10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Revamped Eternals Greatly Improved
Date of Review: Oct 28, 2008
The Bottom Line: I would definitely give this one a try if you're a fan of Gaiman, the Eternals, or even just comics in general.
The Eternals were a (fictional) race of superhumans originally created by Marvel Comics writer Jack Kirby in the mid-1970's. According to the legend, the alien race of Celestials visited Earth and created two kinds of proto-humans: the long-living Eternals and their enemies, the unstable Deviants. The Eternals went on to develop many new technologies and protect the human race; the Deviants worked against them.
The original series seemed to peter out in the late 1970's, with a brief return in the mid-1980's and a side book called "The Herod Factor" in 1990. However, their biggest return was in 2006, when Neil Gaiman decided to put his own spin on the stories. In Gaiman's version, only one Eternal (Ikaris) has a memory of their own history, and no records of their abilities or previous lives - according to Gaiman, one Eternal (Sprite) was angered at having to remain a child forever, so managed to induce amnesia on the part of the other Eternals, and to confuse their sense of themselves. In Gaiman's series, the remaining Eternals go on a quest to find the rest of their race.
As a huge fan of both Gaiman's graphic novel work and regular writing, I was impressed by his ability to work within the Marvel universe while still keeping parts of his own artistic style. This is not my favorite work of his - the Sandman Chronicles surpass it in every way, in my opinion - but it is by far more engaging and more adeptly written than the original.
