By Robert Rodi, Stephen Segovia, M. Jason Paz & Jeffrey Huet (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-511-6
Once again a major motion picture adaptation has generated a host of supplemental comics product and as Thor returns to the big screen in The Avengers movie there’s still plenty for established fans and freshly-interested parties to grapple with, such as this stirring and tempestuous epic featuring the final fate and rebirth of Jack Kirby’s other Marvel “gods and monsters†series…
The Eternals debuted in 1976 in a series slightly at odds with and removed from the regular company continuity and revealed that giant Celestial aliens had visited Earth in Epochs past, gene-gineering proto-hominids into three distinct species: Human Beings; god-like super-beings who called themselves Eternals and monstrous, genetically unstable but highly intelligent creatures dubbed Deviants. Moreover the Space Gods had periodically returned to check up on their experiment…
Never a comfortable contemporary fit with the rest of the Marvel Universe, the comic explored Kirby’s fascinations with Deities, Space and Supernature through the lens of very human observers. Once the series ended and Kirby left, other creators subsequently co-opted the concept into the regular continuity.
Skilfully remastered here by Robert Rodi and artists Stephen Segovia, M. Jason, Paz & Jeffrey Huet, the story picks up on elements of the 2007 collection Neil Gaiman’s Eternals and opens in the ruins of Asgard as Thor discovers ancient deposed, Deviant ruler Ereshkigal has crept in and is searching through the rubble.
The Deviants have fallen on hard times and face extinction from a deadly plague, inspiring the demonic ex-empress to seek Asgardian tools and weapons to facilitate her return to power. After an inconclusive battle, Ereshkigal escapes with the Unbinding Stone of Oshemar, an apparently innocuous globe which can literally unmake reality.
Utterly unaware of the power of her purloined prize, the Deviant tries and fails to usurp control from the current rulers of the Lemurian under-city which is their home whilst Thor, galvanised by the imminent destruction of the universe, seeks allies and the location of her hidden homeland amongst his old comrades in Olympia, cloaked Earthly citadel of his old Eternal comrades.
The city is all but deserted, with only resurrected hero Virako, master technician Phastos and “reformed†Deviants Karkas and Ransak the Reject occupying the vast mountaintop metropolis…
Before the valiant band can formulate a plan, however, the city is invaded by a Deviant army led by immortal Warlord Kro and a coterie of elite monster warriors. After a spectacular battle the heroes are temporarily overwhelmed and Phastos captured: his incredible devices taken in the misguided belief that they can reverse the effects of the disease devastating the Deviant population.
With the Unbinding Stone still in Ereshkigal’s meddling hands and their friend in peril, Thor and his comrades must storm the very heart of Lemuria before personal tragedy becomes universal Armageddon, but at least they have a hidden ally in the heart of the enemy – the outcast Eternal known alternatively as Gilgamesh and the Forgotten One…
Also re-entering the mix are the space-scattered, missing Eternals, but even if they return in time what can anybody do against a doom-obsessed potentate possessing a device which destroys atomic bonds and has no off-switch…?
A grandiose old-fashioned blockbuster epic, this rousing yarn is craftily constructed so that even first-time readers can get right into the swing of things, whilst veteran followers will find plenty of old favourite characters and themes revisited and clarified, with the adventure rattling along to a perfect climax with the portentous promise of more to come.
Fast, furious, frantic fantasy fun for older kids that no Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatic could possibly resist.
™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.