Jack Kirby left DC and returned to Marvel in the late seventies and went to work on a number of titles: Captain America, Black Panther, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Dinosaur, The Eternals, Machine Man... When not working on these, the prolific and hardworking Kirby managed to draw an issue of What If (and a few other one-offs I may have missed) and covers for The Avengers, Marvel Two-in-One, The Fantastic Four, Marvel Chillers, Marvel Spotlight... But Kirby being Kirby, he grew fed up with Marvel, and left the comics industry altogether in 1978 for a more lucrative career in animation.
Kirby's late-seventies Marvel run arouses some controversy: some fans hate it, other love it. I belong in the latter category: in my view, Kirby's artistic skills stood at their peak in this period. Not only did he draw some great artwork - inked ably by the likes of Mike Royer - he created some great characters which, as usual, are still being used to the present day.
Which brings us to The Eternals. In the seventies, occultism and paranormal pseudo-science - and the pseudo-archaeology of Erich von Däniken - were all the rage. Kirby was quite taken by von Däniken's theories and incorporated them into The Eternals. (If you can't be bothered reading von Däniken's books, watch the History Channel's series Ancient Aliens: the series is based on von Däniken's ideas and he puts an appearance in there). You could sum up The Eternals nicely as Kirby's Fourth World meets Ancient Aliens.
The premise is that a race of cosmic beings - the Celestials - visited Earth five million years ago and, through genetic experimentation on man's monkey ancestors (Kirby was an evolutionist), created what were to be two offshoots of humanity, the Eternals and the Deviants. The Eternals are immortal, Olympian and beautiful, the Deviants, ugly and demonic. The latter live in an underwater city ever since (in response to Deviant provocation) the Celestials, on a return visit to Earth 18,000 years ago, sank the Deviant continent of Lemuria. While the Eternals and Deviants have lived in isolation from humanity, their contacts with us have given rise to all our legends and myths of gods, monsters, demons, sorcerers and the like. Most of the Eternals are named after ancient Greek gods and mythical figures.
The first issue of The Eternals sees the return of the Celestials to Earth - their fourth visit - on a mission to judge humanity and the results of their experiment five million years ago. The Celestials, who are giants, stand on a par with Kirby and Lee's other cosmic super beings - Galactus, the Watcher, the Stranger - and are virtually omnipotent. The palm of the Celestial Arisheim bears 'the formula that enables him to decimate worlds': a typical piece of Kirby circuitry:
The Celestials' impending judgement on the Earth hovers above the heads of all the characters in The Eternals and lends the series a real tension. Unfortunately, The Eternals was cancelled before Kirby could tie up the storyline, so we never got to see what happened. Writers after Kirby's departure took up the threads and attempted to give it closure, and starting with a long-running arc in Thor, Marvel worked the Eternals universe into the mainstream Marvel continuity. (In the original series, Kirby wanted to keep the Eternals separate from the Marvel universe, but was apparently forced by his editors to incorporate SHIELD agents and the Hulk - a robot, cosmic-powered Hulk but still the Hulk).
Let's type the characters, in their order of appearance:
IKARIS (Eternal)
Kirby makes Ikaris the central character of the series. I see him as a commanding type, even something of a disciplinarian and a bully, very self-confident and used to ordering others around. An extravert, to be sure, and a Te (extraverted thinking) dominant type. His powers seem to be physical in nature - i.e., he projects concussive force blasts (mainly from his eyes) a lot - and he seems to be a Sensor. I type him as an ESTJ.
MARGOT DAMIAN and DOCTOR DANIEL DAMIAN (Human)
Ikaris' girlfriend seems to be a Feeler more than a Thinker. Truth be told, she complains a lot - about unpleasantness and discomfort - and strikes me as being something of a wet blanket. Si dominant types live in the present and tend to be concerned with comfort, stability, harmony, pleasant surroundings; they tend to want to peace - in their immediate environment - above all. This describes Margo to a tee. Her father, Doctor Damian, who is an archaeologist, is in contrast a Ni dominant: he doesn't live in the present; he is obsessed by the past - particularly the Celestials' past visitations to Earth - and worries constantly over the future. But like his daughter, he's more of a Feeler than a Thinker. Margot is an ISFJ, Doctor Damian, INFJ. (Interestingly, Doctor Damian first appearance was not in the Eternals but in a Lee-Kirby issue of the Fantastic Four (the plot revolved around one of the Kree Sentries).
