With the fifth issue of The Eternals, we meet several new characters. Kirby has been pretty careful to this point to introduce only one at a time (Ikaris, Ajak, then Sersi) but when we finally get to the mountain home of the Eternals Olympia we meet Makkari, Thena, Domo, and Zuras. All like their kin have names with evoke ancient Greco-Roman myth (save for Domo which seems to derive his name from the term "Majordomo" which describes his function in these stories).
Makkari is the man of motion, the mover and doer who is held in some mild disdain by his utterly patient Eternal kin. It will ultimately be revealed by the magic of Marvel retro-continuity that Makkari is actually a Golden Age hero called "Mercury" and later renamed "Hurricane" created by Jack Kirby for Timely. But that's not part of this story. Makkari learns of the Deviant invasion of New York City and seeks help.
Help he rather reluctantly gets from Zuras, the leader of the Eternals whose red-bearded magnificence evokes Odin of Asgard. Much more willing to go is Thena, the daughter of Zuras and an Eternal who seems open to interaction with not only the humans (as does Sersi) but the Deviants as well. It's revealed that Thena and Kro know one another and it's hinted strongly that they might know one another rather well.
After the Deviant invasion is blunted by swift action from Thena and Makkari, a truce is arranged and the captured Sersi, Margo, and Icarus are rescued.
And so it is that mankind learns of the gods who live among it for the first time, at least in a way not cloaked in the mysteries of mythology. Eternal and Deviant are revealed under the considered auspices of higher learning and the true history of mankind, the full complete history is uncovered with all three aspects of human kind revealed.
These issues see Jack Kirby joined by his Bronze Age inker of choice Mike Royer and the energy level of the comics jumps a smidgeon. This marks the end of the beginning of the Eternals saga, and the action only heats up after this.
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Your fine overview of The Eternals got me to dig out my trade paperbacks & re-read the first 11 or so issues (so far). And I'm amazed all over again at how much Kirby packs into those issues, which promise so much more to come -- though sadly, we know the series will be over before it's had a real chance, dragged down by editorial mandates into the Marvel Universe.
ReplyDeleteBut these first issues are great! The visuals alone are some of Kirby's best in portraying cosmic forces & beings beyond human comprehension -- there's plenty of action & unrestrained plot moving forward -- yet in the midst of all this, there's room for more subtle moments between characters, as well as those Big Questions that had come to absorb Kirby by this time.
I'm very glad that I've added such relative joy to your life amigo. I too have been impressed with the narrative structure of the Eternals issues, very coherent overall. And the Celestials are arguably the most cosmic creation of Kirby's career (including Galactus).
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