It's that time again! It's time to join the Eternals in their greatest battle against the Deviants! Last time, the Eternals infiltrated the Deviants' City of Toads, we learned the true plans of Ghaur, and Margo Damian met her end. We're coming to the home stretch, so let's take a look at Eternals #11!
The cover is a piece by...an unknown artist. Yeah. I'm not kidding. I use the Marvel fan wiki to look up credits for the comics I review, and the entry for this comic in the wiki says "not yet listed". So, if you knew who drew the cover, please let me know, and I'll edit this entry.
"Shadowplay!"
Writer: Walt Simonson
Penciler: Keith Pollard
Inkers: Geof Isherwood, Danny Bulanadi
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with David Chatterton making his way to Olympus, the home of the Eternals. He finds Karkas and Cybele waiting for him.
Thankfully for Sersi's new human friend, the two are friendly, and are familiar with him. He describes himself as Sersi's latest "pet", but Cybele tells him she didn't describe him that way. It's a nice little touch, showing that for all her...quirks, Sersi does have a heart. The two take David to the chamber where Ikaris became the new Prime Eternal in issue #9. Cybele fills David in what the Eternals have been up to, a way for the audience to get caught up on things.
David overhears Ghaur giving some more exposition from a nearby crystal. Said crystal is one of Kro's crystals. We've seen them in previous issues. And speaking of Kro...
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| "We will finally get those blasted punk kids off our lawns!" |
"We will finally get those blasted kids off our lawns!" After the events of last issue, Thena and Sersi are under Ghaur's power thanks to the brain mines. Ghaur shows off a new device his lab boys have made. They earned themselves a nice little bonus in their paycheck for this.
The device strips away the willpower of its recipient, making them into little more than an easily suggestible automaton. Ghaur claims it's a more subtle device than the brain mine, which...makes a bizarre bit of sense as the device looks like a golden bracelet. At first glance, the bracelet is seemingly just a regular, if nice-looking, piece of jewelry. He puts the bracelet on Sersi, and has her imitate Margo Damian's appearance. He plans to use her to trap Ikaris.
With that out of the way, Ghaur then reveals what this is all about. During the events of Jack Kirby's 1970s Eternals series, a vessel manned by the Priests managed to find something on board the Celestials' great ship.
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| “Oooooh, pretty crystal…” |
The Priests were unable to steal the crystal from the Celestials' ship. However, they did manage to get enough information on it to create a perfect duplicate. And in issue #5, if you may remember, Ghaur managed to obtain the vial from the Pyramid of the Winds. The vial that contained the essence of the rebellious Golden Celestial. So, why do they need the crystal? Because the vial needs a special crystalline key to open it.
No no, crystal key. That's the Ice Key. Thanks to the information they got from the Celestials' ship, they can create their own crystal key. Which means they can now open the vial.
Back in Olympia, David says Ikaris needs to be warned. Cybele and Karkas can't come, as they have to make sure Olympia is protected. They can provide some transportation to Lemuria, though. They give him a disguise and a device that can home in on Ikaris. Cybele also asks David to help Ikaris bring Thena home, if possible. After all, she worries about her daughter.
Yeah. Remember, Eternals are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. Meanwhile, Yrdisis wakes up from being kayoed in the last issue. She flees to her home, where she has some surprise guests.
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| “SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Yrdisis!” |
She's naturally confused by this, as the Eternals are supposed to be the enemies of her people. Yeah, she forgot about her hanging out with Khoryphos. speaking of Khoryphos, he introduces himself and his comrades to her. They head out, Yrdisis agreeing to come with them. I mean, they have a rendezvous to keep, and she presumably has nothing better to do. Who knows, hanging with the Eternals could get her creative juices flowing for some new paintings.
Under the firepits of Lemuria, a disguised Kingo and Ransak infiltrate the complex there, and they find something shocking. What is it the Eternal and Deviant saw? Well, you'll just have to wait.
Patience is a virtue. Back in the streets, a lone Deviant is grabbed by the Forgotten One, and he wants answers. Because the Forgotten One has a lot of questions.
