The Eternals #3

When Jack ran out of steam

"The Devil in New York!”

Written, and Drawn – Jack Kirby

Inked by J. Verpoorten

Lettered – John Costanza

Colored by Glynis Wein

Consulting Editor – Archie Goodwin

September 1976

In Jack’s career arc, The Eternals are some of his last original comic work and some of his weakest. Borrowing from the Chariots of the Gods subtext and themes he wasn’t allowed to complete while at DC, Kirby crafted a tale of immortals living among us on Earth. These “Eternals” served the will of uncommunicative and unfathomable spacegods, who showed up at various points in intelligent species development and watched them for years. At the end of this time, they would judge that species as to whether it would be allowed to continue its progress or be destroyed.

They were kind of a cosmic buzzkill.

The spacegods were called Celestials, and in a rip from 2001 (which Kirby was also playing around with at Marvel), they visited pre-humanity and helped things along. They also developed two off-shoot races, the Eternals and the Deviants. The Eternals were to be man’s protectors. The Deviants, meanwhile, rebelled and were cast down into a city under the sea. These repulsive little monsters hoped to eliminate both mankind and the Eternals so that the “Dreaming Celestial” will grant them the Earth.

There is a ton of nonsense in the Eternal lore and the book itself shows all the weaknesses of Kirby’s writing style. Sadly, by this time, it appears that no editor could rein him in, nor did any try. Having him in the Marvel stable was good PR and having him not create books for their competitor even better. One only has to look at the longevity of his Forth World villain Darkseid to realize that Kirby working at his best could produce characters that would last for generations.

Just that it seemed the Eternals, Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, and Machine Man, weren’t the best examples of those iconic characters, exactly.

And you get that coming from a Machine Man fan, as you’ll see later.

As for story, this issue is kind of lame. Very little conflict goes on, lots of exposition, and some sexism/misogyny occurs, which means I can’t rightly recommend this issue based on story content. It does contain a bunch of Kirby-tech art, groovy nonsensical Kirby cosmic character design, and the first appearance of an Eternal that would go on to become an Avenger. Sort of the first appearance, anyway. I’ll explain as we go.

But first we have Arishem, leader of the Fourth Host discussing what must happen now that the Celestials have sent one of their own to Earth with these three individuals. They are from left to right: Archaeologist Dr. Daniel Damian, his daughter Margo Damian, and Ikaris, using his illusion power to appear human.

And to what do we owe their shocked expressions? Why a giant spacegod Celestial arriving on Earth done up in two-page splash, that’s what.

Fantastic! Note the similarity with the Kamandi #14 that happened into the Crapbox last? We go from a one-page lead-in to a two-page splash in an attempt to build wonder and amazement. I’ll admit that based on this opening, I had high hopes for this, even with the expository outburst from Dr. Damian about being an “archaeologist” and the tech to the far right explaining what will happen to no one in particular.

Just look at that spacegod though. I love the bucket head look that Kirby would throw on his better machine and space entities. Galactus, the Destroyer, and all the Celestials have that “I’m so cool, I can pull of wearing a pail for a helmet” thing going on. I’m totally down with it. You go, Kirby! Put buckets on the heads of everyone!

Sadly, here is where we get into the much less interesting and much less understandable human-Eternal dialogue and actions. Dialogue was always Jack’s weakness. He could draw and he could plot, but when it came to writing human interactions that seemed believable...

Jack’s characters are a bit “wooden” and prone to explaining things to the audience. What Lee would pull off with a bit more style, Jack has moments where you KNOW you are reading a serialized story by the very nature of the exposition and soap-operatics of the characters.

It doesn’t help matters that many times the characters will be saying these things while Jack has positioned them to look directly into the camera, as Margo does here. These awkwardly worded bits of dialogue can take you out of the story, even if just for a bit. That lessens the impact for all involved. It is this piece more than any other that made me treasure the Lee-Kirby tales. Sure the story might have been more Kirby’s than Lee’s in some/many cases, but the polish to the dialogue definitely added something. In the end I value the work they jointly produced no matter who did the lion’s share of the work and credit them both with equal rights to that praise.

