Jack Kirby’s Eternals wasn’t necessarily a huge hit after the legend returned to Marvel in the late 1970s. His “Fourth World” series also wasn’t doing very well at DC a few years ago (though a lot of editorial interference contributed to its debacle). Eternals isn’t really considered a classic these days. Despite Jack Kirby’s most singular vision for Marvel, that quality never took hold. Back issues of this series are still available at reasonable prices. For an original brainchild of Jack Kirby, this is rather surprising.
The book lasted until the tragic 19th issue. Weirdly Weird Problem: The Unimind is not an easy concept to swallow, and neither are the Incredible Celestials, whose very nature calls into question the fabric of the Marvel Universe.
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To tackle these vast questions, there was no better title than Thor, a book that still bears the indelible thumbprint of the King of Comics. And there were no better creative minds than Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald to take on the tough challenge of folding Kirby’s bizarre apotheosis. The two writers began their careers as manga artists by speculating about the manga medium in doujinshi. Gruenwald’s Omniverse in particular proved that the writer was ready to tackle the big questions in the Marvel Universe. The Omniverse was (and this is a direct quote) “a real treatise on comics literature” (bold and capitalized). This lofty and esoteric idea can be seen in the colophon of Thor: The Eternals Saga. This article is a reprint of an editorial by Gruenwald that originally appeared in Thor issue #294.
The editorial discusses Ragnarok and the practicality of the cosmic zodiac. Of course.
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While Jack’s Eternals dealt with God’s cosmic judgment, the Eternals Saga puts Kirby’s theological diatribes aside and picks up on the aspects of existence that are most at odds with established Marvel mythology. So Thor, being a book about gods, was already working hard to establish a mythical excuse for such a being. Odin, the father of all, created our world, right? Or was it Zeus? Isn’t the big bang part of cosmology? Didn’t Galactus survive the collapse of some universe and was born into this universe at the very dawn of time, thus becoming more obsolete than the gods?
The Eternals Saga doesn’t quite finalize the marriage between these concerns. By the end, the Celestials and the titular Eternals are no longer established in Marvel’s historical timeline. It won’t happen until much later works, including the recent and excellent History of the Marvel Universe, if it can be said to happen at all.
No, rather than sort through and explain away messy theological clerical errors, Thomas and Grünwald focus on the identity crisis inherent in the gods as they confront a larger, older God. Thor is caught in a spiral, but the story is very much Odin’s. Realizing the threat inherent in heaven’s judgment, Odin approaches Zeus, and the two convene the first council of gods to gather the gods of Earth. This book features the first appearances of such supreme beings (treated with varying degrees of cultural sensibility) as Vishnu, Buddha, the Finnish sky god Ukko, and the Mayan sun god Itzamna Ka’il.
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Sadly, The Eternal Saga isn’t all about existential concerns and cosmology, and despite the title, the Eternals have little to do with the story’s progression. Instead, Thor hops down to converse with Odin’s sentient giant disembodied Eye, narrating a loose Marvel movie narration of Wagner’s opera Siegfried by Thomas and artist Keith Pollard. . It is a twisting and dangerous story that leads to the revelation of Odin’s existence. Progress is slow, sometimes boring, and lasts for eight long issues.
This guy is the worst.
marvel comics
But it concludes in Godhead Council, Destroyer Armor vs. Celestial’s Saw #300, which may be one of the most epic issues of the Silver Age. In the end, Thor Epic Collection: Eternals Saga is an important piece of the theological puzzle, which at times drags on, and although later works more clearly delineate the connections, it is incredibly It’s a great ride.
‘Thor Epic Collection: Eternals Saga’ tackles Marvel’s contradictory cosmology
Thor Epic Collection: Eternals Saga
Attempting to bridge Jack Kirby’s new cosmology with classic Marvel apotheosis, the Eternals saga is draggy (literally) before reaching one of the most cosmically epic Silver Age issues. Stumbling into operatic territory.
A huge concept handled by a legendary and insightful creator.
It touches on the crisis of the personal identity of the gods.
A great armor that fights the great god of the universe.
In the middle of an exciting epic, it stretches out a complicated and unnecessary adaptation of Wagner.
