek gods. However, when Marvel originally folded the Eternals into the regular Marvel Universe, where the Greek gods–like the Norse–already existed, it was explained that Humans sometimes mistook the Eternals for their gods, but this was okay with Zeus; he had reached an agreement with Zuras, the head of the Eternals. The most prominent Eternals, besides Zuras, were Thena, Ikarus, Sersi, and Makkari.

Now Marvel wants to redefine who the Eternals are. Thena has had affairs with Ikarus, Makkari and other Eternals; she has a child which she bore to a Human male who was killed. She refuses to give up the child, and Zuras allows her to keep it, although he warns her about the trouble the child will cause. The affairs of Humans are of no concern to the Eternals; the previous relationships Ikarus and others had with them are gone. The Deviants, always a threat to the Eternals and, by extension, Humanity, are plotting another attempt to takeover the planet.