He wants to know where Ghaur is...and where that pizza place he learned about is located. It's been a while, and the Forgotten One is hungry. The Deviant has no idea, so he gets a trip to dreamland. Dave Chatterton arrives in Lemuria, and his Ikaris detector lights up.
While this is going on, Ghaur leads Kro and the controlled Thena to a vast underground chamber, where the rule of the Deviants is actually conducted from. The Priest has is one final surprise for the warlord. You remember how the Deviants were seemingly regularly culled in their "Purity Time" ritual?
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| Ghaur played WAY too much Pokémon again… |
Yeah. Turns out that they never were culled at all. They were actually just placed in these pods and dumped here. Millions of Deviants are here. This has been going on since Lemuria was destroyed by the Second Host of the Celestials. The Priests have been doing this so long, some of the pods even contain Deviants that were alive before Lemuria's destruction. This leads to another question: Why? Why do all this? What's the end goal?
No, not a team. Ghaur's thinking bigger. He's not putting together a team. The man is building an army. A massive army. Millions of Deviants all under his banner. However, there is a problem that Kro points out. All these Deviants would likely not be too open to the idea of fighting under Ghaur's banner. But the big blue maniac has kept this in mind. These Deviants will fight for him, as they will have no choice in the matter.
You see, as these Deviants sleep in their pods, their brains are being wiped clean. They basically are being made into living automatons. Kro then asks if these will be the army of the Priests...or Ghaur himself?
It's not an unreasonable thing to assume. Ghaur points out that he speaks for the Priests, but it can be implied that he's in reality no different than any other power-hungry madman, in real life or in fiction. Kro ends up stuffed in a pod, and Ghaur is left wondering why despite his power to control any Deviant, Kro still is unaffected.
Out on the streets of Lemuria, the group hide out, and Yrdisis spots a couple of guards ferrying someone down the street. Ikaris realizes that the person they are ferrying is Margo Damian. He's not aware she's dead. He rescues "Margo" from the Deviant guards, but David runs up to him, saying...well...
Indeed. It is a trap. And he gets blasted by "Margo" for it.
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| "DAVE! HE OWED ME TEN BUCKS!" |
Ooh, that'll hurt. 😬
Ikaris punches "Margo" out. Makkari reports that Dave is alive, but he's in very bad shape. The mortally wounded mortal tells the Eternals about Ghaur's plans, and that "Margo" is really a mind controlled Sersi. Ikaris frees the Eternals' resident party animal, and she is horrified to see Dave in his state. Dave Chatterton's last words are informing Sersi that the Deviants killed Margo Damien...and that he loves her, even though the reaper claims him before he can finish that statement. The enraged Sersi and Ikaris fly off, as the time for subtlety has passed. In the Priests' temple, Ghaur is preparing to unleash the energies of the rogue Celestial. He's also trying on this snazzy new outfit.
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| "Yeah, I am the epitome of style, baby! I love the 80s!" |
The Eternals fight their way through the Deviants that attended Ghaur's ceremony. Ghaur tries to reach for the crystal key to open the vial, but Ikaris destroys it with a blast of his eye beams. However, the key starts emitting a high pitched noise that hurts everyone present.
A plasma field starts to form in the room.
Ghaur races into the field, and it grows to massive size. It overshadows the Deviants' City of Toads, and the story ends with the field forming into a gigantic Ghaur, seemingly having achieved his dream of becoming a Celestial.
I do want to talk a little bit about Dave Chatterton's death. Thing is, I am not bothered as much by it as I was about Margo Damian's. Mainly because unlike Margo, we got to actually spend some time with Dave, we got to see him interact with the other characters, and this maxiseries does attempt to give him an arc, his re-embracing of life. Also, his final act can be considered a pretty heroic one. This story got one heck of a cliffhanger, though. I can't wait to see how the Eternals foil Ghaur.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2020 trade paperback The Eternals: The Dreaming Celestial Saga. Thanks for reading this blog entry!
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