Friday, August 19, 2016

Mildly surprised Marvel hasn't given up on Inhumans, and started trying to make the Eternals happen.


A bit ago on Twitter, Kurt Busiek mentioned he thought Jack Kirby's Eternals should have been left on their own--as Kirby may have originally intended--rather than folded into the Marvel Universe. By extension, that would also remove the Deviants and the Celestials, and overall I think I've read more stories with them than the Eternals! (Ghaur of the Deviants was one of the heavies in Atlantis Attacks, and the Celestials had multiple arcs in Thor.) I do still like Ikaris's costume, though. From 2008, the Incredible Hercules #116, "Prelude to Sacred Invasion: Metamorphoses" Written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, pencils by Rafa Sandoval, inks by Roger Bonet.

This was early in Herc's run, spinning out of World War Hulk, and a bit of a breather issue before the next storyline. It's also a crossover with the most recent run of the Eternals, as Ikaris and Thena confront Hercules, believing him to be one of their own, Gilgamesh. (AKA the Forgotten One, from his brief Avengers tenure.) Thena explains, most of the Eternals have had their memories wiped by Sprite--Thena describes him only as "mischievous," which makes it sound like a prank that got out of hand--and the speedster Makkari had been told by the Celestials the Forgotten One was coming. They assume Herc only thinks he's Herc, and it doesn't help that he doesn't have the best memory. Or isn't super-forthcoming about it.

Eventually, Makkari lets Ikaris and Thena know, oops, the Celestials were on about metaphorical "forgotten ones," not Gilgamesh specifically, and everyone kind of just wanders away from the fight. Herc mentions to his companion Amadeus Cho his mild disappointment at being a god with a jerky dad...as opposed to an Eternal with "that eye beam thing." The issue closes with Athena (not Thena!) summoning "the Council Elite of the Divine Pantheons" to warn them earth had already been conquered by the Skrulls! While I know they're both beardy, paternalistic white guys; that Council Elite looked a bit thin without Odin or Zeus in it...

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Yeah they never could leave the Eternals alone could they? And poor Jack should've known they wouldn't leave his shit alone. But I do agree, they definitely work better on their own.