So, anyway, the Celestials are about to wall off the hidden valley for a period of fifty years while they pass judgement on humanity. Anyone who stays in the valley will be locked in for fifty years, but will have a view of the Celestials as they weigh the fate of mankind. And the crew has only moments to decide whether or not to leave. Dr. Damian has decided to stay.

When Margo hesitates, Ikaris does what any red-bloodied male would do back in the 1970’s: Throw that broad over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and make the decision for her.

Margo seems like she wants to stay though, but Asshole-karis isn’t allowing her the freedom to make that choice.

Is that assault? I’m pretty sure that’s assault.

Ikaris gives the area one last look over as he pilots the single engine plane away.

As for my favorite Deviant (and yes, I hear how that sounds), why he’s all trussed up at the moment. Living up to his name, as it were. Everybody, meet Kro. Kro was the main bad guy behind the 1980’s revival of The Eternals that I picked up when I was in college and his character came off as master manipulator there. Sort of a bald Cersei Lannister.

Bumping into him here isn’t a surprise, nor is it really a surprise to find him being disciplined by Toad, the current ruler of the Deviants. Kro is always someone who has to be plotting against the Eternals while also fighting his way up the power structure within Deviant society. It makes for good drama that way.

Whatever Kro’s done, Toad feels he has extracted his pound of flesh and releases the schemer.

I love all the panels with the Deviants. Kirby really gets to let loose on character design. In fact, I’d go so far as to state that the book really hinges not on the heroes but on the depictions of the Celestial-tech and the Deviants themselves. They are rendered with more care than anything else here, almost to the point of making the other sequences boring.

Anyway, back to the story. Kro begs to be allowed to take on the Eternals once more. His plan? To scare the humans into attacking the Eternals by showing up looking like the Devil. Not sure that should work, but okay…let’s just go with it.

Meanwhile, Margo has awoken and she is distraught because she will never see her father again. Way to go, Ikaris.

So Ikaris drops the illusion of the clothes he was wearing and jumps out of the plane…

…but is apparently still controlling it through is levitating power. Or something. Kirby makes the Eternals almost too powerful when he does stuff like this, which lessens the feeling of danger when they are attacked.

And speaking of being attacked, Kro and his Deviant hordes arrive at just that moment and attempt to shoot Ikaris out of the sky. Ikaris dives back into the prop plane in a series of panels that make it look like the plane has been damaged.

It hasn’t though. And before the Deviants can blast them out of the sky…

…Ikaris uses his illusion power to cloak the plane’s very existence from the Deviant sensors.

Kro has little choice then but to continue on his mission, abandoning hope of killing Ikaris. However, by firing on the Eternal he has unknowingly called attention to himself and his mission. Ikaris now follows the Deviant as they head for New York.

Once there, Ikaris deposits Margo in the apartment of an old friend and fellow Eternal.

A woman who I’m VERY familiar with and at the same time not.

Yes! This is the first appearance of Sersi, who would end up joining the Avengers for a short time during the late 80’s. All this would occur after the Eternals series was cancelled before Kirby could wrap up this saga of the spacegods and it had to be finished by making it part of a Thor storyline, thus bringing the Eternals into the Marvel 616 universe proper. As the story stands here, there is no mention of any Marvel heroes and this wasn’t in continuity.

But that’s not the way her name is spelled. I mean, it is for this issue but afterwards someone changed it from “y” to “i”.

Also I’m kind of stunned that the Crapbox spit out the first appearance of ANY character. Aside from Ravage 2099, that is.

Sersi…er, *ahem*…SERSY’s hard partying personality doesn’t show in these seven panels, and that’s all we get of her as Ikaris drops Margo and runs off to fight Kro, who even now is wreaking havoc in the streets. 

And that’s where the issue ends. Right there.

I suppose that’s a cliffhanger toward the end but there is definitely a feeling that this issue didn’t get planned out very well. The story meanders around before concluding on this bit instead of building toward it. If anything, Kirby’s stories needed a good editor, someone seasoned enough to tighten the arcs up so they maintained the audiences’ undivided attention. But all too often Kirby has the reins and was allowed to tell these stories his way.

It isn’t to say they are bad stories, just that they tend to be a bit wordy and don’t get to the point soon enough. The stories don’t arc well and include questionable scenes that an editor might cut. Take the pages of Ikaris and Margo flying in the plane. Not much character development happens there. Sure, we learn a bit more about Ikaris’ power, but it comes at the expense of two pages of panels. And they are kind of boring panels.

