The Eternals remain tied into Marvel continuity, Iron Man and Yellowjacket both appear in these comics and there are even references to the Civil Warevent running at the same time. Gaiman doesn’t really solve this problem. This robs the concept of much of its power. In the Marvel Universe many of those mythological gods and heroes truly exist, so the Eternals must merely have been confused with the real gods in the past. Kirby intended them to be outside the main Marvel continuity, imagining that in the Eternals’ universe their exploits inspired tales of mythological gods and heroes. The main problem dogging the Eternals since Kirby’s run comes from corporate insistence on treating them as part of the Marvel Universe, where they don’t really belong.

Neil Gaiman’s take on Kirby’s Eternals, the story of a race of superior beings placed on Earth by cosmic entities called the Celestials, could fall into either category, but Gaiman has enough experience that he is probably best characterised as brave rather than foolish. It’s a brave person or a foolish one who follows Jack Kirby, and this is doubly so when the characters are among Kirby’s later and more personal projects.

Neil gaiman eternals review