The bad guy counterpart to Ikaris, Kro - an assertive, bullying type - is a Deviant general. While being forceful at times, he can be charming and seductive at others, and shows some skill at confidence trickery. He reminds me of the stock character of the Evil Prince (think of Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones). ESTP.
TODE (Deviant)
The arrogant and cunning ruler of the Deviants, his outsized head and puny body (which remind me of MODOK and a few other of Kirby's creations) mark him as a Thinker and an Intuitive respectively. Most definitely a dominant TE type. ENTJ.
AJAK (Eternal)
When we first meet Ajak, he's in suspended animation in a tomb in the City of the Gods, an ancient Aztec city in Peru. He and his subordinates have been sleeping there since the last visit of the Celestials (the Third Host) to Earth thousands of years ago. Upon waking, Ajak and his crew get to work manning a special 'control tower' in the City which will guide the Celestial landing on Earth; the fact that thousands of years have passed means nothing to them - it's as though they've woken up from an afternoon nap. He's a type who's quite content to work in the background, in obscurity and solitude, and doesn't mind not being noticed. An appetite for harmony and comfort marks him as an Si dominant. His leadership role and organisational capabilities show Te. ISTJ.
SERSI (Eternal) and DOCTOR SAMUEL HOLDEN (Human)
The extraverted, vivacious and hedonistic Sersi is a dancer and performer who lives in a Manhattan apartment; she's the same person as the sorceress Circe in Homer's Odyssey (who turned Ulysses' crew into pigs). Unlike her fellow Eternals, who can be quite stuffy, she loves dancing, music and having a good time. ESFP, without a doubt (Michael Pierce calls the ESFP type 'Dionysian', and Sersi is indeed Dionysian). In contrast, her human friend (boyfriend?) Doctor Samuel Holden, a professor of anthropology, is geeky, intellectual, introverted. INTP. Socionics wouldn't see the pair as a good match, as the relation between INTP and ESFP is Conflicting.
MAKKARI (Eternal)
A speedster, like DC's the Flash, Makkari (like the Roman god Mercury - get it?) even looks a little like the Flash. And, like the Flash, he's an ISFJ. In one story, he mentally summons some transport - an 'egg-shaped craft' to take himself and Ikaris, Margo, Doctor Holden and Sersi to Manhattan and declares: 'What serves me best is to serve my friends! Behold! My latest vehicle! I fashioned this for comfort as well as speed! You shall enjoy transport as none have before!'. I find this piece of dialogue telling: it sums up the combination of dominant Si and auxiliary Fe.
ZURAS (Eternal) and DOMO (Eternal)
The counterpart to Tode, the red-beared, stern Zuras is the ruler of the Eternals. A Te-dominant type and a superbeing whose use of 'cosmic power' shows him to be an Intuitive: in other words, another version of Thor's father Odin and Hercules' father Zeus (Zuras is mistaken by humans for Zeus). ENTJ. Zuras is served by an officious Eternal called Domo, who acts as Zuras' receptionist and PA (personal assistant). The introverted Domo enjoys and is content with his humble and obscure position as a subordinate to the mighty Zuras. ISTJ.
THENA (Eternal)
Zuras' daughter and the heroine of the series, who had a romance hundreds (?) of years ago with the Deviant warlord Kro, who now seeks to revive the relationship. A forceful woman who, in her first appearance, shows a fondness for melee combat, and later on, for melee weapons (crossbows and staves) - this to me shows Se, extraverted sensing. We also see a strong moral sense (particularly when she encounters the wretched Deviant mutates in the City of Toads), and this morality is based on personal feelings and strong value judgements - in others, Fi. I type her as ISFP.
RANSAK THE REJECT (Deviant) and KARKAS (Deviant)
The lovable odd couple of the series, both of them are Deviant mutates - which means that they are more ugly and freakish-looking than the average Deviant - and are consigned to fight other mutates to death in an arena in the City of Toads before Thena, out of pity, rescues them and takes them with her to the Eternals' base on Mount Olympus. Ransak the Reject looks exactly like a human male - and a handsome one at that - which, in Deviant eyes, makes him an abomination unpleasant to behold. Ironically, he is a savage, explosive, unstable (Fi) and one of the most forceful (Se) of all the characters in the series - his savagery and maniacal rages are at odds with his rather noble and gentle appearance (Thena nicknames him 'Sweet Prince'); in another irony, Karkas - a gigantic, savage-looking monster - is in fact an intellectual. A scoffer and a sceptic, and a lover of quirkiness, he's the Tyrion Lannister of the series and clearly an ENTP. The explosive Ransak is an ESFP.
