Ye Olde School Cafe': The Eternals vol. 1 pt 5

Hello everybody, and welcome back to another installment of Ye Olde School Cafe’! This week will bring us more of Jack Kirby’s Eternals, and their battle against the evil Deviants, and also their struggle to stop the Celestials from destroying Earth. When we last left off, Tode, ruler of the Deviants, was gloating at the fact that Reject couldn’t break through his force field. At this point, a giant rumble came through the stronghold that shook it to its foundation. The cause was not natural….

As Deviants are running everywhere, there are a few who try to fight Eson the Celestial. They are, of course, like fleas banging against the side of an elephant, and their weapons have no effect either. Eson smashes pretty much everything in sight. He then uses his god-like powers to find out just exactly what the Deviants have accomplished in their time here on the Earth. While this is going on, Zuras himself was watching, and then he tries to make mental contact with the Celestials themselves. As Domo watches, Zuras uses one of the Eternals’ fantastic creations to send his mind to the mighty ship for answers. What he gets in return is a bolt of mental energy that knocks him to the floor. Domo is stunned by the power that the Celestials show, and then Zuras tells Domo he was put in his place  by “The One Above All.” Zuras then tells Domo to activate a device that will summon all Eternals to Olympia to be a part of the Uni-Mind.
Back under the ocean, Thena and Kro are approached by Reject. He tries to attack Kro, but Thena blasts him until he’s unconscious. Thena and Kro are then startled to see that Karkas is still alive as well. Thena shows him and Reject compassion, something they see for the first time in their lives. After Reject slaps Kro down, Thena take Karkas and Reject with her to provide them with a better life than being enslaved by the Deviants. As she is teleporting away, Kro is left all alone screaming for his love to come back. As he screams, the ceiling and walls around him start to crumble beneath the power of the almighty Celestial Eson.

In the next issue, we witness mighty Zuras beckoning all the Eternals to come forth and join together for the ritual of the Uni-Mind. The Eternals believe it is the only way they can stop the Celestials from devastating the Earth and all its inhabitants. We begin to see Eternals from all over the planet being summoned, and Margo is overwhelmed at the site of all of these powerful beings coming together at once. Meanwhile, in Russia, we see the military advisers making a plan to attack Nezzar the Celestial. Of course, it’s a fool’s errand, but they plot anyway. We also see that some of the Russian military advisers are actually Eternals as well, and they heed the summons to Olympia. When they get there, they are met with hostility by some of the others. A brawl breaks out, but is quickly stopped by the hot tempered Ikaris.
Next, the Russians plan to activate a nuclear missile to try and stop the towering being. But first, the Eternal known as Valkin tells all of the squabbling Eternals that it is time to put this meaningless quarreling behind them, and join together with the Uni-Mind to try and save the planet, and quite possibly themselves as well. We then turn our attention back to the Russians who activate the missile. The missile itself is launched and only moments away from striking its target. With one motion of his hand, the Celestial sends the missile back in the same direction it came from. The Russians are astonished at the power this extraterrestrial possesses. They also start to soil themselves when they see the nuke heading straight for them. Once the missile is just about at the point of impact, we see that it was an illusion set into motion by the Celestial the moment that the Russians decided to launch.

Issue #12 brings about the ritual of the Uni-Mind, but a disturbance is causing an uproar in the city. Thena has returned to Olympia, but when everyone sees that she has brought two Deviants with her, they chastise her immediately. She defends her reason for bringing them, and then the ladies see how beautiful Reject is and they change their minds. Karkas nearly passes out from his wounds in the arena, and then Thena tells Reject that he is to watch over Karkas as she must join with the Uni-Mind. As Thena and the others fly away, Karkas laughs at Reject because he knows that it will be a far greater punishment to have to look after him than it would have been to be beaten in the arena.
In the next pages we see Dr. Damian and Ajak in the temple of the Inca. The two talk of the temple and also the looming giants outside. As the two walk through the temple, Ajak explains to Dr. Damian that the history of this monument is far greater than he can imagine. He shows him a picture of some behemoth that he calls an Inca wrestler. He then animates the picture and fights with it. After that, Ajak tells Damian not to worry about anything, but he tells Ajak that a father is always worried about his children. As he speaks those words, we then see Margo, with the aid of Ikaris, flying around Olympia with Sersi, Makkari, and the other Eternals.
At this point we see Zuras inside a device telling the Eternals to enter into the large antenna like device that has arms reaching out of it (the essence and mind of Zuras himself that is powering the device). As the Eternals enter, Margo and the professor, who has been brought by Sersi, are showing signs of trepidation about this whole experience. Ikaris assures them that humans can be a part of this ritual and guides them inside. The mountaintop of Olympia glows so bright that even mortals below can see it. The humans below scatter in fear of it, because they think it’s a bad omen. From underneath the glow, we see something emerging. Something that is as strange and unforeseen as anything ever was. The Uni-Mind has come forth, and is going to challenge the Celestials’ might with the fate of the planet Earth lying in the balance.
Well, that’s it for this week, but come back next week to see if the Uni-Mind can put a stop to the Celestials’ judgement. And don’t look now, but a certain green skinned, gamma radiation carrying behemoth is making his way into the picture! Be here next week for Ikaris versus The Hulk!

Valkin the Eternal

Nezzar the Celestial

Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net

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