This past weekend I finished reading the graphic novel version of “The Eternals”, brought back to life by Neil Gaiman, with artwork by John Romita Jr.
From Publishers Weekly and Amazon.Com, here is the description:
Jack Kirby’s old Eternals series gets a serious dusting-off from Gaiman and artist Romita. The Eternals, a super-race, are now scattered and forgetful of their powers and immortality, living mortal human lives of supreme normalcy (Sersi is a New York party girl, while Makkari believes himself to be Bellevue ER doc Mark Curry). Meanwhile their age-old enemies, the Deviants, stalk the earth with nefarious intentions, and at least one of the super-duper-race Celestials (who created both Deviants and Eternals eons ago) may be returning to Earth. The source of all this forgetfulness and strife appears to be the eternally 11-year-old Sprite, who desires to be allowed to age like an actual human.
I never read any of the original comic books of this series. Quite honestly, when I saw this released and having Gaiman’s name on it, I thought they were his invention. I more recently found out what the truth was, but I still wanted to read it. Even with the possibility of not knowing the background of the characters. Fortunately, as stated in the forward, things are explained enough to enjoy the story without having read the series before.
Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.
It seems, from what I read, that Gaiman and Romita chose the Eternals given because they have basically disappeared. Maybe there were other reasons, too. But they seem a bit bland in some respects. Even though I am not a comic book reader, I understand that there can be a lot of depth into characters, especially superheroes, and a lot of action. This kind of lacked both. But the story was interesting enough for me to want to keep reading, even if I was missing things along the way. At first I wasn’t sure just who was trying to horn in on who, and why it appeared that what would be someone on the side of evil would actually be working with those on the side of good. Though lacking in action and characterization, it created good conflict.
The artwork was very good. My concept of artwork in comic books dates back to the days of flipping through my Uncle Steve’s old copies laying around my grandparents house or from those owned by one of the kids I hung out with as a kid. The artwork was not all that spectacular. But it’s a matter of perspective I would think. I know that comic books have made great leaps in the quality of the artwork. Some of it in this book was quite stunning.
I was glad I picked this up. It may be a good primer for me before getting into the “Sandman” series by Gaiman. And being a fan of his work, I felt a bit incomplete without this book. I am not sure what of the story was his influence and what was the original scheme of things for the series, but at times I had feelings of what was. But had I not been a fan of his work to begin with, I probably would have skipped this one, which is kind of a shame.
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