This was something that McFarlane did in his version of Spider-Man, too. Given the freedom to draw anything he wanted, for parts of the book he would draw things that did little to advance the plot, build good character moments or properly address pacing issues. And he did it because he wanted to draw those pages a certain way. He let the art dictate the story, which typically ends up causing the story to suffer a bit. Kirby’s sin in this is MUCH less, but is still apparent when you reach the last page and feel that the conflicts presented in the book are resolved too quickly or have their emotional impact severely muted.

Still there is a bunch of things here to love. Kirby’s pencils are always amazing and as I pointed out about the Deviants and Celestials, he’s drawing things that are fun to spend minutes drooling over. The book just needs to fix its pacing problems.

Kamandi #14

You will cry over a giant bug!

"untitled”

Edited Written, and Drawn – Jack Kirby

Lettered and Inked – Mike Royer

February 1974

We’ll be getting back to doing work-week Batman coverage in just a bit, but first I wanted to throw out three articles about a very special comics personality that has an upcoming birthday next week.

I’m speaking, of course, about the one and only Jack “King” Kirby.

I’ll share the first Kirby comic I ever read with you next Monday although I bet many of you could guess which book. Until then I am doing two issues that wandered into the Crapbox by way of Half-Price. One of these was selected from their premium book case and ran around $5. Still a steal for a genuine Kirby. The other was bundled in with a bunch of odds and ends. Both are stellar examples of Late Kirby art and story.

His art is brilliant, vibrant and dramatic.

As for his storytelling, there are some rough edges to these that are clearly noticeable. Kirby’s writing is a combination of amazing concepts with some odd dialogue choices. His work is smattered with exposition that feels very “tell”. I’m so glad that Kirby had a chance to do books on his own, because they shore up many of his claims about who did what in his original stories with Stan Lee.

But enough about that, it is a story for another time. Right now our story is Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, issue number 14.

For those of you who know nothing of Kamandi, allow me to fill in some backstory. I’ll admit that I wasn’t as familiar with this character as I am with most of the DC in continuity characters, but I’ve read up on him to fill in the blanks. Kamandi, the book, takes place in the post-apocalyptic future where an even called “The Great Disaster” has reduced man back to savagery and given rise to all manner of highly evolved animals. A sort of a “Planet of the Apes” that’s just a bit more inclusive.

Into this wasteland steps a young boy with flowing locks of blonde hair named Kamandi. His name is derived from the bunker he has lived his life in, a shelter called “Command D”. He emerges near New York City after his sole caregiver, his grandfather, is killed by a wolf. The Command D bunker had volumes of tapes of the Earth before the disastrous event took place, so Kamandi has some rudimentary knowledge of how things were, but not how things are now. Kirby uses the boy as both a philosophical sounding board and as an action hero, but he inhabits a bleak future that even viewed through today’s nihilistic times, seems excessively dark.

In fact, the book came about because then DC editor Carmine Infantino tried to get licensing to make Planet of the Apes comic books given the 1968 movie series’ popularity. Unfortunately he was turned down, so he gave Jack Kirby the task of creating something LIKE Planet of the Apes. Kirby hadn’t seen the films, but had a story published called “The Last Enemy!” that was similar in concept that predated the original PotA’s novel. He also has an unused strip called Kamandi of the Caves that he’d been hanging on to for over a decade. He whipped up the original story from these elements and due to the cancellation of his Forever People book, he eventually was put on as artist too.

This issue begins with Kamandi engaged in a gladiatorial race against a single adversary. The story follows a continuation from last issue, I’ll assume, where there were many competitors but now we are down to Kamandi, his mount and Bull Bantam, who currently has the Last Boy on Earth entangled in his lasso.

However bad, Kamandi has it, he’s far better off than the other racers here at Hialeah Park. I’ll leave it up to the text boxes on this splash page to explain the rest.

In stunning shots, we see Bull Bantam’s cruelity as well as the elements that made Kirby’s house style the Marvel staple for many years. His leap off the page characters and clear storyboarding need little dialogue to convey the action.

