Product Description: Thor stands alone against the Deviant and Eternals - while mankind stands doomed! Can even a Thunder God prevail? Collects Thor Annual #7 and Thor #283-291.
The Eternals arrive in the Marvel Universe. Between the end of the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby era and the arrival of Walt Simonson in the 1980s there is, in the history of acclaimed Thor stories, something of a gulf. The Roy Thomas run in the late 1970s, principally the famous "Eternals Saga" collected here, is usually held up by knowledgeable fans as the pinnacle of the years between Lee/Kirby and Simonson.
Kirby, in particular, casts a long shadow over this story, and not just because "The Mighty Thor" is often regarded as the Marvel series that he was most involved in. The 'Eternals' with whom this story is concerned were another set of the King's creations, developed when he returned to Marvel after a stint at the competition, DC Comics. At DC, Kirby had created the New Gods, a mini-universe of space-based deities (who mostly acted like superheroes), only to see it cancelled out from under him, and one gets the sense that he was not willing to give up on the idea yet; on returning to Marvel, he created the Eternals, a new group of "space gods" who occupied a universe all their own, with the conceit that they were an offshoot of humanity created by the fantastically-powerful Celestials who had been mistaken for the gods of many cultures (Father Zuras = Zeus, Thena = Athena, Makkari = Mercury, etc.). After the series ended, Roy Thomas opted to bring the Eternals into the main Marvel Universe.
This, obviously, posed a problem, because the gods were themselves characters in the Marvel Universe; Hercules, at the time of publication, was an active Avenger, whereas "The Eternals" would have you believe that all Hercules' exploits were actually done by the Forgotten One. Thomas chooses to address the Eternals' existence as a "secret history", revealed here when Thor recovers memories of his first meeting with the Eternals thousands of years earlier. He meets them again in the present, and must deal with a larger plot involving the Celestial Fourth Host arriving to judge the planet Earth (which, if the judgement is negative, will result in the Human race's destruction). As Thomas presents it, the Eternals were only sometimes mistaken for the gods (such as when the Forgotten One performed one of Hercules' Ten Labours). The Celestials are so absurdly powerful that Thor despairs of being able to do anything about them, and, at the story's end, is confronted with a major surprise concerning his father Odin, with whom he is currently at odds (as a result of stories told before this voume, though it is all explained for the readers). Indeed, as the second volume of this collection will show, this is in many ways a story about Odin and the choices he makes as All-Father.
Thomas, who I consider the first of the first generation of fans-turned-writers in the comics industry (we're now in the third or fourth such generation), lavishly footnotes this story with references to Kirby's original "The Eternals" series, picking up on his unresolved plots and characters, so one's enjoyment of this series might be heightened if you are familiar with Kirby's work, recently put out in an Omnibus that has since gone out of print (I myself have not read those stories, and was able to enjoy the story without difficulty). The art, by Keith Pollard, John Buscema, and Walt Simonson, maintains a consistent and fitting look for the series.
A good classic read Volume one delivered exactly what it said Thor and the Eternals. Vol. 2 however should be called the origin of Asgard. I was pleased with the book but if you like classic Thor action this book is for you.
This one has (one half of) it all! THOR: THE ETERNALS SAGA collects Thor Annual #7 and Thor #283 - 291, presenting a classic Marvel Comics story from a time when they knew how to make them big without making them stupid. A heavy-duty tale so vast, it needs two trade paperbacks to tell! Writer Roy Thomas pulls out all the stops on this one, as Thor learns of a forgotten chapter in his pre-Donald Blake life. About 1000 years ago, Thor met the Eternals on Earth in the land that would one day become Mexico. Their shared adventures revealed to him the secret ancestry of the human race and the Eternals' connections to the corrupt Deviants and god-like Celestials; however, in order to keep Thor from interfering with the arrival of the third Celestial host on Earth, the Eternal Valkin made Thor forget the episode and return to Asgard. Now, Thor's memories have been awakened by Mimir of Asgard, and when he returns to Earth to search for the remnants of the Eternals, he runs smack into the middle of the fourth host of Celestials! It is time to begin the 50-year judgment of mankind, but Thor isn't one to wait that long. He wants the Celestials to leave, and this time around, the Eternals are only too eager to help him... or are they?
Honestly, I don't see how Marvel could have crammed any more into this book, and what's even more astounding is that this is only half of the story! It has everything a classic Marvel fan could want, and even those of you who only have an interest in more recent comics, or even strictly DC, could benefit from reading it, as it provides excellent perspective on the relationships between the Asgardians, Greek Gods, & Celestials, as well as humans, Eternals, and Deviants. Roy Thomas gets a big thumbs-up for constructing a tale of this scope while keeping it easy to follow, and it ties in amazingly well to both past and (at the time) current storylines. The art is amazingly consistent throughout, even though it switches between Walt Simonson, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, and Arvell Jones - these guys keep the spirit of Jack Kirby's creations alive with their powerful illustrations.
I only wish Marvel could craft more tales like this these days, but it seems they have neither the ambition nor the talent. Oh well... as long as they keep reprinting them, I'll keep buying them.
Anything Goes Trivia
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