The Eternals (1976) #4 - "Night of the Demons!"

[mistersandman]

"Much as I'm pleased with THE ETERNALS, there is a matter inherent in their design which is as important as the publication itself. I'm referring to this new concept being fit into the already overcrowded Marvel Universe. I'm sure there'll be many a gleam in fannish eyes over the prospect of Spider-Man or the Thing teaming with Ikaris and fighting Deviants in New York.

"But I firmly believe, after much thought, that the Earth inhabited by the Eternals should not be the Earth of the Marvel Super-Heroes. In fact, it's imperative they be kept separate. In this new series, Jack is going to be answering many of the questions about the why's of human existence and purpose on this planet, which is all well and good; but even if the answers do not contradict already established laws of the Marvel Universe, they will severely limit any possible storylines which might deal with the creation of Man and his reason for being here."

--Ralph Macchio, Eternals #3 letters page, 1976

Last time, Ikaris kidnapped and assaulted Margo and brought her to the New York apartment of the Eternal Sersy [sic] before leaving to fight a Deviant army attacking New York City. The Deviant named Kro has transformed himself into a more Satanic appearance to use the attack to frighten humanity into attacking the space gods.




Although he can't be killed, Ikaris is quickly incapacitated with a "brain mine" and Kro puts him in a pod underwater. In South America, Ajak locates the pod, but decides to let Ikaris "stew a little" after his foolhardy heroics.

Sersi and Margo discuss the situation:









Is "Carol" late 70s slang or did Sersi completely forget Margo's name? I really hope it's the latter. It's pretty easy to see how Sersi caught on with fans while Ikaris... did not. I do like how Gillen has written Ikaris in his new Eternals series by leaning into how po-faced Ikaris is all the time.

I've been trying to do more research to add more interesting background and context to these posts to encourage discussion. One thing that I wish I'd found for issue #3 was Satisfactory Comics' delightful fanart of this unintentionally(?) hilarious moment from the previous issue.
 

 
That said, I noticed on a recent scans_daily post that someone said they prefer posts without color commentary. I'm happy to scale back on the commentary and research if that is what people prefer. Personally, I think with a series like The Eternals, which is very high concept and (frankly) not terribly gripping when taken by itself, it's more interesting to examine it as a historical artifact--what contemporary ideas inspired Kirby, what was the response?

The Eternals feels so utterly like a product of a particular moment that I'm also trying to work out what, if anything, about the source material inspired someone at Disney to spend $200 million USD on a film adaptation. Maybe it's simply because Universal doesn't have the theme park rights to the Eternals in Florida and the characters are obscure enough to allow for some much-needed diverse casting in the MCU.

Comments

[cygnia]

Gotta admit, I used to mix up Marvel's Ralph Macchio with the guy from "Karate Kid" :)

[mistersandman]

Have you ever seen the two of them together in the same room?

[thanekos]

There are words I'm thinking of for describing restricting " current " stories to allow latitude for hypothetical " future " stories - treating " continuity and verisimilitude " as " previously told story A exists, so this story B absolutely can't " - and none of them are complimentary.

[agharta75]

Her full name is Carol Margo. Or Margo Carol. Or Margo Carol Robert Bruce Banner.

[mistersandman]

Margo Carol "Slim" Robert Bruce Banner.

Though until the text clarifies otherwise, I am just going to imagine that Sersi calls every female-presenting human within a certain age range 'Carol' because she can't be bothered to keep them all straight.

[scorntx]

"Uh, my name actually is Carol..."
"Then in deference to all the others, you shall be called Slugathor."

[scorntx]

I can only speak f' myself, but the commentary and examination is appreciated.


Sersei hanging out in Camelot. Don't think we've ever seen her there during all those other time-travel stories about people winding up in Camelot.
Hmm... then again, we only have her word here.
(We've had at least one story with Dane Whitman going back to Camelot. It adds a new wrinkle - not only trying to prevent paradoxes, but not running into your ex a few centuries early.)

Not a flattering depiction of ancient greeks there, though. They look very stereotypically caveman-y.
Especially the one who seems to be wearing furs.

I think what inspired Disney was the pursuit of the Almighty Dollar.
And as to the argument that "well, everyone thought Guardians of the Galaxy was a long shot and that worked", hmm...
Guardians was a long shot, even if at the time it was clear even a terrible Marvel movie made money, but for one thing, the Eternals are more niche than the silliness of a talking raccoon and a walking tree (half the advertising of Guardians was banking on the silliness of it all and running with it), and the Guardians of the Galaxy have, while never all the way up to even B-List at the time, had some measure of popularity. They were not a total shot in the dark.

[dcbanacek]

And as to the argument that "well, everyone thought Guardians of the Galaxy was a long shot and that worked", hmm...

It's also easier to explain why the Guardians weren't at the Battle of New York etc etc since they were out in space and most of them had never heard of Terra/Earth/Dirt/Insignificant Mudball before. (Captain Marvel also falls under this umbrella. Though they should have done the Black Widow movie first but that's a different discussion)

The Eternals were here the whole time. Apparently. Gossiping around the dinner table and being responsible for all of the "Great Ancient Cultures" successes (if they go that rather insulting route, which seems to be implied in the trailers I've seen). It will be interesting to see how they try to explain away their indolence with regard to all the events that had occurred which they do seem to be aware of.