Unfortunately, Kirby’s one weakness appears here too: dialogue and exposition. The box where Kamandi is being dragged could be removed with no effect to the panel or what it conveys. Likewise, the gunshot declaration box. And we know Kamandi would know to free himself after. It is criminal that he was allowed to edit his own stuff, in some small way, because an editor might of tightened up the wording a bit or reworked it. Or in a novel idea of the day, removed it entirely and let those panels show more of Kirby’s wonderful art. Shame.

Still, the story is Kirby’s and it is told the way he wanted, warts and all. And unlike say McFarland’s Spider-Man title, this is still a story I want to see played out. It might make me wince or shake my head at a line of dialogue, but there is still a good, grounded tale with a likeable character facing adversity. I have someone to root for as we’ve shown Kamandi as our underdog who isn’t Superman nor full of himself. We’ll get to know him even more by issues end, but for now, he has to regain his mount before Bull Bantam gets another rope around him.

And he does! His mount is a giant…grasshopper? That makes the ones found in the Texas panhandle look small. We also get a glance at Kamandi’s savior, a Tiger-gent who is somewhere in the rapidly growing angry crowd.

The tiger guy is a the son of a rival warlord, Great Caesar. Prince Tuftan dares anything to rescue his friend Kamandi be killed, which put him and his entourage in a bit of a pickle as we head into Chapter Two, Winner Take All!

Love how Kirby’s books used to do this type of breaking up of the story into little bits like actual novels. It gives the narrative a weight, that, even if it isn’t earned, I find fun and refreshing.

Tuftan and his science advisor certainly aren’t having fun, however. Sacker, the owner of the raceway, has heavily armed guards on hand to quell any disturbance in the crowd. 

While Kamandi’s friend is led away to an uncertain fate, the star of our book looks to be in even worse trouble as Bull Bantan’s Buffalo Bashes the last boy’s bug.

It looks to be all over for Kliklak and Kamandi…

…especially after this last jump to avoid the blast radius of Bull’s grenade.

Kamandi proves to have too much heart to go down without a fight. His determination proves to be too much for Bantan’s ride, who stumbles and bucks Bantan off.

As Bantan resorts to shots at close range, Kamandi dodges and then disarms his moronic adversary. In the brawl that follows Kamandi comes out on top. These nine panels, any of which would make a wonderful poster by themselves, overflow of Kirby’s amazing sense of proportion, foreshortening, and power. The master at work.

As Kamandi triumphs, the crowd goes wild for his thrashing of their champion.

Which just makes Kamandi even more upset that the world he lives in is the brutal existence run by animal people who apparently have no moral center. However, if you can’t get emotionally worked up for any of this cast of man animals, Kirby does a great job of tugging on our heart strings over the VW Bus-sized grasshopper Kliklak, who is so sorely wounded that he must be put down.

At the last moment, we believe that Kamandi has come up with a solution that will save his insect buddy’s life. But no, it is not to be. Kamandi is merely Lenny putting down his dog after a tearful farewell. 

Damn it! I can watch entire legions of Skrulls get killed, but one give me one giant grasshopper with the personality of a loyal dog getting put down, and I blubber like a 3 year old…I swear!

Kliklak’s sacrifice won’t be in vain, as Kamandi is inconsolable. And an depressed but morally righteous hero will always take on the established corrupt power structure, as demonstrated below.

It starts with Kamandi realizing that he is little more than a talented pet to these animal-men.

He almost succumbs to the charms of the lovely and innocent Spirit, but then pulls a full-on Charlton Heston. Unfortunately, that just gets him the butt of one of the panther people’s rifles. Seems that’s a common reaction among the humanimals, as that's exactly what Heston got too. 

Luckily for Kamandi he still has a few friends with influence.

Influence they use in his favor to bargain for his freedom, but at a cost that Kamandi might find a bit steep. That’s left for the next issue however.

As they leave, we have this expository reveal...

He almost bit it! Nice ending.

I can admit that I don’t feel a great vibe for the character or setting of Kamandi, but I do love the art. Jack’s dialogue can sometimes be a bit much to take, but I found his more restrained hand her agreeable with the story he was weaving. There were a few bits of expository dialogue that I though unnecessary or leading, but all in all, I enjoyed Kamandi and would pick up another if I saw it at a reasonable price.

The art alone makes them worth the find.