The Eternals (1985) #1-3

The Eternals #1-3

Originally released in 1985

Written by Peter B. Gillis

Art by Sal Buscema

In 1985, Crisis On Infinite Earths was changing DC's history in a major shake-up. Since the last issues that I read, unknown to me when I picked it, directly connected to that event, I was curious about what Marvel was doing in this time period.  I saw that a new Eternals series started at this time, so I went with that. (I was tempted to read Secret Wars II - I'm under the impression that it's a step down from the original, but I wanted to give it a fair chance)

I read some of Jack Kirby's original run on the Eternals, but it didn't grab me like his work on the Fantastic Four or Mister Miracle did.  It felt like the Mongul to the New Gods' Darkseid - a lesser imitation. Even though it's a big ensemble piece with a lot of potential, none of the characters were really interesting for me.

Here, there's an odd plot point that even though a handful of people know the truth about the Eternals, the Deviants, and how the Celestials created humanity as part of an experiment, anyone else who hears about it from those people forgets what they heard moments later.  If the Eternals had remained separate from Marvel canon like they were originally written, then it would be understandable, but the Celestials appeared in Thor 283 back in 1979, so they already exist alongside aliens, monsters, and various pantheons.  As a result, the enforced secrecy seems unnecessary.

As a protagonist, I found Ikaris hard to relate to.  When a Deviant tries to gain some sympathy, Ikaris basically tells him "just accept that you're abominations who were rejected by the gods".  He seems even less concerned with humans, only seeming to want to defend them because his girlfriend is a human. He comes across as cold and distant towards humans, with Margo being the exception.

Thena, at least, has a compelling plot, a sort of starcrossed lovers dynamic with the Deviant warlord Kro.  Kro was in the Eternals movie, though you'd only know it through the credits since he felt tacked on in the plot itself and wasn't named in the movie. Here, Kro is a Deviant who is secretly immortal, managing to hide it by posing as his own descendants.

The Deviants are plotting something, which is unusual for a group that tends to be brutal and savage rather than cunning.  One Deviant sticks a device on Ikaris for an unknown purpose, though once he returns to the Deviant city, it's revealed that any Deviant whose genes have deviated too far (this Deviant included) is to be purged from their society and cast into a fiery pit to keep their society from devolving or changing too much.

The priests of their society are behind all of this, gathering power for themselves and showing little concern for kings or other royal titles. (Though they show more concern for humans than their former prince did)

Kro decides to take power despite knowing that this will bring him into conflict with Thena, who is nominally running the Eternals after the death of her father. (Most of the Eternals don't seem to respect her, with most of them skipping her coronation and only appearing as holograms, and Ikaris planning an attack on the Deviants behind her back)

Issue 3 introduces Phastos, who's guarding an Eternal refuge while the rest of its inhabitants have ventured off into space. A group of Deviants tracked the place down and managed to find information that the priests wanted; Phastos restrains them, but the information gets out, pointing them to a location in the far north.

Sersi prevents a man from committing suicide, using her personal connections and illusion powers to convince him that life is worth living, though she's interrupted by a message from Ikaris, who noticed that the Deviants are on the move in large numbers and considers it an act of war.

The Eternals is a series that I've tried getting into several times now, but I haven't really found a character that's hooked me. Sersi's personality does help set her apart from the rest of the group, and Thena's romantic plot is compelling (more compelling than Ikaris's relationship, at least), but it's not enough to make me want to stick with the series.