[mistersandman]

I feel like the question of "where were the Eternals" can be answered pretty easily using the Celestials. The Celestials told the Eternals to interfere with human society in very specific ways: build Babylon, invent irrigation, etc. while forbidding other forms of interference, like preventing alien invasions.

Then there's some inciting incident where the Eternals learn the Celestials don't give a shit about the Eternals and/or the Earth or are actively planning to destroy the Eternals and/or the Earth, so they don't have any incentive to maintain the Celestial-mandated non-interference policy.

[thehood]

Alternatively, it could be that the Eternals were dealing with something else during the previous events.

[mastermahan]

My joke theory is that the Eternals haven't figured out digital media yet and didn't know about New York, Ultron, or Thanos until it was all over.

"Modern technology? Oh yeah, Phastos loves that stuff! He installed a brand new telegraph just a century ago!"

[mistersandman]

Classic Greek pottery must really take off a few pounds. Continuity for Merlin in the Marvel Universe is pretty unmanageable when you factor in all the stuff with the Black Knight and Captain Britain. Maybe the Merlin Sersei taught was like the Merlin the X-Men fought in the Silver Age, just some magic man who also happened to be named Merlin.

The Guardians of the Galaxy might have been very obscure to non-Marvel Zombies, but the Annihilation-era Marvel Cosmic stories are, in my humble opinion, fantastic comics.

You can also see the Guardians movie as part of Disney's ongoing quest to have its own Star Wars until it finally just bought Star Wars (remember John Carter?)
With the MCU becoming the trendsetter instead of a trend follower for blockbusters, it's much harder to say what the market case for an Eternals movie was. Maybe it will be more obvious when the movie is out?

[scorntx]

Ancient Greek pottery makers - always messing with historians by painting to romantic impressions, rather than the idiosyncratic features of their subjects.

Not gonna disagree on Annihilation-era Cosmic. (but since that's when I started buying, I might be a teeeeensy bit biased.)

Or there's just a lot of Merlins running around history.
"I've met like, five or six Merlins over the millennia."
"Really?"
"Some of them might've been the same guy, I wasn't really paying attention... and one spelled his name Merlyn."

[velacron]

I like the commentary, especially the summary of what happens between the scanned pages for context

Also, for a series where the whole concept is that ancient myths were secretly science(-fiction) all along, Sersi's "tricks with the atom" sure seem indistinguishable from magic even with that explanation plastered on.

[mistersandman]

I appreciate it!

If Sersi can turn a human-sized Deviant into a small lizard and back again with her "tricks with the atom," human understanding of the laws of physics as they pertain to matter has to be thrown out the window.

[mastermahan]

I third appreciating the commentary! I could read these on my own at Marvel Unlimited. I'm here for the discussion, and commentary is part of that.

Besides, if I didn't like it, I could easily, easily skip past it.

[donnblake]

Fourthing appreciation for the commentary.

I'm put in mind of Neil Gaiman's comment on continuing to include his poetry in his anthologies, despite its sometimes lukewarm reception. Along the lines of "It's a book of stories, and the poems come free with it. And if you like them, great, and if you don't, you don't have to read them."

[shakalooloo]

Sersi hates people getting her name wrong. Yet she remembers meeting this guy called 'Ulysses'...

[mastermahan]

Sersi is a master of transmutation and also throwing shade.

[laughing_tree]

"The Eternals feels so utterly like a product of a particular moment that I'm also trying to work out what, if anything, about the source material inspired someone at Disney to spend $200 million USD on a film adaptation."

I don't know why it's such an odd choice to so many. Like, "immortal race of superbeings mistaken for gods" is a perfectly fine story hook. Heck, it's a premise the MCU's already parlayed once to great success. That's exactly what the Thor movies are, which leaned much harder on the "gods are just super-advanced aliens" concept than Thor comics ever have.

I'd turn the question around: What is there about the premise that makes it a bad choice for adaptation?

[velacron]

In my personal opinion, it's mainly two points:

A) The central premise "a group of powerful super-human characters have been mistaken for gods throughout history" immediately makes me question "...and?", because that by its own is not a terrible original premise at this point and has been done often enough to be business as usual in the superhero genre without any additional fresh new spins on the concept; Agents of Shield did it, Vandal Savage over at the CW did it, even that terrible Hancock movie with Will Smith had a similar premise. Comparable to the scans above, at some point "these magical beings are secretly alien!" might have been an amazing twist in and of itself, at this time it simply makes us ask "...and?"

B) That comparatively similar concepts to the Eternals like Thor and the Inhumans have already been introduced to the MCU in my opinion serves to weakens the Eternals position, not strengthen it. Because now not even "powerful aliens were mistaken for gods by our ancestors" and "hidden society built around superpowers" are unique to them anymore, it makes it even harder to find an unique selling point for the Eternals.
Never mind the elephant in the room around the whole Thanos situation.

But, as I said, this is just an attempt to put my personal feelings into words.
After all, maybe the MCU adaptation HAS some amazing fresh spin on the concept that makes it well worth watching and me their biggest fan; they have pleasantly surprised me before