Jack Kirby’s Celestials walk the earth, courtesy of Neil Gaiman and John Romita’s 2007 mini-series, as detailed previously here.
And finally, after a year or so of pandemic-related delays, they (presumably) walk on the big screen this Friday.
Early buzz on the film is quite good, but if I’m guessing, regardless of story and cast performance, Kirby fans will judge the film on whether the cinematic realization of the Celestials matches — or even amplifies — Jack’s giant vision.
In a few days, we will all see for ourselves
Oddly enough, Arishem (the greatest of the Celestials, apparently) appears on the final page splash in many of the first few issues as the tease for the following issue. The only hiccup is that he doesn’t typically appear in any of the following issue’s action.
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.
Jack Kirby’s original series, followed seven years later by a second series by Peter Gillis and Sal Buscema. (Cover of that first issue by Walter Simonson.)Eternals match game, comics and film.
Continuing our celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Justice Society of America, with each new post featuring a different classic JSA character.
Neil Gaiman’s extraordinary success with his Sandman series, had an additional and welcome consequence. DC added a retro Sandman title to its line-up featuring a retconned version of the original Sandman, with great noir-ish stories written primarily by Matt Wagner and Steven Seagle.
This terrific action splash page comes from the often overlooked annual, drawn by George Pratt. It’s a rare pen and ink example by the award-winning Pratt, who is known for his terrific painted graphic novels on Enemy Ace, Batman, and Wolverine.
The “original” Sandman never looked so good.
Fun fact: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created often over-looked version of Sandman in the 1970s. Simon dropped out after one issue, Jack took a few issue break, and the final issue, #7, featuring Santa Claus (yes, you heard right) was cancelled prior to publication and didn’t appear in print until a few years later.
That Simon and Kirby Issue, originally intended as a one-shot, was their final collaboration.
This version of Sandman makes an unexpected comeback appearance in Wonder Woman #300, with versions by both Gene Colan and Kirby fanatic Keith Giffen.More on all of this in a future post.
The Sandman’s first appearance back in 1939, and his re-appearance in the Silver Age in 1966.
