Eternals by Neil Gaiman

In the 1970's the legendary Jack Kirby returned to Marvel Comics and created The Eternals. While not top grade Kirby, it was full of interesting ideas that didn't quite gel and Marvel never really managed to incorporate The Eternals into the wider Marvel Universe. We're they superheroes? Gods? Immortals? Something else?

Fast forward to the mid-noughties and the equally legendary Neil Gaiman was offered the chance to reboot The Eternals. He jumped at he chance and did his own spin on Kirby's creations. The result is again something of a curate's egg. Gaiman is a gifted writer so the book is never less than entertaining, it just feels a bit rushed, or under-developed in places (this maybe be due to Marvel's tightly imposed deadlines). So we get introduced to the core Eternals, who have forgotten their identities and have lived as humans for thirty years. The plot is about their reawakening and the race to prevent the “dreaming celestial” (a giant space god!) from waking up.

Against the background of the Marvel Civil War aftermath and a race of so-called “deviants” who want to reclaim the planet as theirs, there's a lot to like. We even get a few guest Avengers popping up and a reality show called America's Next Superhero.

So it's an enjoyable read, and Gaiman does succeed in integrating The Eternals into the Marvel Universe much better than past writers have. It's not up there with Sandman, or even Miracleman, but it's well worth a read. This run is, apparently, the basis for the upcoming movie, so it will be interesting to see how well it adapts.

This collection is Neil Gaiman's attempt to do a soft reboot on Kirby's Eternals concept from the 1970s, and for the most part it works. Kirby was great at putting forward these grand, madcap sorts of ideas, like alien gods who created not only human civilization, but who also genetically engineered a race of super-powered humans who would protect the Earth (but from what?! FROM WHAT?!) and inspire many of our myths about the gods. Gaiman, on the other hand, is an absolute master of taking grand mythological ideas and bringing them down to the level of the individual. It's a good mix of strengths, and makes for an enjoyable read.The main problem I had with this volume is that there's only the one - it reads like a set up and introduction to the characters, with a fairly straightforward “the world is in peril” plot, and then it ends. Not just the volume, but the series - why bother spending all this time re-introducing characters if you're not going to do anything further with them? The art can be kind of ugly at times as well - JRJR's great at Kirbyesque landscapes and giant Celestials, but his people all look stilted and unattractive. The Eternals should be more magnificent to look at.which, as the introduction of the book states, was a belief put forward by Erich von Daniken shortly before Eternals was first published.