Eternals #4 (1976)
by Jack Kirby
Sersi finally shoves Ikaris to the background, at least on the cover. Let’s hope it also happens in the comic.
Last issue, the Deviants attacked New York City pretending to be demons from outer space.
They shouldn’t be a challenge, considering Ikaris is supposed to be nearly invincible…
…but emphasis on “nearly”. He’s still vulnerable to a Brain Mine™.
With the Eternal taken down, Kro can mug for the camera and explain that the reason why humans fear demons is due to the memory of the times when the Deviants were in charge.
Still doesn’t explain why he went through the trouble of pretending to being the Devil From Space instead of the regular one.
This is where Kirby’s weird tell-don’t-show approach is hurting the story, because while this is SUPPOSED to be a terrifying end-of-the-world scenario… I don’t see it.
With Ikaris out of commission, Sersi is the one to take exposition duties.
But since she has a personality, unlike Ikaris, she gives the story a bit of color.
As mentioned last time, I didn’t initially understand why everyone immediately identifies Sersi as being Circe, since the two names sound completely differently in Italian.
Margo (the human girl who hasn’t done anything) has no such excuse… since she’s already been told that human myths are corrupted versions of the Eternals, would she really need to have this explained to her?
I’m still not clear on what exactly is supposed to be the Deviant plot at this point.
Apparently they launched this assault on New York City to force the humans to notice the Celestials… which doesn’t make sense mainly for two reasons:
A) The Celestials are currently IN SOUTH AMERICA
B) That’s the best way to have the humans notice? Really?
Also: what would involving humanity in the war against the Celestial even bring to the table?
That’s like an ant colony recruiting termites to fight the US Army.
The Deviants sneak into Sersi’s apartment, without even realizing she’s an Eternal until she uses her powers.
Sersi is RIDICULOUSLY overpowered, being able to turn them into harmless animals without any effort.
That’s going to be a bit of a problem with Sersi, as basically whenever she’s around nearly any adversary who doesn’t have powers shouldn’t last more than a single panel… but this an excellent character moment for her, managing to be both charming and ruthless.
This is more action that she usually handles, so she decides to call home.
Meanwhile Ikaris is still sleeping. Can we keep him like this until the series is over? Please?
Pop quiz!
You’ve captured your most dangerous enemy and put him in permanent stasis.
Where do you store the casket that holds him?
A) In a sealed vault in a secret location, under constant surveillaince
B) Dump him the ocean where he can easily be found by his allies
C) Literally anywhere else
Why was Ajak looking for Ikaris, anyway? Was he keeping tabs on him during the New York fight? Wasn’t Ajak supposed to be sealed off in the Celestial city?
Good thing Ikaris sucks so much that even his friends are not in a rush to save him.
Why are we doing this infodump AGAIN? This is ALL information already provided with Ajak’s first appearance, is it REALLY so important to repeat!?
Ajak confirms my interpretation of the Deviant plan… which still doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Why does he assume that the humans would immediately mobilize against South America following the “demon” invasion?
Also, that is some shaky anatomy for a Kirby panel.
It’s also worth noting that, at this point in the series, this is NOT supposed to be the Marvel Universe. So humans don’t even know that aliens exist: if they just wanted humans to come here to see, all the Deviants had to do was tell them aliens landed!
If the implication is that the Deviants want the humans to attack the Celestials… the Deviants had vastly superior technology and were almost wiped off the planet, what’s the point?
Also: “mankind has challenged the gods before” does not entirely track with the lore of this series.
And we close with another splash page focusing on Arishem, with the comic repeating that humans stand absolutely no chance whatsoever.
Historical significance: 0/10
Not surprisingly, given that nothing happens.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
On the Marvel scale, that is a very tame invasion.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Even Sersi can only do so much. While her scenes are the highlight of the story and I always appreciate it when Ikaris gets out of the way, there is VERY little substance here.
Does this fit the Marvel Universe? 0/10
If this was set in any other city, maybe. But not a single other superhero is present or even mentioned? Yeah I’m not buying it.
Splash pages: 2 out of 17 (18%)
Splash + double splash pages: 3 out of 17 (24%)
Most Kirby panel
Most WTF panel
Does Sersi’s answer have anything to do with what Margo is talking about?
I love that Sersi just randomly calls Margo “Carol” in the panel where she calls home. It would be a hilarious character detail if it was intentional- Margo is so uninteresting to Sersi she can’t be bothered to remember her name. I wish as the series went on that Sersi had called Margo a different name every time she talked to her.
This issue confirms that Ajak’s team were frozen Incas – he tells Dr. Damien all about training Incas to be his ground crew, and how he and his crew were put in suspended animation by the Celestials.
Ajak’s stupid hat reminds me of the old Steve Martin movie where everyone goes cross-eyed thanks to his glasses handle invention. The Jerk, I think. Maybe the sequel? I dunno. The 80s were a long time ago.