Jack Kirby
July 1977
***
Kirby pens a stand-alone episode, a rather creaky superhero adventure that lacks the monthly mag’s panoramic complexity & sprawling cast. Still, it’s more fun than most conventional comics, then or now! The duo of noble-minded monster & savage hunk hunt a mad inventor who’s lifting historical evildoers from their home eras to contempo NYC. An esp nice beat has giant Karkas entertain a lost kid.
[continued in The Eternals #13]
Archive for the ‘Thena’ Category
The Eternals Annual #1
July 24, 2012The Eternals #12
July 23, 2012
Jack Kirby
June 1977
****
Readers w/ the taste for Kirby’s magniloquence will boggle as the Eternals form a collective super-brain! Even better, we’ll relish a rare show of human depth, as a throwback to Kirby’s Atlas era monsters displays a philosophic mind. An action scene actually distracts from the mag’s propulsive pace.
[continued in The Eternals Annual #1]
[last issue: The Eternals #11]
[next issue: The Eternals #13]
The Eternals #10
July 20, 2012
Jack Kirby
April 1977
*****
This mag derives its power from its novelistic, big/little scope. As History occurs—space gods visit Earth—protagonists act & react in great & small ways. A leader summons his people to confer; a star-crossed couple loses another opportunity for love; a heroine shows compassion for monsters.
[last issue: The Eternals #9]
[next issue: The Eternals #11]
The Eternals #9
July 19, 2012
Jack Kirby
March 1977
****
Kirby has fallen into a rhythm w/ this book, expanding its scope w/o losing momentum. But despite adding characters to its roster, this issue feels a little thinner than others. Instead, it’s a big setpiece—arena combat btw a berserker & a monster—that delivers bone-jarring action.
[last issue: The Eternals #8]
[next issue: The Eternals #10]
The Eternals #8
July 18, 2012
Jack Kirby
February 1977
****
Another trope added to this rich tapestry: a friendship, once romantic, btw a Deviant general & an Eternal warrior-princess. But she’s disgusted at the Darwinian eugenics practiced by his allies in mythic Lemuria. Kirby keeps spitting out ideas, tho’ he promises gladiator combat in next ish.
[last issue: The Eternals #7]
[next issue: The Eternals #9]
The Eternals #6
July 16, 2012
Jack Kirby
December 1976
****
A battle on NYC streets segues into a classroom debate at City College (!). Kirby continues to elaborate on his New Age mythos, constantly enlarging his cast & scope. He rations the sightings of his host of space gods, however. Fortunately, he’s got the rich chars of Gen. Kro & the spirited Sersi.
[last issue: The Eternals #5]
[next issue: The Eternals #7]
The Eternals #5
July 15, 2012
Jack Kirby
November 1976
****
Kirby revises the Olympians in Jungian style, reimagining the pantheon as a mountaintop science utopia of supermen. But his comic gets its depth from the human tension btw superstition & courage. Only when the blue-collar cops stare down the demons do the heroes arrive, cavalry-like, to save NYC.
[last issue: The Eternals #4]
[next issue: The Eternals #6]
Index Indigo 