SPRITE (Eternal) and THE DELPHAN BROTHERS (Eternals)
A quirky type who loves changing his appearance, transforming physical objects (by 'shifting atoms') and playing tricks on people, Sprite is clearly an Intuitive and an extraverted one at that. A Ne dominant, I type him as an ENFP. Much like that other Kirby ENFP character, the Impossible Man, the youthful Sprite is a shapeshifter, literally and figuratively. All ENFPs possess a chameleonic quality. As for the Delphan Brothers, they are a bunch of knuckle-headed, broken-nosed, cauliflower-eared brawlers who set upon Valkin's visiting party of Polar Eternals, just for the hell of it. ESFPs.
VALKIN (Eternal)
Uncle of Ikaris and father of the evil Eternal Druig, Valkin lives undercover amongst the humans, assuming the identity of a 'General Greshko' in Russia. He tries to persuade the Russians not to attack one of the visiting Celestials (who landed in Siberia) but to no avail. He breaks up a fight between the Delphan Brothers and the Polar Eternals, and attempts to mend fences with his estranged son Druig. I see Valkin as an Fe-dominant type: remember that Fe-dominant types are judgers who are concerned with maintaining a harmonious emotional atmosphere in which everyone works towards the same goal. I type him as an ESFJ: this type worries a lot and tends to behave like a mother hen, and that description certainly fits Valkin.
THE FORGOTTEN ONE (Eternal)
An Eternal who, thousands of years ago, wandered the Earth and did heroic deeds, the Forgotten One inspired the myths of Gilgamesh, Hercules, Prometheus and others. He is punished by Zuras and consigned to live in a small hut in Olympia - under house arrest. When most of the Eternals make themselves absent from Olympia, Sprite calls on his aid in defeating a Deviant nuclear attack on the Celestials' space-ship. This super-strong, invulnerable character is clearly a Sensor, and, to judge by his name - and his dwellings - he's clearly an introvert. Because of this - and his relentlessness and indestructibility - I initially typed him as an ISTJ. But in fact ISTJs are content with their lot in life, and are willing to toe the line - they do what they're told by their superiors with equanimity. The Forgotten One, on the other hand, shows a capacity for free thought and follows his own peculiar moral code - and he can't be bothered, unlike the ISTJ, imposing that code on others. This shows Ti dominance. I think here we have an ISTP.
DROMEDAN THE BRAIN SNATCHER (Deviant)
Another Deviant mutate, Dromedan possesses the powers of telekinesis and mind control. Because of his great power and his lust for dominion, his fellow Deviants imprisoned him in a crypt below New York City a thousand years ago and fixed a 'neutraliser helmet' - which dampens his powers - to his head. Unfortunately, Ikaris' battle with the cosmic-powered robot Hulk dislodges the helmet and Dromedan is set free to roam the earth once more. An introvert who desires to rule others (showing a strong Te), he takes a sadistic delight in his powers of mind control. INTJ.
ZAKKA THE TOOL-MASTER (Deviant) and TUTINAX (Deviant)
The villainous Zakka is a Deviant who delights in spreading fear and chaos throughout New York city using a time projector which brings menaces from the past (Jack the Ripper, Attila's Huns, a neanderthal, etc.) into the present. A solitary, a brooder, and a schemer, Zakka, like Dromedan, loves to manipulate and is an INTJ. One of the menaces he brings into the present is a Deviant gladiator called Tutinax, easily the strongest and most destructive character in the series. Se-dominant, Tutinax is obviously an ESTP.
DRUIG and SIGMAR (Eternals)
Like Dickens, Kirby was a master-story teller, and like Dickens, he understood tragedy. He ends his run on the series with the tragedy of Druig and Sigmar. The son of Valkin, Druig, like his father, pretends to be a human - he works as a KGB agent (and, it is implied, as a torturer) in Russia. He seeks to obtain an ancient weapon powerful enough to destroy a Celestial, and kidnaps Ikaris and tortures him in order to obtain its whereabouts. All the time, he is served, reluctantly, by the weak and self-effacing Sigmar, who is constantly bullied by Druig. Obviously a Te-dominant, Druig resembles Loki (in Kirby and Lee's Thor) physically and mentally. The pathetic Sigmar - who disdains Druig but is an enabler of his mad scheme nonetheless - is an ISFJ, Druig an ENTJ. Kirby used the ENTJ / ISFJ pairing a few times in his career - Magneto (ENTJ) and Toad (ISFJ) in X-Men is one example.
ARNOLD RADISCH (Human)
ENTP.
Mark Hootsen signing off,
