Until I read Neil Gaiman's rewrite, I had never heard of Jack Kirby's Eternals series. And I think I'm rather glad about that. The conceit is an intriguing one--the gods of the ancient world still exist among us today. The problem with this is Kirby's explanation for their existence. They are the products of alien life forms known as the Celestials who came to our planet (in ginormous robot suit, apparently) and created three species of life: the humans, the Eternals, and the Deviants. These alien "gods" would check in every now and then and see how things were going (they were awfully fond of "smiting" when they found things had gone awry). Yeah, that's all just a little too muddled for my liking.

The first half of the book was well-written and absorbing (hence the 3 stars); however, the second half was full of slipshod explanations for events, an ending that felt unnecessary and unfinished, and a rather strange attempt to incorporate the Eternals into the Marvel Civil War universe (cameos by The Avengers, Iron Man, and The Fantastic Four). Is that the way it was in the original series? I have no idea, but it felt rather forced here.

I don't think my disappointment with the book is necessarily Gaiman's fault. As a premise, I just didn't like what Kirby was trying to do here--it just felt too New Age-Scientology for my liking. I think Gaiman pulls off a similar and superior "gods live among us" narrative in his novel American Gods. ( )

A superhero graphic novel by Gaiman? It was weird, but extremely entertaining. ( )

Not Gaiman's best, but he is doing here what he's best known for, taking mythology and showing it to us as though it were the first time. In this case, it is comic book mythology, and out of all the people who have taken on Jack Kirby's creations and made them breathe again, I have few fears for Gaiman.

It is not his best because the plot is a bit convoluted in Eternals. To be honest, it's not that interesting. The interesting part is how each of the Eternals learn of the truth, that they are really immortal beings tricked into mortality, and how each one reacts. That alone makes this worth the read. The art is good, and the plot good enough to keep the ball rolling. ( )

Eternals is a Marvel comic so enjoys cameo's from Iron Man and one or two other favourites. The Eternals have mostly forgotten who they are and become mortal and the story begins with one of those whose memory is still partially present trying to revive the identity of some of the others. It's well written, well drawn and has wonderful moments in it. There is some lovely "register if you have superpowers, it the right thing to do" rhetoric and a spoof reality show "americas next top superhero" or something similar with the usual lot of vain twits trying to win. If you like comics then Gaiman's writing only adds to an already entertaining genre. ( )

I'm not familiar with the original Jack Kirby series. This reinterpretation is fun, loopy, and accommodates way too many competing narratives to hold together tightly, which I gather was a core characteristic of Kirby's original series. There are inconsistencies between strands -- how can the Eternals and superheros not have crossed paths on a regular basis before now -- and logical inconsistencies within strands -- the confused in-story chronology of the 1970s is one example. Far from minimizing them, Gaiman seems to revel in creating a story that brings the contradictions to the foreground to play with them. Some he resolves, some not. Ultimately, I finished the set thinking not much had happened (apart from the Earth being narrowly saved from destruction), but feeling greatly entertained. The art, by John Romita, Jr., is terrific. ( )