Eternals #1, August 2006
By now, we should be in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unfortunately, we have a six-month delay. So, for the first time in a dozen years, no Marvel film to launch the summer movie-going season. But, we won’t let that delay slow us down here — this week, we’re looking at some comics art related to the next three scheduled films.
Jack Kirby’s Eternals was a natural extension of Jack’s interest and abilities in all things cosmic — Norse Gods, New Gods, et al. In my mind, this series was the most engaging of Jack’s efforts during his brief return to Marvel in the mid 70s.
When Jack left Marvel again in 1978, Eternals went into mothballs and only made a brief reappearance in 1985 (without Kirby) before disappearing again.
Then in 2006, another take, this one, a mini-series (7 issues) by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. appeared. It seemed like an odd team-up — the Vertigo “alternative” star writer, paired with the more “meat and potatoes” (superheroes) star artist. But ultimately, the talents meshed and it’s a well-done series, bringing the Eternals into the “modern” Marvel Universe, with some twists.
If anything did the series a disservice, it was the main covers by Rick Berry. Berry is super talented artist of course, and in a vacuum the covers are wonderful paintings. But they don’t match the stylistic content of the stories. I’m guessing he was hired because the editors wanted the covers’ artistic style to match the established Gaiman “brand” – despite the fact the stories are so much more traditional than Neil’s Sandman work.
Nonetheless, great Romita Artwork is still great Romita artwork, and this splash of Ikaris and Thena (inks by Danny Miki) is one of the best pages in the series. The page (pencils version) was used as the cover for a sketchbook from the series.
Eternals (the movie) is currently (re)scheduled to open February 2021.
