I get that this is Jack Kirby’s big moment, and the thing that probably led to the New Gods. I understand the debt he’s owed for his contributions to superheroics. And I even see how the art in Eternals is really pretty neat.
But the stories are just … Boring. The Eternals are one of three races created by The Celestials, which also includes Humans and Deviants, and the series is essentially a big war between them all. But in order to understand it, you’ve got to read carefully and wade through pages and pages of well-drawn nothing. Nothing happens. Over and over.
There are a few main Marvel characters who appear, and this is supposedly the origin story for the entire Marvel Universe, but this feels like a standalone book with little impact.
One of these Eternals, called “The Forgotten One,” will return as “Gilgamesh” and join the Avengers.
Here’s his full first appearance:
Make that a grade “F”, and I will agree with you here. There is positively NOTHING going on in this regurgitated “New Gods” retread that is of the least bit of interest to anybody. When this series first came out in 1976, I had a friend whom I loved very much, and I wanted for us to be the best of friends. I showed him some Marvel Comics, hoping to infect some interest, and explained to him the importance of first issues. “The Eternals”#1 hit the stands around this time, and he said “Hey, here’s a first issue-might be a good place to jump on board!” And I did not want to do anything to discourage his enthusiasm, so I said nothing, but, at the same time, was thinking to myself, “Oh, NO, Glenn- not THIS shit!!!” But Glenn seemed pretty interested in it, so I said absolutely nothing. Needless to say, my friend did not stay with this title- or ANY comic-book- for much longer, and he silently and quietly dropped me as a friend, because he soon realized that I and my silly funnybooks had nothing to offer him as a friend. Glenn was, and is, one of those serendipitous individuals in life for whom everything just magically goes his way. Never went to college, and yet, in spite of that, just fell into a beautiful, lucrative white-collar career which doesn’t really involve any kind of any real work of any sort. Married an outrageously beautiful young woman, also with no effort. Has lived a fairy-tale existence in a big, beautiful suburban home not far from here. And just think- it’s all because of how much “The Eternals” stunk!! If “The New Gods” didn’t sell at DC, what in the name of Irving Forbush made anybody at Marvel- let alone Jack Kirby-think they would sell just a few years later at Marvel-??? A turd is a turd is a turd, no matter how pretty the wrapping!! The truth of the matter is, in leaving Stan Lee and Marvel in 1970, Jack Kirby made a career move that was so bad in it’s intensity, that it would not be exceeded in sheer stupidity until McLean Stevenson quit ‘M*A*SH’ five years later!! By that same year, DC Comics had no recourse but to cancel all of Kirby’s contracts with them, realizing that Jack “King” Kirby- the man who co-built “The House of Ideas”-was just slap OUT of ideas!!!! Kirby embarrassed himself even further by ( reluctantly ) crawling back to Marvel the following year, where, in addition to “The New G…..” uh, excuse me, “The Eternals”, he was given both “The Black Panther” and “Captain America”- two concepts he co-created- and promptly ran THEM into the ground, with his outdated artwork and story concepts!!! It was too late for “The Black Panther”, but Marvel took Kirby off “Captain America” before he could kill it, as well. My information has always been that the ‘Captain America’ series hasn’t been profitable for Marvel since 1949, and the company only keeps it in publication at the request of the United States Government, and actually subsidizes Marvel to do so, recognizing it’s value as a propaganda tool. ( very smart, Uncle Sam ) But “The New Gods” stunk, “Mister Miracle” stunk, “The Forever People” stunk, “The Eternals” REALLY stunk, and poor old Jolly Jack’s career went out the same way as a poor old punch-drunk prize-fighter who just didn’t have enough sense to get out of the ring and hang up the gloves! What a tragic end for a living legend- the co-creator of the Marvel Universe, no less.