ETERNALS
January 21st 2010 02:40
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Based on the characters created by Jack Kirby
Publisher: Marvel
Production Team: Neil Gaiman – writer, John Romita Jnr – pencils, Danny Miki & Tom Palmer et al – inks, Matt Hollingsworth et al – colours, Todd Klein – letters, Rick Berry – cover art
Cost: US$24.99
The Eternals are a particular group of Marvel characters that I have never really had much to do with in all my years of reading comics and graphic novels. This lack on my part has more to do with the fact that I had never, until now, actually come across any of the comics in which they featured as major characters. In fact my small store of knowledge about them came via the medium of the few issues of Marvel Universe character profiles in which a few of their number featured. Living where I do the few times when local newsagents sold comics the usual Marvel heroes that were featured were the X Men, Wolverine, Thor, Captain America, Spiderman and for a while back there in the halcyon days of the nineties Doctor Strange. The Eternals just didn’t enter into the equation unfortunately, a sad oversight no doubt.
So just who are the Eternals anyway? Well it seems that in the distant past, when humanity was nothing but a bunch of primitive hominids roaming the savannahs of Africa the world was visited by vast and superior beings known as Celestials, the First Host. These beings took the primitive hominids and altered their DNA; a hundred of these hominids became the Eternals whilst the others became Deviants or as they prefer to call themselves Changing People. The Changing People became dominant across the world, building societies and empires and they attempted to wage a war against the Eternals. A hundred, near immortal, highly powerful entities against a vast almost infinite horde; it was not much of a fight yet it was one that the Eternals won because the called upon the Celestials and brought down the Second Host.
All of this history though is so many fragments to the Eternals; most of them are even unaware that they were once the guardians and preservers of life on the face of the Earth. And even those few who have some knowledge of what they once where have somewhat distorted views on the nature of this history and of those who created them. In certain aspects their worldview clashes with that of the surviving Changing People and their own historical records, one would expect someone who can live millions of years would have fantastic memories but such may not be the case after living aeons your memory may not be perfect.
In their role of protecting life and the world in which they exist part of their mandate covers an entity known as the Dreaming Celestial, one of the Second Host (or Horde according to the Eternals) who was various reasons imprisoned and rendered inert within the deeps of the earth since the days of the Second Hosts visitation. Imagine being an immense, hyper intelligent entity that can live for literally aeons and your kind imprison you beneath the surface rendering you completely immobile yet still aware? At the very least you would be pissed off if not barking mad after spending so much time imprisoned by your so called peers. Certainly this is the case with the Dreaming Celestial, the one whom the Changing People view as their creator and deity. Interesting how that with the Changing People and their society their veneration of the Dreaming Celestial is the one constant in their lives.
This story is not one where there is a neat, clear cut resolution and frankly reading it I sincerely doubt that such an ending was ever intended by Mr Gaiman. No this work was intended to give the audience a starting point from which the Eternals story could be reset and recommence. When the dust settles certainly the key Eternals have managed to regain their powers, their old home and their memories but this in turn has only raised more questions and issues that need to be addressed, pressingly the main issue is where in the world is the rest of their kind and what has happened to them. As I said earlier this story is one of rediscovery and it doesn’t end with the main movers and shakers amongst the Eternals becoming aware once again of who and what they are, it is only the start of their journey, a journey that they have been engaged in since the beginning of time. And no doubt one that Marvel intends to continue bringing to the printed page. Certainly they have done a sterling job and it’s refreshing to see something that doesn’t involve constant end of the world/universe/omniverse kind of issues, even though there is a decidedly cosmic aspect to the events depicted. Definitely an interesting read.
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