Eternals #17 (1977)
by Jack Kirby
Mercifully for my sanity, the cover is lying: there aren’t really three Ikaris.
One is more than enough.
We last left the Eternals in an underground cave beneath New York City, ready to fight a super powerful Deviant named Dromedan.
Since this is a telepathic fight, it doesn’t exactly play to Kirby’s strengths.
Using the terms Kirby introduced in earlier issues, Dromedan is technically a mutate: a superhumanly powerful monster genetically engineered by the Deviants.
They don’t play a big part in the original series, but Marvel REALLY likes to use them as an excuse to retcon various monsters into having been mutates all along.
If Ikaris had the slightest amount of charisma or personality, watching him succumb to Dromedan’s powers could be interesting.
I’m just rooting for Dromedan to throw him out of the story so we can focus on anyone else.
Dromedan’s only weakness is the ginormous helmet that can block his mind powers, but even sinking him into the ground is still not enough to use the helmet.
While the way we get here leaves something to be desired, having Dromedan control the Eternals on top of his own telepathic powers is a scary thought considering we saw in the previous issue how ridiculously powerful Zuras is.
I did mention that I would have preferred anyone else to become the focus.
Good news: it’s the best character of the series!
Still, even Sersi can only do so much.
In particular, I really like the way Dromedan gets around her molecular manipulation powers: he makes her forget she has them!!!
I really wish telepaths did this more often. But I get it, it’s hard to have characters who can do THIS and don’t end the story in two panels.
But that’s STILL not enough to take down Sersi!!!
That can only buy so much time before Dromedan disintegrates Ikaris.
Too bad that was just an illusion.
Taken by surprise, Dromedan can’t react in time before Ikaris annihilates him.
That was actually a good strategy, but apparently Zuras could’ve done everything by himself and was just too kind to actually do anything.
Sure, why not.
Guys, I get that he’s basically your king and that you’re stuck with him for the next infinity years, but come on, this constant groveling is embarrassing.
From the context, Sersi must have just created illusions instead of conjuring up multiple copies of Ikaris. It’s not outright stated in the story, something unusual for Kirby.
And we close with Ikaris’s cousin Druig introducing the plot of the next two issues (which will conclude the series).
Splash pages: 0 out of 17 (0%)
no double splash pages
This is not just the first time this ever happens on Eternals: it’s the first time it happens in ANY Kirby series I’ve reviewed.
Most Kirby panel
Most WTF panel
Apparently Ikaris reacted because he’s one of the Polar Eternals, and it’s notable enough to point out. Notice Sersi is NOT one of them, but nobody compliments her on saving the day as much as Ikaris.
Historical significance: 0/10
Dromedan will show up in Thor stories published after the end of the Eternal series; I will briefly talk about them once the main retrospective is over, since it’s where various subplots are finished.
But he only shows up in flashbacks, so he was considered dead… until he randomly shows up in 1994 on the pages of “Real Heroes”, a series that I am convinced absolutely nobody has ever read.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really. I suppose the dialogue is old-fashioned enough, but it does fit the Eternals.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Remember that this is NOT the same thing of a quality score: this only means that you can basically publish the story today.
After all it’s just one big decompressed fight followed by one page that sets up a subplot.
But in terms of quality… even if this has more panels than any previous Eternals story, basically nothing happens.
Dromedan is an interesting concept but he has no personality, and the Eternals themselves don’t help. Sersi is the only one who at least TRIES to do something interesting, but even she can only accomplish so much.
Unlike most other Kirby series, I’m a strenuous defender of his Eternals… but at this point it’s abundantly clear the King has completely lost interest.
Does this fit the Marvel Universe? 10/10
It wouldn’t exactly shock me to discover that there’s a huge underground complex beneath New York City that none of its heroes ever found… it’s not even in the top fifty weird NYC things in that universe.
I wonder if Kirby just forgot that Valkin was Ikaris’ uncle and not his father, or if all Polar Eternals refer to Valkin as “father” as an honorific. I suspect the latter would be the official explanation why Ikaris is suddenly referring to Valkin as his father in this issue, while the real explanation is that Kirby forgot.